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Nothing
"Apocalyptic and psychologically attentive. I was moved."
-Tao Lin, New York Times Book Review
"A marvelously scathing indictment of a generation that has no choice but to burn. From Nothing’s outset, [Wirth Cauchon] crafts scenes with complexity and a scary prescience. [Nothing is] a riveting first piece of scripture from our newest prophet of misspent youth."
-Paste
"Like a movie adaptation of Daria as directed by Gregg Araki. The energy almost makes each page glow. Though this novel starts as Bret Easton Ellis, it ends as Nick Cave - thunderous, apocalyptic. The move into the grand and mythic separates Nothing from the usual stuff concerning the bored and the pretty."
-Electric Literature
"Nothing feels like the descendent of the masterful short stories of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son. [A] noteworthy debut."
-Bustle
"A burning mean and darkly mysterious read."
-Joy Williams
"I could tell you that Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon has written an utterly contemporary novel of our fragmented culture, a novel that I think might be the great American novel of the selfie, brilliantly alternating the narratives of two young travelers partying and searching and losing themselves in the wild West — a Kerouac hitchhiker juxtaposed with the nihilistic, wanting, wandering Ruth and her toxic friendship with her prettier best friend. But this is what I want to tell you—this is what you need to know — Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon writes like a beast, brutal and ecstatic. You need to read this."
-Kate Zambreno
"An edgy debut. Cauchon's characters have serrated edges... they'll get under the reader's skin."
-Publishers Weekly
"Claustrophobic. It's August and the hills are on fire and I'm reading Nothing. I see Wirth Cauchon's characters lurking around Missoula, outside the bars and walking along the river, lost and fucked up, abused and abusers, seekers, trustafarians, and ne'er-do-wells. Stuck in the limbo of youthful identity crisis, desperate for a way in or a way out."
-Jeff Ament
Ruth traded a dead-end life in Minneapolis for a dead-end life in Missoula. But in Missoula, she's got Bridget. "[Bridget] was gorgeous… but that wasn't it, that didn't quite explain it. What explained it was the curse. The curse of the unreasonably pretty, the curse of cult leaders and dictators. It sucked everyone to her, it consumed her, made her untouchable."
After a local girl dies at a party, signaling the end of fun for the twentysomethings of Missoula, James and Ruth become involved. But jealousy over Bridget quickly complicates things.
Nothing announces a nervy and assertive new voice, while also capturing the angst and foreboding that could mark it as an even grander generational statement.
-Tao Lin, New York Times Book Review
"A marvelously scathing indictment of a generation that has no choice but to burn. From Nothing’s outset, [Wirth Cauchon] crafts scenes with complexity and a scary prescience. [Nothing is] a riveting first piece of scripture from our newest prophet of misspent youth."
-Paste
"Like a movie adaptation of Daria as directed by Gregg Araki. The energy almost makes each page glow. Though this novel starts as Bret Easton Ellis, it ends as Nick Cave - thunderous, apocalyptic. The move into the grand and mythic separates Nothing from the usual stuff concerning the bored and the pretty."
-Electric Literature
"Nothing feels like the descendent of the masterful short stories of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son. [A] noteworthy debut."
-Bustle
"A burning mean and darkly mysterious read."
-Joy Williams
"I could tell you that Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon has written an utterly contemporary novel of our fragmented culture, a novel that I think might be the great American novel of the selfie, brilliantly alternating the narratives of two young travelers partying and searching and losing themselves in the wild West — a Kerouac hitchhiker juxtaposed with the nihilistic, wanting, wandering Ruth and her toxic friendship with her prettier best friend. But this is what I want to tell you—this is what you need to know — Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon writes like a beast, brutal and ecstatic. You need to read this."
-Kate Zambreno
"An edgy debut. Cauchon's characters have serrated edges... they'll get under the reader's skin."
-Publishers Weekly
"Claustrophobic. It's August and the hills are on fire and I'm reading Nothing. I see Wirth Cauchon's characters lurking around Missoula, outside the bars and walking along the river, lost and fucked up, abused and abusers, seekers, trustafarians, and ne'er-do-wells. Stuck in the limbo of youthful identity crisis, desperate for a way in or a way out."
-Jeff Ament
Ruth traded a dead-end life in Minneapolis for a dead-end life in Missoula. But in Missoula, she's got Bridget. "[Bridget] was gorgeous… but that wasn't it, that didn't quite explain it. What explained it was the curse. The curse of the unreasonably pretty, the curse of cult leaders and dictators. It sucked everyone to her, it consumed her, made her untouchable."
