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sovngarde's review
3.0
I’m not sure how I got through this tbh. The writing was not great, “the tumblr” and it reads more like a woman trying to write a teenager boy than it should.
Meh.
2 1/2 stars.
Meh.
2 1/2 stars.
narbine's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
mariahistryingtoread's review
2.0
After 3 years of letting this book collect dust on my bookshelf I finally decided to see what the fuss was all about. I am now here to say it was exactly as good as I expected it to be; that is to say perfectly average.
I can easily see why this book was so successful and I probably would have liked it a heck of a lot more if I had still been in high school when it came out. That isn't to say this is a bad book by any means. It's just heavy on the quirky teen melodrama I would have thought was so much more diverting when I was in the midst of it myself. As an adult - even a baby one - I found it kind of dull. This is partially me being outside of the demographic range, partially the book itself.
The plot is stunted purely to keep the story moving at a pace the author wanted rather than what would actually make sense, most of the characters are shallow, and the romance is only not insta-love on a technicality: ie. because the two don’t officially meet until the end.
I did still like the book. The reason for this being the way Becky Albettalli captured the teenage mind via Simon. His steadfast growth into a more self-assured individual was pitch perfect. It was the strongest part of the book.
Simon is gay and in the closet even though he’s almost 100% sure his parents will be fine if/when he chooses to come out. I found this to be a unique take on the coming out journey. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but it is very dangerous in a lot of households and communities to come out even in this day and age. When it’s not dangerous in a physical sense it can still be very damaging emotionally for the person coming out when their parents or guardians end up being bigots or make it all about their feelings. Simon falls in the middle as I’m sure a lot of people do. He is worried about how his family and friends’ perception of him will change when he comes out and while he’s not actively nervous about the rest of his town, he does know on some level that it will probably not go well based on how other out kids have suffered.
I thought this was a really interesting perspective because for me it has been uncommon in YA Contemporary Fiction to see this stance. In my experience (at least so far), if a character is in the closet they typically are scared of how everyone will react. Simon is more wary than terrified. Plus, he is more concerned for Blue than himself. This isn’t to downplay how Simon feels - coming out definitely does still weigh on him - it’s just his reasoning is different than I’ve seen before.
Despite not having the same problem as Simon I found the fear of people viewing you differently insanely relatable. It’s not that you’re scared of their reaction exactly, it’s how whatever this hidden aspect of your life or personality will change their idea of you. You know that they love you and that they’ll probably say the right things, but it’s the shift in the dynamic you are opposed to. Now you have to live up to this whole new set of expectations because in their eyes it’s like you’re a different person. When really, you’re still you, they now just know something new about you. It’s not always as simple or straightforward as ‘what if they hate me?’. It can be a complicated mixture of emotions. I’d imagine it’s even more complex for people who come out as the additional element of possibly getting thrown out of the house, getting assaulted, killed, or any number of prejudiced, threatening reactions is unfortunately significantly high.
As a lighter example, when Simon does come out his parents suddenly want to stop him from having sleepovers with Nick. Which is insulting to Simon, of course, because Nick is only his friend so why does that have to change? Even as the ‘cool’ parents, they don’t even deign to have a conversation about it to discuss or explain it to him. It’s basically already a foregone conclusion that the sleepovers will have to be modified in some way - from their point of view this makes sense, however, it sucks for Simon because to him it feels as if he’s not being trusted regardless of the logic behind the decision. It’s infinitely better than any of the potential extreme alternatives, but it’s still a change that Simon resents.
I liked seeing Simon grow to overcome his doubts. It can be terrifying to open yourself up to the unknown. I think it’s totally natural to not want anything to change about your life. It was hard for Simon to deal with the fact that change is unavoidable. I appreciated the level of introspection put into his thought process as he learned how to accept it. Albertalli really nailed the anxiety attached to growing up when you’re still unsure of who you even are as a person yet.
All of that positivity aside, I found Simon’s passivity to be a detriment to the story. He’s being blackmailed and his first course of action is avoidance. I was fine with that because he obviously can’t hide forever and he’s also rightfully agitated in the mere presence of his blackmailer. Except even after he’s forced to start doing Martin’s bidding he would often ignore him or circumvent any attempt to get in contact. I found this to be super unrealistic because why would Martin not be more on top of Simon to help him out? Simon barely actually does anything for Martin and Martin doesn’t even really push for more outings. Simon isn’t even that mad at Martin for most of the book. He actually starts to view Martin as a friend, something that didn’t make sense for two reasons.
One, Martin and Simon do not spend enough time together to create the kind of nuanced dynamic I believe Albertalli was going for. Two, why would anyone like the person who is threatening to out them? Like is Simon really so docile he can’t even get up the nerve to hate someone?
