A review by annietaber
Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow. Perhaps the first book I’ve read that captures the 2000s essence of the inextricable chronically online-ness and desire-to-be-gay-ness (which I caught in the 2010s but I’m sure resonates even more strongly for our millennial gays out there). Such a serious treatment of intense female friendship, of Theatre kid-ness, of the somehow self-assured-ness while being completely lost in high school. This book was perfectly hilarious — acknowledging the potentially cringey nature of god knows what gay teens get up to but treating it seriously and with the respectful gravity of how formative young queerness is.