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ellemilia's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-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
3.0
rencordings's review against another edition
3.0
i genuinely love linmark's writing. i was deeply impressed by his incredible use of language as well as attack on language in rolling the r's, and went into this book eager to see how linmark would continue to play with language, especially when the title is a clear wordplay on oscar wilde like woo! i was anticipating wit and sarcasm and just a whole lot of social commentary on language that would hit me right in the gut. well, it didn't really live up to my expectations.
the social commentary is there and i appreciate that the book tries to bring in issues of gender, sexuality, education, politics of language, and geopolitics; however, the execution is a bit clumsy, in my opinion. i prefer how rolling the r's does this through the subtlety in the characters' very overt emotions. here, the characters are young, emotionally intense, super socially aware, and just in general very precocious. while i'm not saying the portrayal of complex teenagers who are both naïve and sharp in the book is unrealistic, it makes the book's overall vibe a bit too juvenile for my personal liking. i think my main issue is that ken z's extremely melodramatic personality undermines whatever discourse that the book is trying to provoke. perhaps some will say that despite their heightened social awareness, teenagers are, at the end of the day, emotional messes. and i agree. however, the characters also deliver astonishingly keen and sober social observations at the same time they're experiencing emotional distress. the dissonance is a bit too much for me, and makes the book seem a bit wishy-washy, like linmark wants to go all out on the YA genre but also wants to incorporate discourse into the book, and i think the product is a bit clumsy.
that being said, i love the characters, the play with language, the melodramatic angst, and of course, how beautifully it's written. if this is a purely YA piece without such overt political commentary, i think i would've enjoyed it infinitely more. like this writing reminds me of fanfiction, the Great type, the could-be-published type, and i'd read the heck out of that. the poems are also stunning, and perhaps the highlights for me in this book. i'd definitely check out some more of his poetry after this!!
the social commentary is there and i appreciate that the book tries to bring in issues of gender, sexuality, education, politics of language, and geopolitics; however, the execution is a bit clumsy, in my opinion. i prefer how rolling the r's does this through the subtlety in the characters' very overt emotions. here, the characters are young, emotionally intense, super socially aware, and just in general very precocious. while i'm not saying the portrayal of complex teenagers who are both naïve and sharp in the book is unrealistic, it makes the book's overall vibe a bit too juvenile for my personal liking. i think my main issue is that ken z's extremely melodramatic personality undermines whatever discourse that the book is trying to provoke. perhaps some will say that despite their heightened social awareness, teenagers are, at the end of the day, emotional messes. and i agree. however, the characters also deliver astonishingly keen and sober social observations at the same time they're experiencing emotional distress. the dissonance is a bit too much for me, and makes the book seem a bit wishy-washy, like linmark wants to go all out on the YA genre but also wants to incorporate discourse into the book, and i think the product is a bit clumsy.
that being said, i love the characters, the play with language, the melodramatic angst, and of course, how beautifully it's written. if this is a purely YA piece without such overt political commentary, i think i would've enjoyed it infinitely more. like this writing reminds me of fanfiction, the Great type, the could-be-published type, and i'd read the heck out of that. the poems are also stunning, and perhaps the highlights for me in this book. i'd definitely check out some more of his poetry after this!!
ana_04's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? N/A
3.5
soupdumpling's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
For the bio that compare this to Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X -- How could one write such a lie...
This book definitely had me changing my opinion every couple of pages... One minute I was so excited at the prospect of LGBTQ Filipino stories (spoiler: as a non-binary Filipino-American, I was very let-down), the next I thought the "Wilde" concept was being pushed too hard, after I wondered if I had misunderstood the entirety of the plot, then got suckered as a hopeless romantic but annoyed at the entire dialogue and myself, and finally ending with general content but still feeling "eh". I wasn't looking for some life changing analysis of what it's like to be LGBTQ and Filipino, but if that is advertised as the crux of the plot, of course I am going to have some expectations going in... Sad to say most expectations were not met.
