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A review by rencordings
The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart by R. Zamora Linmark
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!!