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amdame1's review against another edition
2.0
Recommend with a shrug
On the first day of spring break, Ken Z is bunburying (an Oscar Wilde term) at the super fancy mall. He meets Ran and they bond over their shared love of Oscar Wilde. The next week is a whirlwind of time together including hand holding and even some kisses. Ken Z writes lots of haiku and makes lots of lists and daydreams about Ran. But when spring break is over, Ran mysteriously disappears and Ken Z is heart broken.
The setting is a weird hybrid of known and unknown - it references Hawaii and other Pacific islands but is set in North and South Kristol. Oscar Wilde somehow makes appearances throughout the book as well. However, Ken Z's interest in Ran and heartbreak are real and vivid, the depiction of what could happen in a society that forbids LGBTQ relationships is also realistic.
Grades 9 and up for interest
On the first day of spring break, Ken Z is bunburying (an Oscar Wilde term) at the super fancy mall. He meets Ran and they bond over their shared love of Oscar Wilde. The next week is a whirlwind of time together including hand holding and even some kisses. Ken Z writes lots of haiku and makes lots of lists and daydreams about Ran. But when spring break is over, Ran mysteriously disappears and Ken Z is heart broken.
The setting is a weird hybrid of known and unknown - it references Hawaii and other Pacific islands but is set in North and South Kristol. Oscar Wilde somehow makes appearances throughout the book as well. However, Ken Z's interest in Ran and heartbreak are real and vivid, the depiction of what could happen in a society that forbids LGBTQ relationships is also realistic.
Grades 9 and up for interest
kldowns's review
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.
babbityrabbity's review
3.0
"Maybe I'm the D in the Multiple Choice of Sexuality, as in D) All of the above.
Or E) A new category.
Yes, E.
I, Ken Z, as my own category."
In order to get to a story about love being “worth the price of heartbreak,” The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart is going to ask you to make a long journey. “Multi-format” doesn’t begin to cover it; there are haikus and lists and message transcripts and prose sections and strange italicized tangents and entire scenes written as just dialogue. R. Zamora Linmark will pull you down rabbit hole after rabbit hole, wringing every drop of thematic resonance he can out of penguins and Cole Porter and Catcher in the Rye references. By the time Oscar Wilde himself inexplicably shows up in this contemporary, shifting the whole thing into a new postmodern gear, the tangled mess is far removed from what I think of as the “novel.”
But I really can’t fault it too much, because this is YA, after all, and this book is such a teenager.
I don’t mean the characters or voice seem like teenagers. I mean the book itself feels like a teenager. It’s a hot mess that’s trying to do way too much. It frantically flits from topic to topic, searching for a way to put overwhelming feelings into words.
Because those feelings are so big, so raw and earnest (Earnest?) that a simple story of boy-meets-boy seems insufficient. The book is bursting with desperation to communicate the joy and terror of Ken’s existence. The messiness and lack of focus only make the emotion feel more real.
All that said, a messy, unfocused book is still a messy, unfocused book, and The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart's disconnect from reality isn't always a good thing.
My full review is here. Three stars.
I received an eARC of this title from the publisher via NetGalley in expectation of an honest review. No money changed hands for this review. All opinions my own.
wildeflower's review
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
thecaffeinatedreader's review
4.0
3.5/5 Rounded up to 4.
I adored this book. It was so quirky and wonderful and at the heart so very, very, Wilde-esque.
Ken is a young man who loves Oscar Wilde, lists, Haikus, his mom and his friends. But is there more to life? His world expanded the day he meets Ran, a young man with a Dorian Gray vibe from North Kristol.
This book is made up of Ken's thoughts, whether he's speculating with Oscar Wilde himself, writing a haiku, poem, or list, or showing us insight into his life as a high school senior in South Kristol.
Young love is always wonderful and painful and full of twists and turns and Ken shows us this while combining the fact that for some it's harder than for others. Not just because of orientation but because sometimes it can be hard to let someone in, and sometimes there's no closure other than what you can make yourself.
Loved this read, definitely for fans of Oscar Wilde and speculative/introspective fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.
I adored this book. It was so quirky and wonderful and at the heart so very, very, Wilde-esque.
Ken is a young man who loves Oscar Wilde, lists, Haikus, his mom and his friends. But is there more to life? His world expanded the day he meets Ran, a young man with a Dorian Gray vibe from North Kristol.
This book is made up of Ken's thoughts, whether he's speculating with Oscar Wilde himself, writing a haiku, poem, or list, or showing us insight into his life as a high school senior in South Kristol.
Young love is always wonderful and painful and full of twists and turns and Ken shows us this while combining the fact that for some it's harder than for others. Not just because of orientation but because sometimes it can be hard to let someone in, and sometimes there's no closure other than what you can make yourself.
Loved this read, definitely for fans of Oscar Wilde and speculative/introspective fiction.
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.
yahairareads's review
2.0
thank you netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 30%
I'm sorry but no matter how much I tried to get into this book I just couldn't. I always try to finish what I'm reading but this was just too much for me.
The concept for this book was really intriguing but things were really confusing for me and it's just not it for me.
Maybe one day I'll read it through to the end but today is not that day.
DNF at 30%
I'm sorry but no matter how much I tried to get into this book I just couldn't. I always try to finish what I'm reading but this was just too much for me.
The concept for this book was really intriguing but things were really confusing for me and it's just not it for me.
Maybe one day I'll read it through to the end but today is not that day.
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