Things that were not bad
- I felt exposed lol. I was absolutely OVER Ken Z's character and found him whiny, impractical, asking too many questions, drawing too many hypotheticals, too many abstract thoughts with overthinking, prioritizing someone he just met over people he'd known for years, not valuing his single mother -- then I realized this was definitely a previous version of myself, especially around the time when I was in my first long-term relationship. I hated his character because it held some of the ugliest parts of my past that I had to learn to grow out of it. I can't help but wonder if others had this same type of self-reflection (although I feel like humans seldom like to admit when they were toxic and/or "bad" people...)
Things That We're BIG NOPES:
- There were so many moments where it felt like the author was trying "too hard" to craft Ken Z into this quirky bookworm nerd... the amount of similes and metaphors woven into his internal thoughts was far too much for my liking. After I looked into the author's background and saw his focus is primarily poetry, this made sense to me, but in the moment I was very thrown off by the FORCED "intellectual monologues" that occurred.
- The author literally... spells... everything... out... By throwing in so much "social justice language" it inevitably becomes jargon-y and in reality, no one talks like this. Yes my close circle and I believe in the liberation of all peoples and have very social justice-minded values... but do we address discuss issues as depicted in this text? NO??? Everything is spelled out as if it is an ethnic studies reading or essay.
- The usage of the "r-slur" out of NO WHERE as an insult ??? This was LITERALLY published in 2019 in the United States, there is ZERO excuse for this.
- CaZZ being trans was a diversity token. That's it. There was 0 development of her character nor did she receive any role other than being the "trans person who faced extreme trauma but is still surviving and now chooses to be outspoken". I also think it's ridiculous that the author is setting this in the Philippines and alludes to colonization but still abides by Westernized standards of genders and said "CaZZ should have been born with two XXs" ... gender is far more than sex ???
- Reading CaZZ's character PLUS with the incorporation of astrology and millenial humor just screams that the author is a privileged cis gay man trying to be relevant to younger LGBTQ audiences but fails terribly.
- The fact that Ken's friends forced him to come out (not with his sexuality, but with his mental health and processing) is so toxic??? It was wrong for Ken to not give any notice, but it was also just as wrong for the friends to literally CORNER him into sharing more about his depressive episode. No one is owned an explanation. He should not have to explain his mental health if he does not want to disclose it.
Quotes that got me through this book:
- Me: Actually it feels good to have another person in my small universe.
Oscar: Your world, Ken Z, is larger than you thought. It has always been. And now, with Ran, it's become even larger.
Me: Because of him?
Oscar: Because of love, dear heart. Because of love.
-"I remember; I wrote it down. I don't let words like that get away from me. They mean too much. Like that lingering hug he gave me before walking away."
- "What's happening to me? One minute, I'm writing a list to stretch happiness a little longer... The next, I'm writing a list to keep myself from drowning."
- "like ghosts, that we thought we had forgotten or already made peace with, memories that we never wanted and that continue to punish us by making us crave and wish we were doing more than just remembering."
For the bio that compare this to Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X -- How could one write such a lie...
This book definitely had me changing my opinion every couple of pages... One minute I was so excited at the prospect of LGBTQ Filipino stories (spoiler: as a non-binary Filipino-American, I was very let-down), the next I thought the "Wilde" concept was being pushed too hard, after I wondered if I had misunderstood the entirety of the plot, then got suckered as a hopeless romantic but annoyed at the entire dialogue and myself, and finally ending with general content but still feeling "eh". I wasn't looking for some life changing analysis of what it's like to be LGBTQ and Filipino, but if that is advertised as the crux of the plot, of course I am going to have some expectations going in... Sad to say most expectations were not met.
Things that were not bad
- I felt exposed lol. I was absolutely OVER Ken Z's character and found him whiny, impractical, asking too many questions, drawing too many hypotheticals, too many abstract thoughts with overthinking, prioritizing someone he just met over people he'd known for years, not valuing his single mother -- then I realized this was definitely a previous version of myself, especially around the time when I was in my first long-term relationship. I hated his character because it held some of the ugliest parts of my past that I had to learn to grow out of it. I can't help but wonder if others had this same type of self-reflection (although I feel like humans seldom like to admit when they were toxic and/or "bad" people...)
