Publishers Weekly
03/18/2024
In this chirpy if wearying debut, a 10-year-old white girl seeks friendship and adventure after a tragedy. In 1992 Calumet City, Ill., Molly lives with her dad in the House of Friends, a religious co-op, where she’s homeschooled by an older woman she calls “fat Evelyn.” Two of their fellow residents recently died in a blaze, including a nun whose ghost haunts their “fire-rotted” house. When 20-something Jeanie arrives on a dirt bike and moves in, Molly is immediately taken with the young woman: “right now Jeanie’s the most supernatural thing to me ever.” Jeanie is on the run from her vengeful twin sister (the reasons for this come out later), prompting her to fake her own death by staging a hot-air balloon accident. Molly, knowing Jeanie is still alive, runs away to Chicago to meet up with her pen pal Demarcus, who is Black, for help in tracking Jeanie down. Wilson has a knack for surreal imagery (she describes a cyclorama in Chicago as “a ghost-painted grid with glowing bars and square cells like a prison”). Unfortunately, she leans too often on the puerile insults of the period, including “asstard” (to which she adds “crotchtard” and “kittentits”), and awkwardly attempts to work through racial issues by having Molly say ignorant things and Demarcus call her out (“I can’t tell if you’re racist or just dumb”). In the end, Wilson serves up more fatigue than intrigue. Agent: Kent Wolf, Neon Literary. (May)
From the Publisher
There’s nothing predictable about this novel. And for this precise reason, Kittentits is nearly impossible to put down. . . . Wilson demonstrates exceptional artistry with the supporting characters, capturing the fundamental experiences of trust, friendship, love and loss. Their backstories, however improbable, will resonate with your personal yearnings. A bit deranged, a lot unforgettable, Kittentits needs to be your next literary escape.” —Bookpage
“Holly Wilson’s debut novel tells the electric, surreal, bonkers-in-the-best-way story of Molly—a 10-year-old girl living in a strange co-op in 1992 Illinois who forms an unexpected friendship with Jeanie, the 23-year-old woman who moves in after a prison stint. . . . For anyone with a high threshold for wackiness, it’s a brilliant, wild ride.” —Bustle
“A trash-talking 10-year-old girl who sees ghosts is our main character in this very promising coming-of-age story that is chock-full of absurdist elements. If you’re a fan of bold writing, I think this debut will be for you!” —"Goodreads Editors’ Picks for May Books”
"[A] surrealist, carnivalesque bildungsroman." — The Los Angeles Times
“Readers won’t want to finish Wilson’s debut—or leave Molly’s world. Molly has one of the funniest internal monologues in literary fiction, with Wilson’s genius dialogue to match. The invented World’s Fair is a feat of massive imagination and a celebration of past fairs, Chicago lore, and 1990s culture. Cut the tethers of a hot-air balloon, visit a psychic in an iron lung, take a glass elevator to an underwater food court; laugh, cry, and be moved by this novel of great art.” —Booklist, starred review
“Holly Wilson’s Kittentits is sacred and profane, filled with big emotions, all amplified by grief. Molly is a wholly unique and charismatic narrator, navigating (and creating) chaos as she seeks out a way to hold onto both the living and dead. This is a wildly funny and utterly convincing coming-of-age novel like nothing I’ve read before.” —Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here
“Kittentits is a bizarro wonderland of a book, a tasty kaleidoscopic freak show that will remind readers of a marvelously raunchy Katherine Dunn. The novel is just as much fun as it is juicy and disturbed—I enjoyed every wild and frenzied minute of it.” —Kristen Arnett, New York Times bestselling author of With Teeth
“UNHINGED in all the best ways.” —Samantha Irby, author of Quietly Hostile
“An invigorating read! A scorched-earth ghost story with a hell of a voice at its heart. Fans of Jen Beagin and Patricia Lockwood should read on. Fans of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, buzz off!” —Amelia Gray, author of Gutshot
“Holly Wilson has the stealth ability to make you laugh while breaking your heart. Reader beware: Kittentits may seem sweet, but she has claws.” —Sarah Rose Etter, author of Ripe
“Part Cruddy, part otherworldly hellion parable, Holly Wilson’s Kittentits is a comet ripping through a Walmart, a carnival ride launching into the sun. Molly’s voice is raw and true, and this book is fun as shit. Kittentits is unforgettable.” —Lindsay Hunter, author of Hot Springs Drive
“Molly is one of the greatest young female characters I’ve had the luck of reading since I picked up Joy Williams’s The Quick and the Dead back in 2000 . . . I TRULY LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!!!” —Gillian Flynn, Gillian Flynn Books
