I love Oscar Wilde's writing and I find his life story incredibly interesting, so I was very excited when I received this book from Netgalley and it did not disappoint!

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Oscar Wilde and his works are definitely my cup of tea. Therefore, I was really curious to read this new kind of book about him. The book was very interesting and it's written in a very conversational way, which was really cool. If you're a fan of this author and you know to want more about him, than that's the right book for you!

I love Oscar Wilde and this was certainly an interesting biography. It's written very conversationally which I'm not sure how I felt about. But overall, a short, informative biography.

This book was something different for sure. I don't know much about Oscar Wilde but this story opened my eyes much more and i really enjoyed it. While reading it, i had to add so many other stories to my to be read list because it's so engaging and unputable down.
Will recommend this book to all my friends for sure.

A really wonderful insight to the fabulous world of Oscar Wilde. Just a delight to read from start to finish

Oh how I loved this , I could have read three times as much. Great fun and so much more.. Oscar Wilde was a man born out of time . Along with Dickens I read an abridged Wilde as a child and never lost the love of either. This should be available in all school libraries. Well done on bringing him to life on these pages.

Rather sparse - I would be interested in Merlin Holland's imagined conversations with the grandfather he never knew if they were insightful, interrogative, questioning, probing his family history and what the trial and loss of Wilde meant to Merlin Holland's father Vyvyan and to himself in turn; why has Holland taken up the memorialisation of Wilde in this book and past books so often? What drives him?

I'd read that book. this is not htat book; this is Holland ventriloquising Wilde's biography in his best Wilde voice. It's not bad, but I wonder if Holland ever asks himself what prompted him to write this?

3,5 Stars

I like the idea of this book series - to have fictional interviews with famous persons and thus share some interesting biographical facts with the reader.
In this case the author is even the grandson of the VIP. Although I'm not sure how much this really helps, since he was born 45 years after the death of Oscar Wilde, and his own father has lived with Wilde only for the first few years of his life and apparently never talked about his father at home after he fell in disgrace.

I wasn't familiar with the fact that Oscar Wilde was sent to prison for being gay. So the chapters about his relationships (also to his wife and sons), the trial and his time in prison were very interesting to me. But I was missing info on Oscar Wilde as a writer! About where he got his ideas from, what he wanted to convey with the texts, what reaction it got from the audience of that time...

Maybe Merlin Holland thought that there is so much secondary literature out there on each of his novels and plays that he does not need to breach these subjects in this very concise little book. And maybe he is right. But for me this book still felt incomplete.

Thanks to Watkins Publishing and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Many years ago, when Marks & Spencer was called St Michael my mother bought my siblings and I a video. It was a double feature of The Snowman and The Happy Prince. I know what you’re thinking but it was the eighties, traumatising your children was de rigeur. Since those days my siblings and I have quoted The Happy Prince hundreds of times. It’s part of our “make someone cry” challenge and it’s the only VHS I still own.

From that, in my teens I developed a love of Wilde’s other works and he has a firm place on my list of fantasy dinner party guests. I went to his grave at Pere Lachaise in Paris (before they put the barrier up) so long story short, I thought this sounded intriguing.

This is a short book, and essentially is a fictional interview with Oscar Wilde. This is a brave undertaking for anyone to commit to, but I think overall, it was done well. It felt a bit jarring at the beginning but once things got into their stride it started to flow more naturally. It’s not easy to capture a voice as unique as Wilde’s but it felt credible. The author managed to capture Wilde’s wit and charm whilst also exploring some of the more difficult things he experienced in his life before his tragic early death. Do Lord Byron next!

Overall, an enjoyable read and an interesting concept to explore.

What a fascinating look at Oscar Wilde. I loved this! HIghly recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a very unique way to educate and entertain the reader! I enjoyed the conversational element of this book. Very well-written!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book- after doing my MA in Dublin, my love for Wilde only grew. Wilde is endlessly fascinating, and this book is quite a fun way to quickly cover all of the interesting bits of his life. It also isn't bound to conventional biographical style; Holland (the only grandchild of Wilde) takes a playful and sarcastic approach to Wilde, and it entirely suits him.

I struggled to get into this simply due to the interview style format. To begin with Wilde’s answers felt forced and fake but the book grew on me slowly as I got sucked into Wilde’s life.
I still wouldn’t say I loved it but I did enjoy reading it and would generally say it’s worth a try and if you can overlook the format then it might be for you.

I'm pretty sure Oscar Wilde has made my "Dinner List." so I do like the idea of a conversation with him. It was so well done and his voice was captured perfectly. It's a great, brief biography in his "own words."

I'm a huge fan of Oscar Wilde and was very happy when this ARC was approved.
It was great to read something about him from a new and refreshing perspective and the Q&A part was great.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I wanted to read this book because I could imagine myself hanging out with Oscar Wilde .

Someone who , in my opinion , born in the wrong century. He was so ahead of his time.