After a local girl dies at a party, signaling the end of fun for the twentysomethings of Missoula, James and Ruth become involved. But jealousy over Bridget quickly complicates things.
Nothing announces a nervy and assertive new voice, while also capturing the angst and foreboding that could mark it as an even grander generational statement.
178 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
4 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
November 11, 2013
this book sucks the air out of the room. it has power. it gave me nightmares. the world of this story is mean and scary and there is nowhere to run, but you wouldn't want to run even if you could because it is riveting. you just can't look away. and holding these characters in your sight is worth it because, after going through their sickness and pain and the haze of their wandering days, you will get to see what becomes of them. well-crafted, terrifying story from this great new author.
May 18, 2018
I read this book obsessively at least twice a year. It's sharp and suffocating and mysterious and I devour it in a day every time. I can see Cauchon's characters stumbling around the streets of Missoula and feel both disgust towards them and kinship with them. This books carries a darkness that I can never quite shake for a few days and I adore it for that.
November 8, 2013
like any flame, "nothing" writhes and dances, sparks and spreads as it consumes. its heat pulls you in closer even as you're conscious that you're burning, too.
read it for the writing, to go along for the ride, because you believe in spontaneous human combustion.
read it for the writing, to go along for the ride, because you believe in spontaneous human combustion.
November 16, 2013
The narrative flows with both a breathy intensity and a cool hollowness in Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon's debut novel, NOTHING. The rise and fall of a toxic friendship, the pulsing house parties that stop after a girl dies, the wildfires and mountains, the middle class kid who hops trains to Missoula to find the truth about his father -- they swirl and converge and blur together like smoke in your eyes, but the light, it's sharpened and heightened somehow too. She captures perfectly that early adulthood wasteland where you're friends with people and you do things, but you're not really sure why anymore, and either the momentum carries you through or it doesn't, either you emerge at the other end of the tunnel or the walls come crashing down, and there's something about the dialog, the rhythm. I don't know, it's just that the ambivalence and hesitation and put-on confidence are just as they should be.
May 25, 2021
Loved it! I know the author and she is amazing!!!
March 14, 2014
Who wants to read angst filled blather about twenty something party hobos drinking and smoking cigarettes and rolling cigarettes and drinking? Not me. There are wildfires is Missoula. There's smoke everywhere. That is the essence. There's a twist you see coming a mile off, but hope it'll be pulled off with some panache. It isn't. I think I knew I was not going to find anything to like when I read this passage:
A wind started, strongish, and it blew a bit of trash up the street, a plastic bag and a wrapper. But this was no "American Beauty."
I hope this is the first and last novel by this writer. I just hated it.
A wind started, strongish, and it blew a bit of trash up the street, a plastic bag and a wrapper. But this was no "American Beauty."
I hope this is the first and last novel by this writer. I just hated it.
April 19, 2014
Nearly perfect in what it sets out to do. Highly cinematic. Hard to shake off.
June 14, 2018
Most accurate title ever.
February 15, 2019
I loved the writing and the backdrop of the Missoula wildfires. The Minneapolis description brought me back to my formative years in the Twin Cites. I wasn't really that into the overall story. Maybe it was too familiar. Definitely worth a quick read.
July 16, 2025
i had to get used to this writing style, no quotation marks and very choppy, but once i did it just made the entire narrative visceral and immediate. i hated every character.. and the whole book filled me with dread but i kind of saw that coming page one. time to read something uplifting LOL
November 12, 2018
decent but a little lacking in vision and substance.
May 10, 2014
I gave this book 3.5/5 stars on InsatiableBooksluts.com. A review copy was provided by Two Dollar Radio.
"This book was a tad disappointing, I have to admit. Nothing in this book surprised me--which, for a book that is partially built around some mysterious unanswered questions, that's not good. BUT. That having been said? Nothing is still better than probably 85% of what's being published. It's a fairly strong offering from Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon and I'll be watching for her work in the future.
The story: Ruth is a girl who finds herself having made friends with a needy pretty girl, a former Mean-Girl type who hasn't lost the meanness, just the support system. Ruth talks about how they found each other because they both have style, but it's clear that Ruth is the stereotypically less-desirable of the two girls, and she has a giant chip on her shoulder because of this.
