Now Is Not the Time to Panic: A Book Review
Jan 20, 2024
4 min read
5
64
"I thought that the saddest thing that could happen was that something inside your head worked so hard to make it into the world and then nothing happened. It just disappeared. Now that I'd put those words into the open air, I needed them to multiply, to reproduce, to cover the world."
The title of this novel, Now Is Not the Time to Panic, is actually a quote from within the story. I have my own favorite quotes, especially the one above.
The story flows well—easy to read and enjoyable. The characters are relatable, great development. By the end of Chapter Four, I didn't want to put it down. I loved the characters. I loved the time, the setting, and mostly—the creativity.
In 1996 she, Frankie, and one other person, Zeke, made something happen: The Coalfield Panic. And now (present time within the novel) a reporter wants to do a story about it.
Bored during summer break, she and her new friend decided to have some fun with an old copy machine. They wanted to make art.
It's rare for me to find a book I don't want to put down. A book I hold in my hands like a treasure. I even get angry if someone disturbs me—if I have to do anything that takes me away from my book. It doesn't have to be a book I'll reread, those have a different beauty. It just has to be read now. This book creatively and instantly pulls you in. Whose perspective was this? A gay man? A man who identifies as a woman? I had to take another look at the author's name: Kevin Wilson, and take a look at his photo. This is written by a man from a woman's perspective. You don't run into that too often. The recent world had gotten me confused. This should be interesting, I thought. I'll try not to let it distract me, I decided. To top it off, she was sixteen!
The author's mind invites us to look back at ourselves like the story looks back from 2017 to 1996. The first part of the book is during Frankie's teenage years. Part I is ten chapters, two-thirds of the novel. An adult male mind can seemingly come close to seeing within a teenage girl's mind. This part of this story is done extremely well. I doubt a teenage boy could grasp the perspective of a teenage girl. Speaking of a teenage boy's mind, Wilson is spot-on in that perspective as well as the perspective of parents during that time (1990s). Part II is back to present day: 2017. Published in 2022, it might have taken Kevin five years to write this. That's how long it's taken me to write each of my novels. Okay, enough structural details.
"This was the beauty of obsession, I realized. It never waned. Real obsession, if you did it right, was the same intensity every single time, a kind of electrocution that kept your heart beating in time. It was so good."
I feel like there's a metaphor here—how she feels about art can be a metaphor for how social media postings can be (aside from her anonymity). You want something inside your head to go out into the world, so you share it.
When the reporter pops back into the story for a short chapter, she increases the suspense. As we read, the story grows, the art grows—taking on a life of its own, the panic grows. The sociology is interesting: a collective panic. It is fascinating how news spreads (especially before social media). The psychological need to create something AND present it to others is intriguing in itself. To me, the act of creating something is beauty itself. Beauty is evanescent, but we want to hold on to it. However, the creating is as beautiful as the completing.
I think it's also interesting that the "bad" person gets away. In Frankie's mind, in her stories-within-a-story, she is a fugitive. It got me thinking—if you don't believe that something you've done is wrong, then you don't have guilt; only the fact that others think it's wrong makes you a "fugitive". The real "bad" person feels guilt, suffers, and asks for forgiveness. Accepting the forgiveness makes him/her "unbad."
". . . it made me feel, for the first time, that maybe it was dumb to be embarrassed about weird things if you were really good at them. Or not good. If they made you happy."
When we go back to present day, 2017, the first line brings suspense. Wilson is good at suspense which doesn't stress you out; it just makes you want to read on, enjoying the interesting book.
I would give this coming-of-age story five stars, rather than four, if a question had been answered at the end. A "how" question. I won't say what because I don't want a spoiler in this review. Perhaps there will be a sequel. However, it ended well, through a perspective that pretty much wraps it up.
I hope this book review helps. I recommend this novel to anyone who simply likes a good book. I enjoyed reading it and will likely seek out more novels written by this best-selling author. Thank you, Kevin Wilson.
—Tracy
