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jarku's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Still trying to calibrate my ratings on the scale of "how did I feel about this book" rather than "should this book exist." It has no competition in constellating my adolescence into fiction. This is probably not useful to anyone else on this social network. Sometimes you just need a novel to remind you that, given any choice of adolescences, the one you'd fantasize about would have still seen you flounder. Unrelatably--for which I should remember to be grateful--Idlewild is also about ruining your whole life instead of allowing yourself to transition .
As far as trans stuff goes, I wouldn't have thought I had much in common with James Frankie Thomas. He has spoken of his moment of revelation coming to him as an "I'm like you," for instance; I had no such role models. But I did write slash and "queer theory" under an online identity meant to convince the one other man in the fandom--a cis gay graduate student--that I was one too. Idlewild showed me that these are kind of the same thing, two flavours of this soul-shredding mess I know innately and have never seen in writing before.
I don't get the sense that Thomas meant to write a YA novel (though I'm sure it would be very appreciated by a young reader with the kind of precocity shared by the characters), but if he were, I'd hold my breath for a sequel about Christopher. Off the cuff, I am immensely disappointed by Theo's flatness (-0.5 stars).
As far as trans stuff goes, I wouldn't have thought I had much in common with James Frankie Thomas. He has spoken of his moment of revelation coming to him as an "I'm like you," for instance; I had no such role models. But I did write slash and "queer theory" under an online identity meant to convince the one other man in the fandom--a cis gay graduate student--that I was one too. Idlewild showed me that these are kind of the same thing, two flavours of this soul-shredding mess I know innately and have never seen in writing before.
I don't get the sense that Thomas meant to write a YA novel (though I'm sure it would be very appreciated by a young reader with the kind of precocity shared by the characters), but if he were, I'd hold my breath for a sequel about Christopher. Off the cuff, I am immensely disappointed by Theo's flatness (-0.5 stars).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, and Racism
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Mass/school shootings
everesto's review
emotional
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book was hard to put down, it was written in a way that made me need to know what happened to the characters. Here are some miscellaneous thoughts I have:
- I love the way the author utilized the different perspectives of Fay, Nell, the F&N unit, and the invert society. I really enjoyed how the chapters that were the F&N unit and the invert society were in first person and used the 'we' pronoun whereas the Fay and Nell chapters were in third person and were reflective on the events in high school.
- knowing how close Fay and Nell were in highschool and that they did not talk at all after highschool really made me curious about what could have happened to separate them.
- The faunfic was weird (don't write fanfic about real people, ESPECIALLY don't write smut. It's just weird)and though it ended up being and important plot point it still made me feel weird.
-the ending was pretty unsatisfying to me. I don't know what could have been different but I don't think the story was concluded really. I think that makes sense given the way their relationship ended but still.
-I think Fay's plot point of being a gay trans man was NOT resolved in the slightest, though I think that Fay wouldn't end up resolving it at all and would stay living as a woman. Despite this, I wish that something went different with it due to the miscommunication about gay stuff between Fay and Nell being a big point of tension in their friendship (at least for Nell).
-I want to know more about Theo.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought that the characters and their relationships were written really well!
- I love the way the author utilized the different perspectives of Fay, Nell, the F&N unit, and the invert society. I really enjoyed how the chapters that were the F&N unit and the invert society were in first person and used the 'we' pronoun whereas the Fay and Nell chapters were in third person and were reflective on the events in high school.
- knowing how close Fay and Nell were in highschool and that they did not talk at all after highschool really made me curious about what could have happened to separate them.
- The faunfic was weird (don't write fanfic about real people, ESPECIALLY don't write smut. It's just weird)
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-I want to know more about Theo.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought that the characters and their relationships were written really well!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Racism, Fatphobia, and War
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Car accident, Dysphoria, Mass/school shootings, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts
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