Reviews

The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart by R. Zamora Linmark

the_book_nook's review against another edition

funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

maggies212's review against another edition

emotional reflective 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

4.0

this was a very easy read and i finished it pretty quickly! i read it for an event at school since the author is coming to visit + talk. i ended up not liking ran or the main character, which was sad but it didnt affect how good the book was. i also loved the lgbtq+ inclusion, literally everyone was gay so if you're looking for a large cast of gay characters than this book is for you. also, this book is good if you are looking to get out of a slump, or arent looking for a too complex book!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Homophobia

babbity_rabbity's review against another edition

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.

annas_sweets_and_stories's review against another edition

4.0

The Importance of Being Wilde at Heart

I started this book thinking it was going to be a cutesty YA book with some Oscar Wilde references. I actually almost DNF because of just how cute and happy it is for the first part. It was too much. But then tragedy hits and this books takes a much deeper road. It tackles issues of identity, LGBTQ issues, acceptance, classism, corrupt government, and the importance of heartbreak. While seamlessly weaving Oscar Wilde quotes and a modern day representation of Wilde as a character, this book pulled at my heartstrings. I will say that I found the character names distracting and was sad that something so quirky almost put me off of this book. 

As someone who is unfamiliar with most of Wilde's work, this book was sometimes hard for me to follow. It also is incredibly heartfelt and deep at moments, but then tactlessly shallow at others. Kind of like a strange, life-questioning poetry roller coaster. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry and Oscar Wilde, but also YA readers who long for a YA novel that embraces deep concepts while remaining quirky. 

raoionna's review against another edition

4.0

Witty charming and probably would have spoken to the teenage me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Arc in exchange for an honest review

hermesreads's review against another edition

4.0

heartbreaking in a way I can’t explain.

thebookborrower's review against another edition

2.0

A very quick but very disappointing read. There really wasn’t much substance to the story. The author creates this amazing world in the beginning chapters but then wastes the rest of the chapters giving us repeated facts about Oscar Wilde that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PLOT. I’m only giving the book 2 stars for its diverse characters and the fact that the author is quite good at world building but terrible at creating an actual plot with usable characters.

madd1e's review

emotional hopeful sad 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? No

3.0

candidceillie's review against another edition

2.0

FRTC.

not_machiavelli's review

lighthearted slow-paced

2.0

All two (2) stars are for Oscar Wilde. That's it