All Families are Psychotic - Brossura

On the eve of the next Space Shuttle mission, a divided family comes together... Warm, witty and wise, All Families Are Psychotic is Coupland at the very top of his form – hot on the heels of last year’s hugely successful Miss Wyoming (100,000 copies of theTPB and PB sold in the UK to date)

‘You know, this was supposed to be a happy family week that drew us all closer – all that NASA hokum: prayer breakfasts, zodiac boat tours through swamps, a chance encounter with a Kennedy family member... And you wouldn't believe the other astronaut families. They're practically astronauts themselves – shoes buffed like mirrors; too many teeth; half of them are military and talk in barking Navy SEAL voices. They drive me nuts, they're so enthusiastic. Our own family is a disaster.'

In a cheap motel room an hour from Cape Canaveral, Janet Drummond looks at the clock – 7.03 a.m., pill o'clock – takes her capsules, and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her three children. Wade has spent the night in jail; suicidal Bryan is due to arrive any moment with his vowel-free girlfriend, Shw; and then there is Sarah, 'an element finer than gold – a bolt of lightning frozen in midflash' – here in Orlando to be the star of Friday's shuttle mission.

But even an all-American astronaut has personal problems, and with Janet's ex-husband and his trophy wife coming to town, Janet has the whole of this sultry Florida morning to contemplate her family, and where it all went wrong. Or did it? 'People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's family. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own.'