Things That We're BIG NOPES:
- There were so many moments where it felt like the author was trying "too hard" to craft Ken Z into this quirky bookworm nerd... the amount of similes and metaphors woven into his internal thoughts was far too much for my liking. After I looked into the author's background and saw his focus is primarily poetry, this made sense to me, but in the moment I was very thrown off by the FORCED "intellectual monologues" that occurred.
- The author literally... spells... everything... out... By throwing in so much "social justice language" it inevitably becomes jargon-y and in reality, no one talks like this. Yes my close circle and I believe in the liberation of all peoples and have very social justice-minded values... but do we address discuss issues as depicted in this text? NO??? Everything is spelled out as if it is an ethnic studies reading or essay.
- The usage of the "r-slur" out of NO WHERE as an insult ??? This was LITERALLY published in 2019 in the United States, there is ZERO excuse for this.
- CaZZ being trans was a diversity token. That's it. There was 0 development of her character nor did she receive any role other than being the "trans person who faced extreme trauma but is still surviving and now chooses to be outspoken". I also think it's ridiculous that the author is setting this in the Philippines and alludes to colonization but still abides by Westernized standards of genders and said "CaZZ should have been born with two XXs" ... gender is far more than sex ???
- Reading CaZZ's character PLUS with the incorporation of astrology and millenial humor just screams that the author is a privileged cis gay man trying to be relevant to younger LGBTQ audiences but fails terribly.
- The fact that Ken's friends forced him to come out (not with his sexuality, but with his mental health and processing) is so toxic??? It was wrong for Ken to not give any notice, but it was also just as wrong for the friends to literally CORNER him into sharing more about his depressive episode. No one is owned an explanation. He should not have to explain his mental health if he does not want to disclose it.
Quotes that got me through this book:
- Me: Actually it feels good to have another person in my small universe.
Oscar: Your world, Ken Z, is larger than you thought. It has always been. And now, with Ran, it's become even larger.
Me: Because of him?
Oscar: Because of love, dear heart. Because of love.
-"I remember; I wrote it down. I don't let words like that get away from me. They mean too much. Like that lingering hug he gave me before walking away."
- "What's happening to me? One minute, I'm writing a list to stretch happiness a little longer... The next, I'm writing a list to keep myself from drowning."
- "like ghosts, that we thought we had forgotten or already made peace with, memories that we never wanted and that continue to punish us by making us crave and wish we were doing more than just remembering."
kldowns's review against another edition
2.0
What I thought might be a "wrong side of the tracks" story actually had nothing to do with their classism keeping them apart. Ran just... ran. I thought that was a little disappointing. What would become a theme through this book is how it never really unpacks its many themes. The aforementioned classism, homophobia, banned books, government control over access to information, just to name a few, only really get passing mentions and rarely have much to do with the core of the story, which is Ran and Ken Z. It feels like this book tries to do too much in a not inconsiderable 352 pages.
In its essence, this book is about how much it sucks to be ghosted, especially at a young age, and especially at a point in your life where you're just figuring out who you are. Ken Z never shares if he is bi or gay, or any other orientation, but he finds himself attracted to Ran, something he truly never expected. And maybe that's why Ran's disappearance hits him so hard. Ran takes all of Ken Z's options to talk about how he's feeling with him when he never returns from North Kristol. Sure, Ken Z could talk to his friends, but this is something he wanted to do with Ran, to explore with Ran, and to have that taken away and to be left behind without a word at the same time is a crushing experience.
Other reviews are not exaggerating when they say that this book is very cutesy. The first third or so of this book rides the line of being too sugary sweet for my taste, and borders on the ridiculous. It's fun to see a young boy being infatuated for the first time, especially in a more or less "forbidden love" situation, but I also remember being a teenager and just being happy that the guy I liked put on deodorant after gym class. Also, what teenager lives a live with so incredibly little adult supervision? Outside of Mr. Oku and the occasional short appearance by Ken Z's mom, I kept wondering where all the adults were.
