A review by mynameisprerna
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

4.0

I saw another review that said “Did you ever have a homoerotic friendship with a girl in high school that ended in tragedy and you two never talking again or are you normal?” and that is just such a delightful encapsulation!

This book is complicated and messy, which is fitting, because being queer and in high school is complicated and messy. And as complicated and messy as it is today, it was interesting to read about it in the context of my own high school years. (I was in 9th grade on September 11, 2001 - the same grade as Theo and Christopher.)

So much is left unresolved, and I’m not sure if it was purposeful, but it left me itchy. That’s especially the case for two things:
1.

What the fuck was actually up with Christopher and Theo? Why did Christopher actually agree to let Theo live with him? What did he mean when he was saying that he knows Theo well enough to head off angry outbursts? Why did they remain so close? Why did Christopher transfer colleges to be with Theo?

2.

Fay’s struggles with gender being unresolved felt painful, and almost cruel. I so appreciated her journey of understanding herself and her relationship to homoerotic media and her obsession with Theo. But then… what? She just stagnated? All through the aughts and 20-teens? She encountered students that led her to deeper understanding and she bought a binder, but that’s all? She sort of expressed being too old, but lots of people in the 20s in the 20-teens and in their 30s in the 2020s have transitioned. It felt so raw and upsetting.

It was interesting to me that

we never really got Chris and Theo’s reactions to the Fawn Fic. Maybe they really didn’t care beyond thinking it was weird and then trying to entrap Nell and Fay. But I wanted Nell and Fay to reckon more sincerely with how their creative project that offered them processing and growing space was ultimately a huge violation for Theo and Christopher.