Books: Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory (2017)

"The Telemachus family is known for performing inexplicable feats on talk shows and late-night television. Teddy, a master conman, heads up a clan who possess gifts he only fakes: there's Maureen, who can astral project; Irene, the human lie detector; Frankie, gifted with telekinesis; and Buddy, the clairvoyant. But when, one night, the magic fails to materialize, the family withdraws to Chicago where they live in shame for years. Until: As they find themselves facing a troika of threats (CIA, mafia, unrelenting skeptic), Matty, grandson of the family patriarch, discovers a bit of the old Telemachus magic in himself. Now, they must put past obstacles behind them and unite like never before. But will it be enough to bring The Amazing Telemachus Family back to its amazing life?”

Spoonbenders was an amazing book, a delightful eccentric family saga that is often times out-right hilarious, but it's also odd and heartbreaking as well. There’s a lot to unpack here, and the story zooms back in forth in time (though the “current” part is set in 1995), but author Daryl Gregory is able to create an assortment of screwball family members who each are blessed with physic powers, but none have gotten over the death of the mother, Maureen (which maybe the weak link here, as her story seemed more interesting at times).

And Gregory, who was born and raised in Chicagoland, uses the geography well (I knew all the towns and roads he mentions, including those classic local grocery stores), and is also able to tap into the Midwest love of 1970s talk shows like Mike Douglas and others. It was acts like Uri Geller and others, who appeared on these talk shows and claimed to have psychic powers that inspired the authors’ book; the title also comes from Geller's stage trick of bending spoons.

The first quarter is a bit rough, as much like the Gallagher Family of Showtime’s Shameless, the author expects the reader to be empathetic with some of the questionable things these men do here (including 14 year-old Matty). It comes off a bit seedy at times, but as the story goes on, you sort of start to forget those earlier passages as the book begins to pick up speed towards its chaotic conclusion.

Still, much like the character of Maureen, the women (including child and adult Irene) get short-shifted in the developmental part -they're at times more two-dimensional.

But in the end, this is still a charming and very entertaining fantasy.