Now is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson -- 3.5 stars (round down to 3)

[Nicole R]

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson
3.5 (round down to 3)

I'm just going to state it up front: I definitely did NOT like this book as much as others. And I will tell you exactly why.

The author WAY overused the hook "The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.

It was like the author wrote the book, realized it was a pretty slim volume, and then just entered this phrase in as many times as necessary to hit a certain page count.

I came to dread picking up this book because I didn't want to hear that f-ing phrase again.

This book was actually heading to 2 stars solely for that reason, and then the author's note at the end redeemed it a bit because this is a modification of a line the author heard IRL that stuck with him. I liked the explanation.

Aside from that overused phrase, the book was pretty good. I liked the story of Frankie and Zeke, two teenagers in a small town who are each struggling to adjust to life and find themselves one summer. They flirted with first love, they talked through their family issues, and they started to show glimpses of their future selves.

But, the whole book just had a weird vibe. And not quirky weird like Nothing to See Here. It was a weird vibe in that Frankie was oddly fixated on this saying her whole life. Almost a compulsion. Zeke showed very early signs that he would have benefitted immensely from therapy. And yet these things were not really discussed. They were like odd elephants in the room.

I don't know. I can't say I really liked the book, and if it would have been shorter I probably would have DNF'ed it. But, the short length worked in its favor, I did finish it, and the end did have a nice sense of wrapping up the past and moving forward.

[Amy]

Nicole, I wonder if your experience of this book would be totally different if you heard it on audio. The way she says it over and over and over again and intones it like a meditation. Has such a power. Like it was speaking from her mind. It’s funny because I happen to have Kevin Wilson’s other book on audio, and I knew I would not have appreciated it remotely the same way. So when I saw this one come out, I didn’t even think about doing it in print. I just think the way she intoned it over and over and over again, you understood how it wrapped her up and what it meant to her. I completely agree that in print this would have been so annoying. . It’s funny how audio or not completely change a book.

[Holly R W]

Nicole, I was interested in your reactions to the book. While I liked it better than you did, I can see how you felt the way you did.

I had read the author's collection of short stories first, which were way too edgy for me. (Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories) I was in outlier land and gave it a one star rating.

I thought that this book had more heart than Wilson's story collection. I really liked Frankie and Zeke, although each one had their foibles. And I liked Frankie's mom.

I too, couldn't understand Frankie's zeal for repeating the phrase she created, over and over again. And, her mission to keep on posting the posters everywhere (even when they created such trouble.)

As one Good Reads friend commented on my review, Wilson's books do have a weirdness to them. Her exact words were: "He is interesting in an 'out there' way."

I was so puzzled by the author and my conflicting reactions to his work, that I watched an interview of him. He was open about having Tourette's Syndrome. Excuse me if I'm not remembering this right, but I think Wilson said that he, himself has said Frankie's phrase over and over at times and that it has helped center him.

[Nicole R]

Amy wrote: "Nicole, I wonder if your experience of this book would be totally different if you heard it on audio. The way she says it over and over and over again and intones it like a meditation. Has such a p..."

I listened to it on audio. I think it made it worse because I couldn't just skim over it!

[Amy]

So funny! I thought the audio was great!

[Nicole R]

Holly, I can see that perhaps Frankie was fixated on the phrase in the same way as the author, and I got from his note that this was a real phrase that he kept thinking about in his real life and I did like that connection.

I don’t know, it just was odd to me. And maybe he intended to be more of a psychological connection to the word, even if an unhealthy one, but I felt like it was portrayed in this gray area where I just didn’t get it.

I actually related a bit to Frankie’s desire to hang the posters up as a teen. To make art for people to see. For that part of her to be seen. She also held it up on a pedestal because she associated it with Zeke and her desire to hold on to him.

But the incessant reciting and twenty year infatuation was just too much for my brain to wrap around.

[Nicole R]

Amy, the narrator was very good, I agree. My only issue was just the over the top repetition, which is definitely not the narrator’s fault!

[Joy D]

I know people who have had those types of fixations for twenty years, so I guess it was something I could relate to. I agree that the phrase was repeated way too often, but I just zoned it out after a while.