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 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.
This book was good, with real-feeling, relatable teen characters and a cute romance. Simon has an anonymous email correspondence with another closeted gay guy in his high school (they use pen names), and they flirt and fall in love through emails. I am a jaded crone and I still found their conversations and romance to be really cute and properly swoony. Simon forgets to log out of the school computer, and this absolute blister classmate, Marty, sees his logged-in email and blackmails Simon: help Marty get together with Simon's friend Abby, or he'll out Simon. Simon has to try to satisfy Marty, avoid betraying Abby, deal with the tension within his friend group, and learn the blocking for the school play, all while falling in love with Blue (the email guy) and trying to figure out who he is.
SPOILERY PARAGRAPHS AHEAD
Simon is outed, of course, on the school's secrets tumblr (oh man, remember those? This book was published in 2015). Marty, angry that Abby doesn't like him (duh, he has rancid vibes) anonymously submits a profane, homophobic tirade "from"/about Simon. Simon has to deal with homophobic insults and bullying (nothing physical) at school, as well as people gossiping about him. Luckily some boys are sent to the principal after making sexually suggestive comments/actions about Simon, and the drama teacher stands up for him. Simon comes out to his family because of Marty's actions, and they're supportive. There's a hilarious part where his BFF Nick goes to sleep over at Simon's, and Simon's parents are like "keep the door cracked open" bc Nick's a boy and Simon's like "MOOOM!!! It's not like that!!"
I didn't like the way Simon's friend Leah treated him and their other friends: she was jealous and resentful of Abby for being pretty and popular and skinny, and because Nick liked Abby instead of her. She was obviously hurting, but she made her best friends feel like they had to walk on eggshells around her, and she took out her emotions on them/blamed them for her emotions too much. Leah gets her own book later, and I think it's revealed that she's bi, so I feel like part of the thing with Abby is that she also has a crush on her. That's my hypothesis, anyway. I loved her secretly being in a band and playing the drums.
I liked Abby, but I think it was a bit self-centered of her to be irritated with Simon when she found out about the blackmailing, saying he should have told her since she's not a prize to be won, etc. She's right, but she doesn't understand the level of fear a closeted teen has, and how terrified they are of others finding out, and of the severity of Marty's action. Abby does come to her senses about that later and apologizes to Simon.
There's a scene where Simon, Nick and Abby drive to Atlanta and go to a gay-friendly restaurant, where Simon is immediately adopted by some adult gay guys and plied with alcohol until they realize he's not a college student, getting him hammered. I'm not sure if I was supposed to see it as funny, and while I understood how great it felt for Simon to be around his people, this scene was very anxiety-inducing for me. To their credit, the gay guys immediately deposited Simon back to his friends' table once they found out he was in high school, with the very sweet line "go be seventeen, sweet Simon", but WHY didn't they make sure he was 21 or at least 18 before loading him up with alcohol? It made me very angry with them, and worried for Simon. To their credit, when Simon's parents find out he's drunk, they have a talk with him and ground him.
Marty does get some comeuppance, thankfully. Obviously Abby rejects him, and Simon tells him exactly how his actions made him feel in a very cathartic monologue to read ("you took that [coming out in his own time] away from me!"). Marty's older brother, who is gay, finds out what he did and reads him the riot act off-page. Good.
Some reviewers have said there's not enough conflict or real fear for Simon, but I think there's plenty. There were plenty of jerks at his school being homophobic to him, and he didn't know for sure that his parents would accept him, or to what degree. The setting is in the suburbs (I think) of Atlanta, so it's not super homophobic as the rest of Georgia. Blue turns out to be a cute sportsball player, and isn't that the dream for gay teen boys? To end up with a cute jock who's also sensitive and smart? Good for him.
END SPOILERS I GUESS
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people who like YA and LGBTQ+ books about coming out. Becky Albertalli writes really well, and I think it sucks that she was basically forced to come out because people on the internet have no sense of boundaries or privacy, and hounded her for daring to write a gay character as a "straight" author. That is not how Own Voices is supposed to work. Sorry for ending this review with a bummer.
Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: June 30
From: Savers thrift store
Status: keeping for now because I need it for next year's pride rainbow book stack
Cover notes: I like the cover ok. Simon's being headless suggests he's holding back, not showing all of himself. Not sure why the title says "homo sapiens agenda" when it's never discussed.
Trigger warnings for this book: homophobic bullying (non-physically violent) and mocking, teen is forcibly outed, teen is blackmailed about his sexuality, homophobia, adults ply teen boy with alcohol and get him drunk (not knowing he's a teen), underage drinking, sexism re: the Abby thing, internalized fatphobia (Leah), low self-esteem (Leah), mildly suggestive flirty talk between teen boys, masturbation mentions. I can't remember if any slurs are used. Simon's school has Spirit week which includes Cross-Dressing Day, which is probably transphobic
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