From the Bookshelf of Bound Together…

Now Is Not the Time to Panic

Kevin Wilson

Start date: July 14, 2022

Finish date: July 31, 2022

Discussion: A Sneak Peek~Under the Covers

Discussion leader: Diane S ☔

Why we're reading this: Under the Covers ARC
publishes 10/12/22
Thanks Diane
[close] Under the Covers ARC
publishes 10/12/22
Thanks Diane

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What Members Thought

Sep 12, 2022 Angela M rated it really liked it

Shelves: edelweiss-reviews

4 + stars

Author’s notes aren’t always interesting, but I read every one that an author includes in any book I read. I love knowing the inspiration for a story. It always makes it so much more meaningful for me. My Goodreads friend Betsy Robinson knows that. I was drawn to read this book when I read her review and then she lured me in further by telling me I’d love the note at the beginning. I did, but I also really loved the story and these characters.

It has more of a YA slant than I usually re ...more

121 likes · Like · see review

Dec 17, 2022 Kats rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, american, friendship, coming-of-age, 2022

"The edge is a shanty town filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives and the law is skinny with hunger for us.”

A coming-of-age story of a different kind, two 16 year olds meet in small town Tennessee in the summer of 1996 and make art together. They hang up their artwork all over town, as A4 posters, but in the sense of graffiti, and people start to react, ultimately resulting in a collective fear of the unknown artist(s) and mysterious message.

This was a terrific read from beginning to end; ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 27, 2024 Martha☀ rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, own, young-adult

Being a teenager means swinging between wanting to be the center of attention and wanting to be invisible. At either end of the pendulum lies excitement and disdain. And as an adult, when I look back on the antics of these glory days, I swing between angst and shame at those memories. Wilson captures it all in this novel which also swings between the genres of young adult and adult.

Frankie and Zeke meet in the summer of '97 when they are both 16 years old. The combination of their mutual awkward Being a teenager means swinging between wanting to be the center of attention and wanting to be invisible. At either end of the pendulum lies excitement and disdain. And as an adult, when I look back on the antics of these glory days, I swing between angst and shame at those memories. Wilson captures it all in this novel which also swings between the genres of young adult and adult.

Frankie and Zeke meet in the summer of '97 when they are both 16 years old. The combination of their mutual awkwardness and their empty days of summer break make for the perfect storm of creativity, friendship, mischief and first love.

Together they make a poster - with his illustrations and her non-sensical words - which they photocopy and plaster all over the small town of Coalfield. They cover shop windows and entire rooms of vacant houses; they fill mailboxes and bulletin boards. And then they wait.

For Frankie, these days are the best days of her life. She gets so caught up in the thrill of the creative process and the magnitude of the impact her words that she perseverates on the poster, not wanting this feeling to ever diminish. Zeke, on the other hand, wants to move on and create something new or different.

In true Wilson fashion, the frantic buzz of youth is captured so well. I was pulled back to those bygone days without internet and without consequences. I really loved Part 1 of the novel.

In Part 2, we see Frankie 20 years later and she is so disappointing. She is flat and domestic, and still puts the old poster up wherever she goes. She has surrounded herself with overreactive personalities and seems to still be waiting for that attention she sought when she was 16. The ending was a let-down. I really wanted to read the New Yorker article that Mazzy was going to write.

I did, however, really enjoy the author's note at the end. Wilson reveals that he is very much like Frankie and finds comfort in a very similar phrase which he often repeats to himself. He sheds light on mental health and the strategies he has developed for dealing with anxiety. I look forward to more by Wilson. ...more

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Jan 28, 2023 Glenda rated it liked it

Shelves: books-read-in-2023

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 has just moved into his grandmother’s unhappy house and who is as lonely and awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a ...more

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Oct 19, 2022 Sharon Umbaugh rated it really liked it

Fun read! Perfect for the YA crowd as well as adults!

Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the review copy.

Sharon
The Writer's Reader
https://thewritersreader.wordpress.com ...more

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