The Family Fang (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Caleb Fang: Artist and father
• Camille Fang: Artist and mother
• Annie Fang: Child A
• Mr. Buster Fang: Child B
• Mr. Guess: School principal
• Joseph Cotten: Potato Cannonier
• Bonnie: Artist groupie
• Daniel Cartwright: Screenwriter
• Suzanne Crosby: Writing student
• Lucy Wayne: Screenwriter and director
• Mr. Delano: Drama teacher
• Lucas Kizza: Creative writing professor
• Minda Laughton: Actress, lesbian, stalker
• Kenny: Potato Cannonier
• Eric: Reporter
• Hobart Waxman: Artist, mentor
• Freeman Sanders: Director and writer
• Arden: Potato Cannonier
• David: Potato Cannonier
• Romeo: Role played by Buster
• Donald Ray: Traveling salesman in the movie, Knives Out
• Sally: Publicist
• Janie Cooper: Script supervisor
• Mr. Marbury: Character in a movie
• Lance Reckless: Add a description of this character.
• Jake
• Chip Pringle
• Mr. Buxton
• Hester Bangs
• Coby Reid
• George Plimpton
• Mrs. Pringle
• Raven Kelly
• Linus Baltz
• Dunham
• Harry Lime
• Thomas
• Janey
• Beatrice
• Caitlin
• Tommy
• Mr. Ronnie Payne

Quotes edit see section history

• “Perhaps he didn't have to professs his love every time someone came around and made him feel less unhappy than he had been previously.”

  Buster

• “Art, if you loved it, was worth any amount of unhappiness and pain. If you had to hurt someone to achieve those ends, so be it. If the outcome was beautiful enough, strange enough, memorable enough, it did not matter. It was worth it.”

• “"We're just bored," said Joseph. "That's the simplest answer. It's like, no matter where you are or what you're doing, you have to try like hell to keep from getting bored to death."”

• “They had affected themselves with the authenticity of the moment.”

• “What you'll find, I think, is that the things you most want to avoid are the things that make you feel the greatest when you actually do them.”

• “He looked like ominous weather, about to sputter and cry.”

• “We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.”

• “"The act is not the art," he told himself. "The reaction is the art."”

• “The baby was a hummingbird inside his cupped hands, and Caleb could not hold on tightly enough to believe she was real. It was a form of art for which he had no innate talent.”

• “Camille was shocked by the seismic shift in emotion that crossed Annie's face, her mouth open so wide it seemed possible that a horde of demos might fly out.”

• “The simplest things are the hardest to understand.”

• “"Criticism is like dissecting a dead frog," Caleb said when the book was published. "They're examining all the guts and shit and organs, when the things that really matters, whatever it was that animated the body, has long since left. It does nothing for art."”

• “The Fangs simply throw their bodies into a space as if they were hand grenades and wait for the disruption to occur.”

• “He tried to think of all the people in his life as chemicals, the uncertainty of mixing them together, the potential for explosions and scarring.”

• “She felt like she could do this forever, inviting the flame closer and closer until it made a home beneath her skin, traveled throughout her entire body, and lit her up from the inside.”

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Conventional lives are the perfect refuge if you are a terrible artist.”

  Highlighted by 68 Kindle customers

• What you’ll find, I think, is that the things you most want to avoid are the things that make you feel the greatest when you actually do them.”

  Highlighted by 66 Kindle customers

• Art, if you loved it, was worth any amount of unhappiness and pain. If you had to hurt someone to achieve those ends, so be it. If the outcome was beautiful enough, strange enough, memorable enough, it did not matter. It was worth it.

  Highlighted by 52 Kindle customers

• Was this how trauma worked? she wondered. Those closest to it remained dumbfounded by the fact that those who weren’t present could derive meaning from it?

  Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers

• Perhaps he didn’t have to profess his love every time someone came around and made him feel less unhappy than he had been previously.

  Highlighted by 38 Kindle customers

• “Even awful people can be polite for a few minutes,” their father told them. “Any longer than that and they revert to the bastards they really are.”

  Highlighted by 37 Kindle customers

• It’s like, no matter where you are or what you’re doing, you have to try like hell to keep from getting bored to death.”

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• Your parents were right. They beat me by completely inverting my theory. Kids don’t kill art. Art kills kids.”

  Highlighted by 30 Kindle customers

• He could count on one hand the number of times he’d had sex and still have enough fingers left over to make complicated shadow puppets.

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

• “Criticism is like dissecting a dead frog,” Caleb said when the book was published. “They’re examining all the guts and shit and organs, when the thing that really matters, whatever it was that animated the body, has long since left. It does nothing for art.”

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Wyoming
• St. Louis
• Tennessee
• Nebraska
• Florida
• Nashville
• Iraq
• North Dakota
• New York
• San Francisco
• Los Angeles
• North Carolina

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Peformance artists: In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or via media; the performer can be present or absent. It can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body, or presence in a medium, and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art can happen anywhere, in any venue or setting and for any length of time. The actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. - Per Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_art)
• Families: Describe this theme.
• Parents and Adult Children
• Dysfunctional Family
• Sibling relationship
• Art, and the meaning of art

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Kevin Wilson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3623.I58546 F36 2011
• Dewey: 813

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• National Public Radio: Review and link to excerpt.
• Kevin Wilson - Official Website of the autor: Authors website.
• Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Author's blog.

More Books Like This edit see section history