It removed all sense of tension to have such an unintimidating antagonist. It really left me wondering what the point in the blackmail plot was when it created such little conflict in the story. It really seems it only existed for one very specific aspect which could have easily been done in a different way.
His actual friends would dip in and out at will. They were developed just enough for me to form an opinion, but I thought their relationships to Simon were severely lacking. Leah was Simon’s best friend. Yet, he had this aversion to speaking to her because of her unnecessarily caustic personality that goes totally unaddressed the entire book. Nick doesn’t matter at all. The only thing ever mentioned about him is his crush on Abby and the fact that he plays soccer. Abby is by far the best of the bunch.
I hated the way Simon’s relationship with Leah took precedent when it was super clear that Abby was the healthier option. If Leah had been taken to task for her attitude I would feel differently. As it stands I hated how her nastiness was left unchecked and it became Simons’ responsibility to rectify their bond as if Leah’s inflexibility wasn’t somewhat to blame. I totally get that as a teenager it’s difficult to communicate. I don’t blame Leah for using sarcasm as a defense mechanism. We’ve all been there - or at least I certainly have. What annoyed me is that she’s never confronted about how rude it is to be so attitudinal all the time. I vastly preferred Abby as the new best friend. She was so warm, considerate, and understanding. Simon even alludes to how much easier it is without Leah around to be so snarky. I know Leah was going through some things emotionally, but because that was never explored I found it extremely difficult to sympathize with her. And even then it wouldn’t be an excuse though at least then I would probably dislike her less.
I appreciated that the messages between Blue and Simon were included. A problem I had with Felix Ever After - a book with a similar plot device - was that the lack of messages made it impossible to support the relationship at the crux of the story. I enjoyed being able to see how the relationship unfolded though as I said before it is very much on the line of insta-love namely on Simon's side.
This has become a bit of a staple in some queer YA circles. I’d say, to a point, the acclaim heaped upon it isn’t unwarranted. It wasn’t life-changing to me, but I can acknowledge that I’m not the intended demographic in more ways than one so for those who did find this to be pivotal, I’m happy that this book was transformative for you. I can see why it would be special.
I will say that the movie honestly is way better. It cleans up literally every single problem I had with the book. If you want to experience this story at its best I’d recommend watching that instead.
I can easily see why this book was so successful and I probably would have liked it a heck of a lot more if I had still been in high school when it came out. That isn't to say this is a bad book by any means. It's just heavy on the quirky teen melodrama I would have thought was so much more diverting when I was in the midst of it myself. As an adult - even a baby one - I found it kind of dull. This is partially me being outside of the demographic range, partially the book itself.
The plot is stunted purely to keep the story moving at a pace the author wanted rather than what would actually make sense, most of the characters are shallow, and the romance is only not insta-love on a technicality: ie. because the two don’t officially meet until the end.
I did still like the book. The reason for this being the way Becky Albettalli captured the teenage mind via Simon. His steadfast growth into a more self-assured individual was pitch perfect. It was the strongest part of the book.
Simon is gay and in the closet even though he’s almost 100% sure his parents will be fine if/when he chooses to come out. I found this to be a unique take on the coming out journey. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but it is very dangerous in a lot of households and communities to come out even in this day and age. When it’s not dangerous in a physical sense it can still be very damaging emotionally for the person coming out when their parents or guardians end up being bigots or make it all about their feelings. Simon falls in the middle as I’m sure a lot of people do. He is worried about how his family and friends’ perception of him will change when he comes out and while he’s not actively nervous about the rest of his town, he does know on some level that it will probably not go well based on how other out kids have suffered.
I thought this was a really interesting perspective because for me it has been uncommon in YA Contemporary Fiction to see this stance. In my experience (at least so far), if a character is in the closet they typically are scared of how everyone will react. Simon is more wary than terrified. Plus, he is more concerned for Blue than himself. This isn’t to downplay how Simon feels - coming out definitely does still weigh on him - it’s just his reasoning is different than I’ve seen before.
Despite not having the same problem as Simon I found the fear of people viewing you differently insanely relatable. It’s not that you’re scared of their reaction exactly, it’s how whatever this hidden aspect of your life or personality will change their idea of you. You know that they love you and that they’ll probably say the right things, but it’s the shift in the dynamic you are opposed to. Now you have to live up to this whole new set of expectations because in their eyes it’s like you’re a different person. When really, you’re still you, they now just know something new about you. It’s not always as simple or straightforward as ‘what if they hate me?’. It can be a complicated mixture of emotions. I’d imagine it’s even more complex for people who come out as the additional element of possibly getting thrown out of the house, getting assaulted, killed, or any number of prejudiced, threatening reactions is unfortunately significantly high.
