Now Is Not the Time to Panic
2022 • 256 pages
Ratings22
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings22
Average rating3.5
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge—aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner—is determined to make it through yet another sad summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who is as lonely and awkward as she is. As romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, Frankie and Zeke make an unsigned poster that becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. Copies of their work are everywhere in town, and rumours start to fly about who might be behind the ubiquitous posters: Satanists? Kidnappers? Soon, the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread further afield, and the art that brought Frankie and Zeke together now threatens to tear them apart. Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge—famous author, mother to a wonderful daughter, wife to a loving husband—gets a call that threatens to upend everything: a journalist asks if Frances might know something about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Could Frances’ past destroy the life she has so carefully built? A bold coming-of-age story, written with Kevin Wilson’s trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity and the power of art. It’s also about the secrets that haunt us—and, ultimately, what the truth will set free. Kevin Wilson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Nothing to See Here, as well as the novels The Family Fang and Perfect Little World, and the short-story collections Tunneling to the Center of the Earth and Baby You’re Gonna Be Mine. He lives with his family in Sewanee, Tennessee, where he is an associate professor in the English department at Sewanee: The University of the South. ‘Good Lord, I can’t believe how good this book is...Wilson writes with such a light touch that it seems fairly impossible for the book to have a big emotional payoff. But there is, and that’s the brilliance of the novel—that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming. You’re laughing so hard you don’t even realize that you’ve suddenly caught fire.’ New York Times on Nothing to See Here
Reviews with the most likes.
I did not love this book. But, I really appreciated the author's note at the end.
I think the book had believable characters and a moving plot. I just did not like the POV character, and sometimes that happens.
I think the author was able to convey the almost painful attachment we can make to some memories and how people can obsess over things that don't mean anything to others. He does some beautiful work with having characters grow and also let other people be.
Audiobook
Kevin Wilson's previous book, Nothing to See Here, is one of my favorite books in recent years. This latest book doesn't quite get into that category for me, but it does cement Wilson as an author for which I will read basically anything he puts out at this point.
Now Is Not The Time To Panic is a great little book about things like obsession and art and relevance and meaning. The story follows a familiar trope in the vein of something like Stand By Me as it is about fleeting events of a summer that profoundly affect the rest of the lives of a few teenagers, but as with other Kevin Wilson books I've read, everything is a bit heightened and strange, while still occuring in a grounded reality. I just really dig his style.
I listened to this via a library audiobook narrated by Ginnifer Goodwin, who captured the tone perfectly and injected a great energy into the story. The author himself also narrates a section that comes after the book and talks about his writing process here, including the origin of the book's repeated mantra, which is an interesting and touching story on its own.
I enjoyed “Nothing to See Here,” so I was excited to read this latest offering by Kevin Wilson. I didn't resonate with the phrase on the poster or the main character. The story was unique and well-written. I will check out more of Wilson's books in the future.