He would have been a great friend to have around . He was a brilliant man , quick-thinking, witty man , sarcastic , worldly and cosmopolitan man ; who loved beauty and pleasure to the max. . I imagine him a mix of David Bowie , Banksy, Freddy Mercury and Andy Warhol

Unorthodox , nonconformist and maverick Wilde left a wonderful body of work but he left to soon .

I enjoyed reading this fusion of fiction and biography, written by Oscar Wilde's grandson . A dream up , conversation with his grandfather.

Thank Netgalley and Watkins Publishing for a free copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

#ConversationsWithOscarWildeByMerlinHOlland #NetGalley

Genre: Fictional Biographies & Memoirs, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Watkins Publishing
Pub. Date: June 11, 2019

This story is one in a series regarding other imagined conversations with legendary people. The infamous Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854-1900) is easily one of the most paramount playwrights of the Victorian age. This novel was originally published under the title “Coffee with Oscar Wilde.” No matter the name, what a treat to review this clever novel about a fictional conversation with Oscar Wilde, over coffee and a cigarette. The premise of the tale is that Wilde is being interviewed by an unnamed interviewer. What makes this book so clever is that he is being interviewed in the present. The author never explains how this phenomenon happens. Still, much fun to read Wilde’s possible views on histories’ take on him. Or how appalled Wilde might be to learn that smoking is now frowned upon. “A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure.”― Oscar Wilde, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”

Set in Paris, where he fled once released from prison after the scandalous trial that revealed his homosexuality. During the trial, he was actually accused of being his character, who never ages, from his novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The story comes so close to spelling out homosexual desire. In 1945 the book was turned into a movie. In Holland’s book, the author is at his wittiest channeling Wilde’s feelings about the trial. He does a wonderful job of showing Wilde’s misjudgment on what would be the trial’s outcome. After all, at that time in his life, Oscar was the darling of upper-class society.

In the books prologue the author explains that in writing the novel he did not cut out Wilde’s quotes and sew them back together. He feared that would become a book of one-liners. Instead, he wrote Wilde’s words without always being recognizable. He did this by heavily researching his works and letters. The result feels fresh. This book is a fast (under 200 pages) and a delightful read. However, it is easy to imagine that if you are familiar with all the aspects of Wilde’s life it may not be as impressive. Personally, I was surprised to learn that Oscar was married and had two children. I enjoyed reading about the close relationship he had with his mother, and the lover who caused his downfall. I was so impressed with this concept of a fictional memoir that I hope to read “Conversations with Mozart” by Simon Parke.

I adored this, I love Oscar Wilde and I wish there was much, much more of his work. This was so interesting to read something new and a different perspective which shows even more to the great man.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I would like to thank netgalley and Watkins Publishing for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A rather strange mash up of biography and fiction. Written by Wilde's grandson it imagines a fictional conversation with Wilde about his life.

I learned a lot and have lots of recommendations to read more about Wilde. The conversation did sound as you would imagine Wilde to sound, if only because the author has taken quotes from Wilde's work and life, taken them out of context and mashed them up.

I’ve adored Oscar Wilde for most of my life. My parents used to buy my six Great Illustrated Classics every Christmas, and my favorite of these when I was about eight was The Picture of Dorian Gray. I can’t even count how many times I read that little abridged classic, but I would say that number is in the literal dozens. In fact, I loved it so much that I was afraid of reading the unabridged classic as an adult, for fear that it wouldn’t measure up to the book I had loved so much as a child. I couldn’t have been more wrong, while the illustrated classic of my childhood gave me the story, it didn’t deliver Wilde’s prose. I had no idea what I was missing. Today, Wilde’s original, unabridged novel is one of my very favorite classics I’ve ever read.

In college, I learned the story behind the author, from his flamboyant personality to his time spent in prison. However, while I found him a very interesting individual at that time, I am now completely fascinated by him. That is mostly thanks to this book. Holland has written one of the most engaging biographies I’ve ever read, in large part due to the informal, conversational format. The author imagined himself interviewing Wilde over a cup of coffee, and he managed to beautifully capture Wilde’s well-known voice in these responses. It was a lovely writing decision. I truly felt as though I was sitting in on an interview with a literary icon, and it was immensely enjoyable.

Wilde was the Freddy Mercury of Victorian England, and the world wasn’t ready for him. He was witty and insanely intelligent and obsessed with all things beautiful and pleasurable. He created gorgeous art that far outlived him, but has been forever remembered for his (at the time) shocking lifestyle decisions and the ramifications he suffered for them. Wilde undoubtedly marched to the beat of his own drum, and couldn’t care less that the majority of society didn’t understand that rhythm.

Holland’s little book did an amazing job presenting Wilde’s life, and I read it in an afternoon. My only complaint is that is wasn’t longer. But I think that this conversational style was a perfect choice for crafting an informative, engaging, highly readable biographical overview of a life that captivated and repelled the world in which he lived. I highly recommend this little book to anyone who has any kind of interest in literary rebels. I would love to read more biographical works written along the same lines, and am very open to recommendations!