The Funnies

by J. Robert Lennon

The Mix family, a motley crew of troubled souls who have been forever immortalized in their father's popular comic strip, must learn to inhabit the real world when their father dies and the division of his estate becomes an issue. 22,500 first printing. Tour.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Comics, Novels, Family, Literary Fiction

301 pages, Hardcover

First published February 15, 1999

About the author

J. Robert Lennon is the author of three story collections and ten novels, and is co-editor of CRITICAL HITS, an anthology of writing on video games. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

Reviews

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Mix, a man in early middle-age must face new responsibilities when he is called home after his father’s death. The catch is that Tim’s father was a famous cartoonist, a man who immortalized his family, against their will, in a terminally cute comic strip, very similar to "Family Circus." Now his will states that Tim can only benefit from the comic strip’s profits, if he promises to continue drawing the strip himself. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is Lennon's thinly disguised descriptions of various comic strips and his satirical look at their creators. This is a funny look at the world of comics but more importantly a touching, and at times poignant look at the healing of a dysfunctional family and how one man learns to embrace the family that, for so many years, he had tried to distance himself from.

[Phyllis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!

[Andy Quan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the premise was strong: a death in the family, taking on new responsibilities, a parody of the 'Family Circus' cartoon that I'd grown up with. But then I realized, upon reading it, that the themes felt too familiar: the child trying to find direction, the family that is not what it seems, the distant and mysterious father figure. I have to admit that I sped-read the latter part of the book. Seems like Lennon's style appeals well to some readers; but I somehow couldn't find that simpatico to get engaged by the prose. To each his own!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

How often do you read a book that’s light and comical, but equally well-composed and clever? In the tradition of Jonathan Ames and Steve Martin, J. Robert Lennon infuses his narrator’s story with witty quips and frank self-reflection, then ties up the story neatly (but not too neatly), leaving the reader pleasantly satisfied. This terrific combination of ingredients shouldn’t be so rare in fiction, but it is; fortunately it is very present in The Funnies.

[Sherry Chiger · Rating 5 out of 5]

My interest in comic strips led me to buy this book, but it was the wonderfully vivid characters, their quirky but believable interactions, and the crisp writing that has made The Funnies one of my all-time favorites. The developing relationship between brothers Pierce and Tim in particular sets this novel apart, although the detailed depiction of the cartooning milieu (the cartoonist conference is especially fabulous) is kudo-worthy as well.

[Brooke Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, I read this a long time ago when it first came out, I was totally addicted to J. Robert Lennon's words and was gutted at how long I had to wait for the next. I need to re read his books. I loved them so much all those years ago.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful -- funny, poignant. Great writing. Read it, read it.

[Joel Edminster · Rating 2 out of 5]

June 12, 2021

Years ago at the end of the school year, bored and idling around the office, I pilfered off a colleague’s shelf a novel called The Funnies (1999), by a writer named J. Robert Lennon. The cover seemed appealing and I’d never heard of its author. Said colleague assured me it was okay to take, but didn’t say anything one way or the other about the book. The other day something nudged me to actually read it, and I just finished it.

The novel is a quintessential piece of “literary fiction,” very much a product of its time. It tells the story of the Mix family, whose patriarch, Carl, has just died. Carl leaves behind his long-running daily comic, “The Family Funnies,” a “Family Circus”-style strip that features the whole Mix clan in cartoon form. Carl bequeaths the business to his son Tim, a struggling “starving artist,” and has arranged for Tim to receive lessons in drawing the strip and conveying its saccharine, mass-appeal jokes. Tim, narrating, struggles to fulfill his fated role (there’s a rival involved, and legal hurdles), and we learn about the history of the Mixes and how they’ve each been affected by having their lives whitewashed and put on display for the country’s amusement. Tim meets a woman, so there’s a romantic element as well.

I have just assigned an end-of-the-school-year writing piece, and my high-school juniors are struggling with writing fiction. In my writing conferences with them, the refrain of “there has to be a compelling conflict” has popped up repeatedly. Well. A novel in which the sole main conflict is whether an artist will “get the job” or not does not make for a compelling conflict. Nothing happens in this book! The Mixes process their dad’s demise—he was a shit father so their guilt about not being too distraught is worth a few pages. There’s another storyline with the wife/mother and her deteriorating condition in a local nursing home—but she’s unlikable as well. Tim gets tutored on drawing the comics—not exactly riveting detail there. And Tim reconnects with his siblings and their families. Ho hum. The aforementioned rival assumes the mantle of villain, but the extent of his villainy is to make Tim look bad to the publisher so that the publisher will hire him to take over the strip and not Tim.

I don’t know—the novel kept me reading, so props for that. The setting of rural/suburban New Jersey and New York City—and the symbiosis between each location—is well done, and Lennon’s writing is sound. The inner workings of how to produce a comic strip is interesting, but only goes so far in that vein. Tim’s voice is on the earnest side, and by the end gets annoying. The love story isn’t anything special. But mostly—nothing happens!