James comes into the story early. He's running away from a rich not-really-daddy and toward answers to a shitload of questions. He fancies himself a hobo, a hard motherfucker who can take care of himself without comforts, but the real hobos can see right through him.
Two stories are unfolding during the book, and they're only tenuously connected at first. Bridget and Ruth are growing apart, and Ruth is having kittens about it (while, of course, feeling nothing); James is searching for information about his real father, and every puzzle piece he finds multiplies the missing pieces. Their paths cross a few times. The more entangled they get, the worse things get.
Also, drugs and parties.
Cauchon's writing has a strong voice, but I thought the story was a bit weak. I actually groaned out loud when she referenced American Beauty, because if you took the struggles of the parents out of that movie, the stories are extremely similar. Vain pretty girl hanging out with "ugly" girl to get validation and feel superior to someone. Mysterious new boy goes for "ugly" girl, also has problems of his own; everyone's problems converge into a massive clusterfuck.
And then, on top of that, there's the drug cliches: a neglected baby. A dead girl. PEER PRESSURE.
The characters were drawn well, if a bit cliched. Cliches exist for a reason and all that; Bridget did exactly what a Bridget would do, Ruth what a Ruth would do. Still, I would have liked to have been surprised. I would have liked to have seen more depth or growth from at least one of the three major characters.
I did figure out the "mystery" (which I assume was supposed to be a big plot twist at the end--I don't know, I'm never sure if I'm meant to figure it out in advance or if the author accidentally revealed her hand too soon) on page 83, about halfway through the book. I AM BAD AT READING BOOKS WITH MYSTERY ELEMENTS, YOU GUYS. I always figure them out too early.
Also, I felt like the author worked "nothing" into the book far too much. Ruth was always feeling "nothing" or seeing "nothing" or, just, lots of nothing. On the whole, I felt the book tended toward being thematically heavy-handed.
Sigh. I think it's a book I could have appreciated much more ten years ago. I probably would have given it five fucking enthusiastic stars in my early 20's. I don't think I'm the intended audience for this book anymore.
Overall: I don't feel angry that I spent time reading it. It definitely has an audience and the writing is good. That audience is probably not me; if you think the audience might be you, I recommend it. Will still read Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon in the future and will definitely continue to anticipate Two Dollar Radio selections."
"This book was a tad disappointing, I have to admit. Nothing in this book surprised me--which, for a book that is partially built around some mysterious unanswered questions, that's not good. BUT. That having been said? Nothing is still better than probably 85% of what's being published. It's a fairly strong offering from Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon and I'll be watching for her work in the future.
The story: Ruth is a girl who finds herself having made friends with a needy pretty girl, a former Mean-Girl type who hasn't lost the meanness, just the support system. Ruth talks about how they found each other because they both have style, but it's clear that Ruth is the stereotypically less-desirable of the two girls, and she has a giant chip on her shoulder because of this.
James comes into the story early. He's running away from a rich not-really-daddy and toward answers to a shitload of questions. He fancies himself a hobo, a hard motherfucker who can take care of himself without comforts, but the real hobos can see right through him.
Two stories are unfolding during the book, and they're only tenuously connected at first. Bridget and Ruth are growing apart, and Ruth is having kittens about it (while, of course, feeling nothing); James is searching for information about his real father, and every puzzle piece he finds multiplies the missing pieces. Their paths cross a few times. The more entangled they get, the worse things get.
Also, drugs and parties.
Cauchon's writing has a strong voice, but I thought the story was a bit weak. I actually groaned out loud when she referenced American Beauty, because if you took the struggles of the parents out of that movie, the stories are extremely similar. Vain pretty girl hanging out with "ugly" girl to get validation and feel superior to someone. Mysterious new boy goes for "ugly" girl, also has problems of his own; everyone's problems converge into a massive clusterfuck.
And then, on top of that, there's the drug cliches: a neglected baby. A dead girl. PEER PRESSURE.
The characters were drawn well, if a bit cliched. Cliches exist for a reason and all that; Bridget did exactly what a Bridget would do, Ruth what a Ruth would do. Still, I would have liked to have been surprised. I would have liked to have seen more depth or growth from at least one of the three major characters.
I did figure out the "mystery" (which I assume was supposed to be a big plot twist at the end--I don't know, I'm never sure if I'm meant to figure it out in advance or if the author accidentally revealed her hand too soon) on page 83, about halfway through the book. I AM BAD AT READING BOOKS WITH MYSTERY ELEMENTS, YOU GUYS. I always figure them out too early.
