Brown Bag Book Discussion

Librarian Paul McNeil will lead a discussion of Kevin Wilson's bestselling novel Nothing to See Here. Participants are encouraged (but not required) to read the book in advance. Ask for a copy at the library’s information desk.

In order to allow for social distancing, seating is limited. Please register to reserve your spot. Wearing a mask is required during this program.

From Library Journal: 

As teenagers, wealthy Madison and scholarship student Lillian became unlikely friends at a prestigious boarding school, until Lillian was expelled for something Madison did. Now that they're in their late 20s, Madison is married to a senator, and she invites Lillian—who spends her days working at a grocery store and smoking pot in her mother's attic—to their estate to care for her twin stepchildren.

However, there’s a catch: the twins spontaneously combust when they get agitated, flames igniting from their skin in a startling but beautiful way. Lillian is convinced Madison is pulling her leg, but it’s the truth.

The novel is a love letter to the weirdness and difficulties of children and of parenting, with or without spontaneous human combustion. The fire is a lovely and flexible metaphor for childhood—the pain, joy, and mania of it—as vital, beautiful, and terrifying as kids themselves can be. Lillian tells the story in an easy, engaging voice, cynical and funny without being caustic. VERDICT Wilson further cements himself as a chronicler of peculiar families while reminding us that, then again, aren't they all?