# No Relation

By Terry Fallis

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/no-relation-c178baeb/

Earnest Hemmingway wants to write a novel. His father wants him to run the family underwear company, and strangers expect a rather different writer when they hear his name. After losing his job and girlfriend, Hem starts a support group for people whose famous names have become a burden.

## What makes it funny?

The group includes a Mahatma Ghandi with a furious temper. Hem has an equally awkward inheritance: an underwear dynasty whose proud history includes making the wedgie possible. Readers in book groups remember the famous-name mix-ups and recommend Fallis’s humor.

### The comedy at work

Famous names set up expectations these ordinary people promptly disappoint. Hem supplies a more personal kind of embarrassment, too. When a video of his public meltdown goes viral, he insists he is calm while dropping a glass of orange juice on his toe.

### Try this if…

A conversational narrator, an eccentric support group and family-business trouble give this the rhythm of a sitcom. It suits readers who like their identity crises interrupted by mundane problems, including who will make the nation’s underwear.

### Good to know

There’s swearing and bodily humor alongside the literary-name jokes. Hem’s resistance to inheriting the business runs through the story, with a capable sister caught in a family tradition that favors the firstborn son.

## What to expect

- Genre: Contemporary & literary
- On the shelf: Family comedy
- Kind of humor: Dry wit · Situational comedy
- Format: Novel
- Published: 2014

## A few distinguishing details

- A support group for people saddled with famous names
- A would-be novelist expected to inherit an underwear empire

## Sources & further reading

- Review: [Trade review](https://quillandquire.com/review/no-relation)
- Reader discussion: [Reader discussion](https://facebook.com/groups/TwoGirlsMustReads/permalink/2347797509352727)
- Reading sample: [Chapter two sample](https://terryfallis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/No_Relation-chapterTwo.pdf)
- Author commentary: [Author synopsis](https://terryfallis.com/books/no-relation)