Also, I felt like the author worked "nothing" into the book far too much. Ruth was always feeling "nothing" or seeing "nothing" or, just, lots of nothing. On the whole, I felt the book tended toward being thematically heavy-handed.
Sigh. I think it's a book I could have appreciated much more ten years ago. I probably would have given it five fucking enthusiastic stars in my early 20's. I don't think I'm the intended audience for this book anymore.
Overall: I don't feel angry that I spent time reading it. It definitely has an audience and the writing is good. That audience is probably not me; if you think the audience might be you, I recommend it. Will still read Anne Marie Wirth Cauchon in the future and will definitely continue to anticipate Two Dollar Radio selections."
August 4, 2014
I had to stop reading because I was annoyed halfway through, and felt it would be one of those books that would and up frustrating me more than giving me any enjoyment. Is it a man or a woman? The main character seems to be a different gender depending on which period of the story you're reading (hobo: male, party-kid: female). In the end, I didn't read it regularly enough to understand the lesser characters, who were briefly mentioned, but ended up playing significant roles in the story. Character development seemed to be lacking. I didn't really believe the main character, either. Overall, I felt sort of meh about this book.
Read
September 22, 2021Novel following dual first-person narrators in Missoula, Montana, in the midst of a terrible rash of forest fires. As destruction grows closer and closer to the mountain-valley town--the sense of impending doom works great throughout the novel--young Ruth feels trapped and tries to determine the nature of her relationship with fellow bar-hopping, drug-enthusiast, party-girl Bridget, and equally young James drifts into town chasing a romantic vision of vagrancy and searching for clues about the father he never knew. Frenetic prose that takes risks. Lot of nice Missoula locales.
December 11, 2014
It's suffocating. The wildfires in Missoula force all the self-absorbed twenty somethings in the book closer and closer together. And the characters are self-absorbed; which could be irritating, but it sets the scene of the novel really well. The story builds to something too (not always a given when the main characters are listless and self-involved) which I appreciated quite a bit.
Another really good book from Two Dollar Radio.
Another really good book from Two Dollar Radio.
October 7, 2016
I don't have a lot to say about this book. It's an unsettling, sometimes confusing but definitely demanding, apocalyptic novel. It's not a survival tale per se, but it has those elements, and it's sort of a human tale, but maybe about humanity more than about humans themselves.
A good read, and one I'm glad I read and glad I own, but I'm not 100% sure what to make of it. Those are sometimes great books to read though. If it has me thinking about it this much a week after reading it...
A good read, and one I'm glad I read and glad I own, but I'm not 100% sure what to make of it. Those are sometimes great books to read though. If it has me thinking about it this much a week after reading it...
November 14, 2013
Taut, focused story with a naturalistic yet apocalyptic setting. (Specifically: Montana in the midst of wildfires.) Well-rendered, deeply damaged characters; kinda Denis Johnson-y in places. (Which is not a bad thing at all.)
April 21, 2014
While the story isn't necessarily new—horrible kids experiencing ennui from their party lifestyle—the writing is so ferocious and original that the treaded plot feels alien. It's like a post-apocalyptic Hold Steady song. Feel slightly shaken after reading it.
May 4, 2015
Can't remember what prompted me to put this on my "books-to-read" list. I liked the author's use of two narrators, but unfortunately their more or less alternate narration was pretty much about ... well, the title of the novel tells it all.
January 15, 2014
"Evacuation was for yuppies."
June 17, 2014
although there were some brilliant angsty bit in here, the overall story was lacking, and i was not necessarily convinced by the characters.
January 11, 2015
I really want to like this book, and there are parts that are fantastic, but I just can't.
April 27, 2015
Loved this. Like an episode of 'Girls' written by Bret Easton Ellis and directed by Gregg Araki.
March 30, 2017
This book has stayed with me in the years since I read it. it has a strong mood, and I felt as if I was an invisible character within the story, especially during the interactions between the two female leads. It is not easy to classify its genre, but as someone who usually prefers young adult fiction, this was a great crossover. The characters are young and struggling with identity and reality, but their obstacles and desires are more adult. I would recommend this book to someone who wants to really disappear into the world of the book, and here you'll find a realistic yet dark mystery of sorts.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews