Family Life

by Russell Banks

In Family Life, Russell Banks's first novel, he transforms the dramas of domesticity into the story of a royal family in a mythical contemporary kingdom. Life inside this kingdom includes the king (dubbed "the Hearty" or "the Bluff"), who squeals angrily as is his wont; the queen, who, while pondering the mirror in her chambers, decides to write a book; three adolescent princes who are, respectively, a superb wrestler, a fanatical sports car driver, and a sullen drunk. Then there are the mysterious Green Man with a thing for princes; the Loon, who lives in a tree house designed by Christopher Wren; and a whole slew of murders, mayhem, coups, debauches, world tours, and love and loss and laughter.

Genres: Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1987

About the author

Russell Banks was a member of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work has been translated into twenty languages and has received numerous international prizes and awards. He has written fiction, and more recently, non-fiction, with Dreaming up America. His main works include the novels Continental Drift, Rule of the Bone, Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, and Affliction. The latter two novels were each made into feature films in 1997.

Reviews

[W.B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know people mostly hated this book, then and now. I love the way the little novella comes charging in with acid portraits of all of us but the author knows he can't keep the thing at that intensity. So the prose goes over to a slow boil. Big props for the reframing of the fairy tale form but by the end it's somehow Annie Hall. Still, it's a very funny book and some of the prose is delicious. He must have been pretty young when this came out.

[Stacia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Normally I like strange books. Not this one. It was written in the 1970s & reads like a rejected Playboy attempt at fiction. I don't even get it. How or why was it even published? Another reviewer mentioned heavy drug-use in the '70s; perhaps a possible explanation...?

Thankfully it was short. That's about the best that can be said about it. Not recommended.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this was a really awful book. I read the entire book because it was a) short and b) probably intellectual and deep and I just didn't get it.

I had not read Russell Banks Before. Not sure I will After. I found this book terribly offensive but with the idea that it was maybe SUPPOSED to be offensive. I have no idea. The depiction of Native Americans! For shock value? Making a statement? Cringe-worthy.

It was written in the 70s and then reprinted several times so I must be missing something. I see it is supposed to be a humorous allegory of life in the 70s in LA in suburbia. I totally did not get it. Was it supposed to be funny? Humorous it was not. Although I have no issues with LGBTQ people, I could not figure out why everyone was participating in gay sex, mostly non-consensual. WTF??

Okay, I did not get it. Born too late into a politically correct world, perhaps?

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Russell Banks’ first novel, Family Life, is a satirical romp through a contemporary but mythical kingdom. It is an allegorical story of a royal family led by the bombastic king Egress "the Hearty"(or "the Bluff”). The queen, Naomi Ruth, writes a novel which is embedded in the book as a sort of interlude. There are three princes who are, Orgone, a superb wrestler, Dread, a pyro-maniacal sports car driver and Ergress, a sullen drunk. Also to help carry the plot along there are the mysterious Green Man, who has a thing for princes and the chimerical Loon, who lives in a tree house designed by Christopher Wren. And don’t forget the rock band, the Indians, the avenging army and an assembly of other offbeat characters. There is a world-wide atonement trip with settings that include jungle, desert, mountains and the sea. The locations are the scene of outrageous homicides, needless disturbances, turn-abouts, promiscuity, laughter, lust and loss. In a manner evocative of Gilbert Sorrentino and the short bits of Richard Brautigan and Kenneth Patchen, Banks presents all this in a pastiche of styles. There is a playlet disguised as an interrogation. There are evocative catalogues and tropes from almost every literary genre. In a volume entitled Outer Banks there are two other novels. I’m looking forward to enjoying them

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get what this book was about. I felt like it had to be an allegory, but of what? Strange, unsettling, oddly beautiful, but not the type of book you recommend or wish to read again or even to spend much time contemplating. It's all sex and violence and fanciful until toward the end, when it becomes surprisingly mundane. One of the strangest books I've ever read, from one of the last authors I would have expected to stray so far from realism. What to make of it? All I can think is: it was written in the '70s. Wasn't everyone on drugs then? OK...so, then, it does make sense.

[Evan]

I feel like there is a Rosetta stone out there that will explain this book. It's about Vietnam. But it's also a fairy tale. and it's also crazy. It also doesn't read like ANYTHING else Banks has written.

[Vel Veeter]

“To go back to the beginning would be fruitless, timewasting, pretentious.”

Two competing narrative comprise this debut novel from Russell Banks. One allegorical, and one revelatory. Neither are great, but by the time you get to the revelatory one, it’s well-needed. The allegorical story takes place in a fantasy kingdom. A king is far from home and trying to return, but also trying not to return. He’s waylaid by a foreign adventure and the drugs and sexual exploits this brings about. So while he is trying to get back, it’s not so much to return to his wife that is taking him. Instead, it’s the sense of homecoming in general that motivates him, but also the worry that his wife is moving on or worse taking over. The allegorical element here speaks like a trauma narrative, using archetypal storytelling tropes to mask the damage that the king has experienced over seas.

