So read the headline in the Courier News on the afternoon of Aug. 23, about the temblor that happened in less time than it took to tweet about it. It was certainly disconcerting to see a tower fan and other things jiggling madly for the 20-second duration of the quake, which caught me with Audrey's laptop on my own lap for the first time (she gave me her Toshiba when she upgraded). It was all over before I could get up.
The novelty of the event and the absurd aspects of public reaction to it in the new era of social media set a tone that matched what I chose to do for the rest of the day. I did indeed stay calm and read every word of a book I had just picked up at the Plainfield Public Library, the weird and wonderful work by Kevin Wilson called "The Family Fang."
I had heard this author interviewed on numerous WYNC shows and got somewhat of a negative impression of the book. I know now that it can't be described properly in such interviews, as there is too much to it. You just have to read the whole thing, and a day disrupted by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake presents the perfect excuse to deviate from quotidien concerns and do so.
Parent-child relationships have spawned millions of words of analysis and advice, but you will find neither in this book, just a story about power, manipulation, excess and emotional cruelty that can have its echoes in even the most sunny-seeming, greeting-card-picture-perfect family when nobody is looking.
If you are a fan of what Amazon calls "literary fiction," don't wait until some fleeting cataclysm gives you a day off, pick up this book and spend some time with the family Fang. It might make the next tedious meeting of your own clan feel like paradise by contrast.
--Bernice
Most people don't realize that we didn't get a 5.9 quake, but just the low levels of vibration from it. I didn't feel it on Park Ave., but others did. Things happen, so read your book, say your prayers, go to work. That's the way it goes.
ReplyDeleteMy cat Vincent was more stressed out than I was. I did feel it and everything in here was moving for a good 40 seconds or so. But my years spent in California made me realize what it was. Well, either that or perhaps I had taken too much pain medication! :-) But I'm in relaxation mode with the knee healing this summer anyway.
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