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annietaber 's review for:

Idlewild by James Frankie Thomas
4.5
challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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.