Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.
With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
MY OPINION: ****
So there are a couple of things I would like to say about this book but I am behind THREE reviews, counting this one, so I need to make this relatively short.
This book was enthralling at times but there are some reasons why I didn't give it a full five stars. I read this because it was recommended to me multiple times and also because I found out that there was to be a movie production version of it so I decided to read it.
I've also had a great experience with Becky Albertalli with
The Upside of Unrequited, a great read. So, of course, I decided to read one of her other books.
One of the reasons why I didn't like this book enough to give it five stars was because, to me, Martin was confusing. He blackmailed Simon because of a CRUSH and then he was being nice to him and then he ruined it all and then he apologizes and then... what? His personality was kind of confusing. Crushing on someone does not change you that much.
Simon was a sweet character that I absolutely loved, even though sometimes he was a little confused with his own life and who he was. Coming out is hard and I'm glad that this book is one of the few examples of accepting parents. I honestly can't say I know much about real life statistics about parents' views on their children's' preferences for sexual orientation so... correct me if I'm wrong.
Abby and Nick were the sweetest little couple. Some people disagree and wish that Leah could have been with Nick but honestly, I thought Abby and Nick were much more compatible and they were so cute together so how can I not love them! Honestly, I loved Nick and Abby was such a caring friend to Simon and that's important in a person's qualities.
Leah seriously annoyed and angered me at times. Her attitude was kind of sickening and she was also so SELFISH. Yes, maybe she was crushing on Nick but that doesn't mean you have the right to lash out at everybody else if he likes someone else.
Also, the writing in this book was kind of basic. It was easy-to-read and blunt and there wasn't as much DEEP stuff as in some other books. I don't remember
The Upside of Unrequited being this basic, writing-wise. That kind of disappointed me because I wanted to read the really deep and poignant lines, or the cheesy ones that are also amazingly beautiful.
To me, the best parts of the book were the emails. Those were so sweet and I love Blue!!
It was really obvious that it was Bram, and I kind of hate oblivious characters but it was still sweet. I want a Bram in my life!
I would recommend this book to readers of all kinds who are looking for something about coming out and being yourself.
Main Character: Simon
Sidekick(s): Leah, Nick, Abby, Bram, Cal, etc
Villain(s): Coming out, Martin (at times), etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: All of this was real to life.
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