I don't understand the comparison to Adam Silvera. It doesn't work. (I can't speak to the comparison to Elizabeth Acevedo, as I have not read The Poet X yet.) That's... a bold claim, and one this book fails to earn.
Overall, this book is like a 2.5 for me. It was readable, but could have used a little more consistency in following through with discussion of its many, many themes. I would have liked to have seen Ran and Ken Z's relationship through a lens that isn't super flowery. I wish the author had dug further into Ken Z, because even by the story's end I just sort of felt "meh" about it all. I didn't feel for Ken Z the way I wanted to. I wanted to ache with him, to feel his anger and confusion, and to heal with him. Instead, I'm left underwhelmed by this work overall. I do hope it finds its fanbase, but I wanted so much more - what the story had the potential to be, what it practically begged to be - than what I got.
In its essence, this book is about how much it sucks to be ghosted, especially at a young age, and especially at a point in your life where you're just figuring out who you are. Ken Z never shares if he is bi or gay, or any other orientation, but he finds himself attracted to Ran, something he truly never expected. And maybe that's why Ran's disappearance hits him so hard. Ran takes all of Ken Z's options to talk about how he's feeling with him when he never returns from North Kristol. Sure, Ken Z could talk to his friends, but this is something he wanted to do with Ran, to explore with Ran, and to have that taken away and to be left behind without a word at the same time is a crushing experience.
Other reviews are not exaggerating when they say that this book is very cutesy. The first third or so of this book rides the line of being too sugary sweet for my taste, and borders on the ridiculous. It's fun to see a young boy being infatuated for the first time, especially in a more or less "forbidden love" situation, but I also remember being a teenager and just being happy that the guy I liked put on deodorant after gym class. Also, what teenager lives a live with so incredibly little adult supervision? Outside of Mr. Oku and the occasional short appearance by Ken Z's mom, I kept wondering where all the adults were.
I don't understand the comparison to Adam Silvera. It doesn't work. (I can't speak to the comparison to Elizabeth Acevedo, as I have not read The Poet X yet.) That's... a bold claim, and one this book fails to earn.
Overall, this book is like a 2.5 for me. It was readable, but could have used a little more consistency in following through with discussion of its many, many themes. I would have liked to have seen Ran and Ken Z's relationship through a lens that isn't super flowery. I wish the author had dug further into Ken Z, because even by the story's end I just sort of felt "meh" about it all. I didn't feel for Ken Z the way I wanted to. I wanted to ache with him, to feel his anger and confusion, and to heal with him. Instead, I'm left underwhelmed by this work overall. I do hope it finds its fanbase, but I wanted so much more - what the story had the potential to be, what it practically begged to be - than what I got.
mxkanteven's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
mezzythedragon's review against another edition
4.0
It’s sad that this book is getting low ratings. Having read R. Zamora Linmark’s past works, I expected his writing style to be the way it is. Also, who couldn’t relate to Ken Z’s journey regarding first love and the subsequent heartbreak? Then there were the issues regarding homophobia and censorship, and the allusion to the current political climate with respect to North and South Kristol — all of which made this book engaging.
wanderwithjon's review against another edition
2.0
Disclaimer: An e-copy of the book has been provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine and mine alone.
True love does not come easy, you first need to feel the pain.
This book is beautifully written, but the story is way convoluted. It lost its coherence with the plot in trying to fill in with so much. It could have been better written with one, two, or even three sub-plots; not with so many that it ended up destroying the pillar of what this book is really all about.
FULL REVIEW
True love does not come easy, you first need to feel the pain.
This book is beautifully written, but the story is way convoluted. It lost its coherence with the plot in trying to fill in with so much. It could have been better written with one, two, or even three sub-plots; not with so many that it ended up destroying the pillar of what this book is really all about.
FULL REVIEW
jackleo18's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5