From the revelatory story thread, from the queen, we learn that the story is really about a man, a Korean War vet, who has gone back into service during Vietnam. This drives a wedge into the family, since it was more or less understood that Korea was his time away, and not this new thing. When he’s shot down and captured, his wife finds a bit of solace in his not returning soon after and feels guilty about this, but also maybe feels a lot of guilt about not feeling as much guilt as she might.

[Bruce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been a Russell Banks reader for over twenty years, since my dear friend Pete gave me a copy of Rule of the Bone, not even realizing that not only a) was it set in the very town in which I was born, but b) contained a great deal of parallels to my own upbringing.

In the ensuing decades, I've read numerous works of his, and finally pulled this one off my shelf, where it had been sitting since picked up in some dusty old book shop or thrift store at some point along the way.

Unfortunately, I have to say that it left me pretty underwhelmed. While I love some absurdism, and there were a few very funny scenarios in his alternate universe fable, I don't think it's aged well since its 1970s birth. However, Banks's writing has most certainly matured, and it's an interesting perspective to have read some of his earliest work, knowing the high caliber of content he has come to create.

Unless you're an ardent fan of his who wants to be a completist regarding his bibliography, I'd say skip this one and jump directly to almost any other title of his.

[Marianne Seggerman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh! On the basis of this book I would never guess the author could and would write highly acclaimed novels. I am by no means a prude but the incessant sexuality and casual violence is lazy. The author has to push the sex and violence because he lacks the skill to limn the longing and rage respectively that drive those actions. Colin Dexter's Morse books feature a lead character with sex on his mind a lot (before John Thaw indelibly smoothed out the character) but those books had a nuance utterly lacking in this pile of trash. Yeah it's fantasy but even fantasy is rooted in the reality of human emotion - a concept utterly lacking in this slim volume.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Russell Banks has written some incredibly good fiction (Cloudsplitter, The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction, to name just three), but this isn't that. It's a bit of a romp: funny at times, ribald, at other times silly and trying too hard. In the end it appears to be a bit of an allegory about bad marriages, and I think the key to the book, if one is seeking such a thing, is in the "novel" within the novel written by the "Queen". That portion of the book is straightforward narrative, almost like a memoir, and I think the dominant allegory makes a bit more sense with that as a springboard. Methinks Russell was listening to a lot of Dylan or something when he wrote this.

[J B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange novel.
I read Rule Of The Bone in high school and really loved it. This being his first and seeing how it was written in the 70’s I think he tried way too hard to be edgy. Dropped the ball on this one. Will try another book from the author though.

[Scott Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no clue how to rate a book such as this. Weird? Cutesy? Brilliant? (Now) irrelevant allegory?

This was my introduction to Russell Banks and I truly liked his writing style. I think I’ll try one or two more of his books before giving a final thumbs up/down.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Odd. Experimental. Absurdist. Funny at times. Satirical at others. Reminded of Ubu Roi.
I got it and I did not get it.

[Phyllis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked the book's back cover after starting to read it and discovered it is Russell Banks's first novel. The copyright is 1974. I found the novel an odd piece of work, but as a writer, I liked the quirky structure - a very brave feat to endeavor. In the middle of the book, a section or chapter consists of a novel written by one of the characters. The book has the same number of characters in a "family" in each section or chapter, but sometimes they have different names and are in different locales. We have the King, the Queen, the three Princes, the Loon, the Ball Boy, the Dwarf, the Green Man, and the Twit. There are some other minor characters (spoiler alert: the wine steward doesn't last very long and the girl that is 37-24-37 keeps reappearing), but they serve as foils to the major characters. Many groups and types of people get poked fun at in my opinion (rock muscians, Indians, cheerleaders, high school football players, and people who make pilgrimages). Add to all that a lot of sodomizing and ejaculating and general physical abuse of other people and you have Russell Banks's version of Family Life. Oh, and the Queen is a bitch. I'm still not sure if I liked the book.

[Brandt · Rating 3 out of 5]

While notable as being Banks first novel/novella, it's a book with an interesting concept that is poorly executed. By trying to superimpose a contemporary family over the top of a medieval/feudal setting, the characters come across as wooden and uninteresting. This may come as a shock to fans of Banks, who is a master at exploring interpersonal relationships in novels like The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction.

I'm currently trying to read all of Banks work in the order he released it (currently reading the short story collection Searching for Survivors) but for those not engaged in such a project, you might just want to skip this one.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, weird, and unlike anything else I've read. Seems to be the precursor to some more recent experimental fiction.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange, analogy (in a fairy tale), parallel story where two stories are one. Essentially about a husband and wife and their lives separately and together.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

First novel by Banks. Story of a king and queen and their three princes that is very surrealistic. Interesting and looking forward to reading others by the author.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not his best.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very obviously the work of a young man, who tries desperately to be quirky and edgy. Reads a little like Donald Barthelme - at his worst.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if it is just me or not but i found this to be one of the funniest and most warped reads that I have yet come across. Easily one of my favorite short books.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really sure what I just read, but I think I liked it.

[Alice · Rating 1 out of 5]

allegory?
rewrite of Odyssess