#kevin wilson

Nothing to See Here

by Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson has done it again. You may remember Kevin Wilson from his darkly comedic Royal Tennenbaums-eque take on the hapless performance art family in The Family Fang. Or perhaps from his alternatively optimistic commune of utopian ideals in A Perfect Little World. 

While similar in tenor, imbued with Wilson’s quixotic hopefulness and unexpected chaos, Nothing to See Here is wholly unique in premise and scope.   

Lillian, a smart girl from the wrong side of the tracks, fights her way into a privileged prep school where she and her rich roommate, Madison, bond during their first year. Then an infuriating circumstance (which I won’t spoil here) leads to a split. Fast-forward ten years later when Madison, now married to a senator, summons Lillian for an urgent, yet mysterious, job opportunity.  Lillian, still stuck in a dead-end life, jumps at the chance and quickly finds herself dousing the flames of the senator’s twin offspring. 

Literally. 

Because they self-immolate when they get agitated. 

Wilson writes in such a way that I simultaneously want to ask him to be my friend and tell him to get out of my head. His commentary sometimes made me laugh out loud in doctors’ office waiting rooms. He describes a spoiled little boy removing toys from a chest: “like clowns from a VW bug, out came so many stuffed animals that I felt like I’d dropped acid.”  And on feeling out of place: “I felt like some mermaid who had suddenly grown legs and was now living among the humans.” He expertly describes “bread that cracked open like a geode” that makes me crave a loaf immediately.  And then he subversively sneaks in plenty of touching real-life wisdom about things like life, parenthood and meditation: “And I had never thought about it this way, had always assumed that whatever was inside me that made me toxic could not be diluted, but each subsequent breath made me a little more calm.”

Wilson’s is the type of voice we need more of in the world: unfailingly witty, unexpectedly original and always, and perhaps most importantly, relentlessly hopeful, even when it seems like the world is burning down around us. 

*Netgalley provided B3 with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 5, 2019

Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson

I really should have already written about Kevin Wilson’s The Family Fang as a page-turner. But, you know, hindsight. Family Fang is written for performance artist and Royal Tenanbaum junkies alike and as a card-carrying member in both arenas, it fulfilled all of my dark humor needs.

Perfect Little World, however, is the sweet quirky answer to my deep desire to run a commune. With a definitively-unique scientifically-sanctioned premise, Perfect Little World plays a little game of God within the structure of a 10-year social experiment. Ten families, each with one newborn, brought to live in a state-of-the-art complex to raise their children as one superfamily. All of the adults co-parent, and all of the families’ needs are met, from education of the children to professional development of the parents, housing, food, you name it. All this with one little caveat: the children will not know who their biological parents are until the age of 5.

Ready to sign up?

We see the delectable scenario play out through the eyes of the youngest and only single mother of the group, Izzy, whose own path to motherhood is a story within itself.

The perhaps most impressive part of the tale is how artistically Wilson writes about childbirth. His depiction is so vivid, so accurate, that I would not be surprised if he had actually given birth himself.

Signature to Wilson’s style, his words are funny and honest, freshly hewn buoyant logs floating down the river of darkness that is the ever-infectious world.

The only shortcoming of the book is that I would have read a novel twice the size I so longed to hear more of Izzy’s floundering tale.  

So does the experiment fail? Does it succeed?

You’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

Star Wars Original Trilogy Posters - Created by Kevin Wilson

Timed edition prints available for sale from Bottleneck Gallery until Wednesday, May 4th @ 12PM ET. You can follow this artist on InstagramandTwitter.