I’ll be returning the copy of the novel to my colleague surreptitiously, in his mailbox slot in the main school office. Even though he did not recommend the book, just acquiesced when asked to borrow it, I don’t feel like having to talk to him about what I thought about it. F for The Funnies—F for Forgettable.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Famous cartoonist Carl Mix has died of a heart attack, and his family gets together for the first time in years. The "Family Funnies" is a popular, wholesome comic strip that portrays the perfect family. Carl Mix had based his cartoons on the lives of his own family (and Lennon is clearly basing his novel on Bil Keane, author of "The Family Circus"). Lennon, however, darkly takes on what might lie behind the perfect family shown in the comic strip. Carl Mix was apparently a terrible father, although we don't get a ton of supporting details; the feeling is shared across his five children. We're meant to think that the strip, along with Carl's cruelty and Dorothy's drinking, ruined their lives. The children grew up being compared to their perfect cartoon selves and were found lacking, less perfect. I really wanted to like this - what a great premise, although maybe not new... - but I don't see how a Family-Circus-like comic could make a mockery of a family. So it is super-sweet and super-wholesome...however, while reading it, I never assumed that the real family had to live up to that ideal! “We are, in the comics, the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment,” Keane stated to The Associated Press in 1995. “On radio and television, magazines and the movies, you can’t tell what you’re going to get. When you look at the comic page, you can usually depend on something acceptable by the entire family.” There is just a little too much outward-going blame from Tim, our protagonist; I needed him to convince me that his childhood destroyed him, and I wasn't ultimately convinced.

Commonalities to "The Family Circus":
--When Bil Keane died, his son took over the strip; however Lennon's book was written in 1999, before Jeff Keane inherited the strip...
--Family Funnies is single panel like "The Family Circus"
--Both are based loosely on the lives of the strips' authors; both families have five children but only four appear in the strip
--Thel Carne, Bil Keane's wife, dies from complications of Alzheimer's disease; Bil Keane dies of heart failure, and Carl Mix dies of a heart attack.

[Patrick McG]

i read this years ago when i was quite young and for some reason it made a deep impression on me (i think about it all the time) but i don't think it was very good or that i like it and i always have to scour the internet to remember what it was called so anyway now i am reading secret identity by alex segura and it reminded me of this and i decided i should save it on good reads so i remember the title and author so i can talk about it at book club

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just OK. I couldn't really relate to the protagonist - Tim Mix just seems to float through the book without really doing much. Most of the supporting characters are thinly drawn - just Pierce is filled out a little more. The story didn't really seem to go anywhere, or really pack much of an emotional punch. Disappointing.

[Marie Jensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You will never r read the Family Circus again after this.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked the descriptions. Good voice from the protagonist. Was disappointed at the end, not sure I understood , father cremated and left in trunk of car.

[Steve Beed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read, enjoyed.

[Marfita · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, Not Funny Enough. That could be just because I had a mother in a nursing home and generally my own family life was pleasant and loving, so I really can't relate to anything else.
Secondly, fairly predictable - like Pierce's story. That wasn't difficult to figure out.
Tim is a failed artist in a failing relationship. Then his father dies. He's not sure how to feel about it because his father made his and his siblings' lives miserable with the "Family Circus" style cartoon he drew. The jokes were lame, everyone had heads like watermelons, and the kids never aged. Naturally, the cartoon was beloved by many and all thought the real children had been just like the drawn ones. Instead, both parents were alcoholics and made their kids' lives at least partially miserable.
His older brother Bobby is a control freak, his older sister Rosa is hostile (but her husband is nice), Pierce is a paranoid recluse, and little sister Bitty is unnaturally cheerful. Their mom is in a nursing home, physically and mentally breaking down. Hilarious, huh?
Of all the kids, Tim is given a chance to continue the comic in his father's footsteps. If he can manage that, he will get his share of the merchandising as well as payment for doing the comic. Unfortunately, the syndicate doesn't have the incentive to go with him. If they hire a cheaper cartoonist, the evil Ken Dorn for example, the syndicate can keep all the merchandising proceeds. Tim hasn't drawn anything in years, preferring to create "installations." He must learn how to cartoon, not just draw, from crusty Brad Wurster.
It all works out just the way one (me, anyway) would expect. That doesn't mean it wasn't satisfactory, just fairly predictable.
I shelved this under "NY State of Mind" because some of it takes place in Manhattan, a bit in Philadelphia, but most of it in New Jersey. And I don't have a Not Funny Enough shelf. Maybe I should. To be fair, I also thought Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York, and "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" horribly unfunny as well. The former sank me into depression and the latter just made me cry through the whole thing although everyone else seems to think they were hilarious.

