Nothing to See Here: weird & wobbly

Title: Nothing to See Here

Author: Kevin Wilson (narrated by the lovely Marin Ireland)

Publisher: Ecco

Pages: 288

My rating: ⭐⭐

I finished this book in the morning and I’m still not sure what I read. It’s a bursting story about fire kids, yeah you read it right. Kids on fire, literal kids who burst into flames when they get upset, in an otherwise completely everyday world. The dialogue and emotions are slathered by our foul-mouthed protagonist Lillian, who doesn’t have the best hand dealt to her by the world, who is witty and angry but so down-to-earth. A very wholesome but bitchy person. It’s a crunchy and chunky read, and Nothing to See Here… Is it about friendship? The type where your rich best friend’s dad invites you and your mom to a lavish, sumptuous dinner only to bribe you into taking your best friend’s blame, when the fancy prep school admin found out that your bestie has been hiding her cocaine stash. And as life has it, your mom ends up happily agreeing to the bribe, and you lose your scholarship, get kicked out of prep school, and later on in life, your bestie just carries herself along, never mentioning the world’s favour you did for her. And then, to ask you to live in her house to take care of her strange step-children?

The whole plot was weird and wobbly. It can be read as something about friendship, a strange but warm friendship full of competition, favours, and forgiveness. It can be read as a book about parenting, about slowly realizing how much you love your wicked kids, as completely evil and innocent they are, even if they are not yours. Even if the first time they meet you, they almost bite off your hand and drown you until you’re out of oxygen slashing in the pool. Talk about first impressions and sweet children. You develop a strange love for them, and a need to shelter them from the evils of the world and prevent them from getting in harm’s way. Ok, saw that coming.

Nothing to See Here has flavour, but no aftertaste.