As much as it is humorous, this is also a book of parental neglect; hardly a unique tale in the arts. (Recall writer Doris Lessing, who left her two infant children in Zimbabwe and moved to London, to avoid the pram in the hall.) It isn’t even something they try to hide—Child A and Child B (names Annie and Buster hate) have been raised with the knowledge that they will always come second to their parents artistic ambition.