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was billed as an hilarious novel by J. Robert Lennon, and since it is based on the hokey comic strip "Family Circus" and takes as its premise one character's attempt to take over the lame enterprise, I was very interested to read it.

I was genuinely surprised to find that there isn't a laugh in this book, which is not to say that I didn't like it. The family dynamics are complex and interesting, and the dialog is intelligent. Tim Mix is left nothing by his father, except the expectation that he take over the family comic strip, the embarrassing "Family Funnies." What ensues is Tim's attempt to become a cartoonist, and his interactions with difficult family members who all have their burdens from a challenging past. Anyone who has parents or siblings will understand the deeper meanings here.

However, hilarity did not ensue for me. I found the story challenging and a bit sad in places, and there were complexities that one wouldn't expect to find in what is billed as a comedic novel. Other people find it very funny, so perhaps what is missing is my gene for dark humor. In any event, I recommend The Funnies simply because it is a good story well told. Your mileage may vary with regard to any laughs.

[Beckie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was recommended by a commenter at the comics curmudgeon, as part of a discussion of how dysfunctional the real family behind the family circus must be. the comic strip in the book is a fairly thinly-veiled imitation of the family circus so i was expecting it to be at best an amusing dig at that strip, but it was actually a lot closer to what i wanted the position to be. the parents were largely absent in this case, so it did focus on the different ways the children coped (or not) with being drawn as cartoon characters, and the disparity between their real and imagined families. it's also about figuring out how to have a life you actually want, rather than coasting along, reacting to old dynamics.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. In some ways, it's reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49, but in a more user-friendly kind of way: a death, an effort at untangling the complicated life of the deceased, a growing sense that the world is a much complicated place than the protagonist initially suspects. In this version of the story, the son of a comic strip artist inherits his father's Family Circus style strip when the father dies. Meanwhile he's doing all he can to reconcile the perfect family from the comic strip with his completely dysfunctional real-life family, to little avail. All told, a strong, well-wrought tale that gave me a greater appreciation for the work of producing daily comic strips, no matter how insipid such strips may be.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been a very good book. It had a great story: the cartoonist who created a ‘Family Circus’ type daily newspaper comic strip died and his son had to take on the family tradition. But we quickly learn that the family depicted in the comic strip is nothing like the real family. And then about half way through the book, the story seems to just disappear. Characters, which could have been an interesting addition to the story, are mentioned and then never mentioned again. The family may be dysfunctional, but not enough to make the story interesting. By the time the story ended I gave up caring about any of them. I was just glad it was over.

[Sarah Obsesses over Books & Cookies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny story about a dysfunctional family. Narrator Tim is the son of a famous cartoonist who draws a strip ala family circus. he dies, leaves his artist son the strip, who will stand to inherit the strip and all the money if he can submit successful strips. He doesn't want to do it. we meet his schizophrenic brother who may or may not be the legitimate son (still haven't figured that out) and his two sisters and older brother.
I like the writing and glad to have stumbled across this writer.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the author had left out all the romantic junk. It was like he was following your typical BS hollywood theory that in order for a story to be interesting there has to be some sort of love found. In the end it read as bad as a schmaltzy chik lit book. This is too bad since the major plot line of inheriting his father's comic strip was strong enough to stand on it's own.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters of the Family Circus, or a comic strip closely resembling it without copyright infringement, are brought to life, and the result is just as horrible as one would expect. This satire kept me reading, but what was most unique was the portrayal of the paranoid schizophrenic brother--done with impressive sensitivity.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the author of a comic akin to Family Circus passes away, one of his sons is offered the chance to take over the strip. Despite being immortalized in their cartoon form as the perfect family, it becomes obvious early on, they were anything but. Anyone who has felt misunderstood by their family could probably find something to relate to.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of five kids who grew up being a part of their dad's comic strip, The Family Funnies (similar to The Family Circus). But their real-life family is wildly dysfunctional. The book begins with the death of their dad when they all get together again for the first time in years.

[Rain · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the writing and the relative quirkiness, but the characters (Bobby, Bitty, Rose, the neighbor lady etc.), whom I was looking very forward to getting to know, were grossly underdeveloped.

[Kristi Clemow · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author writes beautifully - you could take your time and read this book over weeks and I think you'd feel like you were part of this family. However, it was just a little too sad for me to really enjoy it.

[Sharon K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

How funny this has a rating of 8.00 out of 5.00 - how novel!

[Jess Van Dyne-Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out interesting and fizzled until by the end?? I really didn't care what happened as long as it was OVER.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I never finished this book. It sort of dragged on after a while. Not much action. I might try to read it again one day.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never thought of how it must be growing up being the kids behind a comic. This book is about a dysfunctional family whose father is a comic strip artist - much like Family Circus. Good read.