- Morgan R.
- Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Kevin Wilson's, Now is Not the Time to Panic is "a charming coming-of-age novel brimming with nostalgia." — People
In the sweltering summer of 1996 in podunk Coalfield Tennessee, 16-year-old outcast Frankie Bulger looks on as a lifeguard tosses a watermelon covered in Vaseline into the pool as the pool-goers scramble to get it out in hopes of winning a prize. Reluctant to get involved in the tizzy and a little grossed out by the thought of all the fingernails digging into the flesh of the fruit in order to get a good grasp, Frankie is approached by aspiring artist Zeke, the new boy in town. The two misfits become fast friends as they unveil a copy machine in Frankie’s garage that her troublemaking triplet brothers brought home one day and create an enigmatic and lasting piece of art with Frankie’s cryptic line, “The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.”
“To be a teenager, it takes very little to think that someone else might actually know who you are, even as you spend all your time thinking that no one understands you. It's such a lovely feeling.”
They make hundreds of copies of the piece and post them all over town, stick them in mailboxes, plaster them on every street corner, building, light pole, and wall they can find. The townsfolk can’t figure out who is putting these posters up, but more importantly they don’t know what it means. A “Satanic Panic —style mass hysteria” that reaches far beyond the city limits ensues and becomes known as the “Coalfield panic”. Soon copycats start plastering their version of the poster all over North America, t-shirts are made and corporations latch onto the slogan. Segments appear about it on Unsolved Mysteries and SNL. All the while, the original creators remain a mystery.
When a New Yorker art critic calls Frankie over 20 years later to write a tell-all article about the creators behind the posters, she is frozen with insecurities about that time in her life. The frenzy her and Zeke’s art created had more negative repercussions than she’d like to admit, therefore has kept her role in it a secret all this time and now with a family of her own, she’s torn with finally admitting the truth and keeping her past private.
This is not your typical coming-of-age story with the overused budding teen friendship-to-romance trope. Frankie and Zeke are artists at heart, and their endearing relationship is only used to demonstrate the intensity that creativity can have on a young soul, and how sharing a secret with a trusted companion can help one navigate the waters of fracturing families and adolescence. Wilson’s charming writing is full of his “trademark wit and blazing prose” (author website). He steeps his readers in 1990s nostalgia and the result is a brilliant short novel that will make you look at the camouflaged power that art holds on our day-to-day lives.
"Every single thing that you loved became a source of both intense obsession and possible shame. Everything was a secret."
WHAT THE CRITICS HAVE TO SAY:
“Now Is Not the Time to Panic is a quirky, complicated story about the power of words and art, and the importance of adolescent friendships.” — TIME (A Must Read Book of 2022)
“Kevin Wilson once again deploys his customary humorous, off-center storytelling to artfully delve into deeper matters…[his] deceptively transparent prose, with a touch of humor, a dash of satire and a good bit of insight, carries the reader to a humane and satisfying conclusion.” — BookPage (starred review)
Now is Not the Time to Panic was selected as A Goodreads nominee for Best Fiction 2022
Kevin Wilson is the author of Nothing to See Here which was a Read with Jenna book club selection, as well as The Family Fang which was adapted for film starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman.
This novel is perfect for fans of the movie Licorice Pizza.
Novelist read alike: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zelvin.
Author's website
___________________________________________________________________________
Get your personalized recommendations here.