As a lighter example, when Simon does come out his parents suddenly want to stop him from having sleepovers with Nick. Which is insulting to Simon, of course, because Nick is only his friend so why does that have to change? Even as the ‘cool’ parents, they don’t even deign to have a conversation about it to discuss or explain it to him. It’s basically already a foregone conclusion that the sleepovers will have to be modified in some way - from their point of view this makes sense, however, it sucks for Simon because to him it feels as if he’s not being trusted regardless of the logic behind the decision. It’s infinitely better than any of the potential extreme alternatives, but it’s still a change that Simon resents.
I liked seeing Simon grow to overcome his doubts. It can be terrifying to open yourself up to the unknown. I think it’s totally natural to not want anything to change about your life. It was hard for Simon to deal with the fact that change is unavoidable. I appreciated the level of introspection put into his thought process as he learned how to accept it. Albertalli really nailed the anxiety attached to growing up when you’re still unsure of who you even are as a person yet.
All of that positivity aside, I found Simon’s passivity to be a detriment to the story. He’s being blackmailed and his first course of action is avoidance. I was fine with that because he obviously can’t hide forever and he’s also rightfully agitated in the mere presence of his blackmailer. Except even after he’s forced to start doing Martin’s bidding he would often ignore him or circumvent any attempt to get in contact. I found this to be super unrealistic because why would Martin not be more on top of Simon to help him out? Simon barely actually does anything for Martin and Martin doesn’t even really push for more outings. Simon isn’t even that mad at Martin for most of the book. He actually starts to view Martin as a friend, something that didn’t make sense for two reasons.
One, Martin and Simon do not spend enough time together to create the kind of nuanced dynamic I believe Albertalli was going for. Two, why would anyone like the person who is threatening to out them? Like is Simon really so docile he can’t even get up the nerve to hate someone?
It removed all sense of tension to have such an unintimidating antagonist. It really left me wondering what the point in the blackmail plot was when it created such little conflict in the story. It really seems it only existed for one very specific aspect
Spoiler
that is for Martin to out Simon in the endHis actual friends would dip in and out at will. They were developed just enough for me to form an opinion, but I thought their relationships to Simon were severely lacking. Leah was Simon’s best friend. Yet, he had this aversion to speaking to her because of her unnecessarily caustic personality that goes totally unaddressed the entire book. Nick doesn’t matter at all. The only thing ever mentioned about him is his crush on Abby and the fact that he plays soccer. Abby is by far the best of the bunch.
I hated the way Simon’s relationship with Leah took precedent when it was super clear that Abby was the healthier option. If Leah had been taken to task for her attitude I would feel differently. As it stands I hated how her nastiness was left unchecked and it became Simons’ responsibility to rectify their bond as if Leah’s inflexibility wasn’t somewhat to blame. I totally get that as a teenager it’s difficult to communicate. I don’t blame Leah for using sarcasm as a defense mechanism. We’ve all been there - or at least I certainly have. What annoyed me is that she’s never confronted about how rude it is to be so attitudinal all the time. I vastly preferred Abby as the new best friend. She was so warm, considerate, and understanding. Simon even alludes to how much easier it is without Leah around to be so snarky. I know Leah was going through some things emotionally, but because that was never explored I found it extremely difficult to sympathize with her. And even then it wouldn’t be an excuse though at least then I would probably dislike her less.
I appreciated that the messages between Blue and Simon were included. A problem I had with Felix Ever After - a book with a similar plot device - was that the lack of messages made it impossible to support the relationship at the crux of the story. I enjoyed being able to see how the relationship unfolded though as I said before it is very much on the line of insta-love namely on Simon's side.
This has become a bit of a staple in some queer YA circles. I’d say, to a point, the acclaim heaped upon it isn’t unwarranted. It wasn’t life-changing to me, but I can acknowledge that I’m not the intended demographic in more ways than one so for those who did find this to be pivotal, I’m happy that this book was transformative for you. I can see why it would be special.
I will say that the movie honestly is way better. It cleans up literally every single problem I had with the book. If you want to experience this story at its best I’d recommend watching that instead.
reader4evr's review
4.0
Rating: 4.5
This book held up to what everyone was saying about it. I really liked Simon and I feel like his tone in the story is true to what a teenager boy would talk. He did swear a ton in the book which was kind silly to me but like I said, he speaks like an actual teenager.
I liked the emails that were in some of the chapters. I thought that was unique. When it was finally revealed who Simon was emailing back and forth with, I was surprised. I felt like the character wasn't someone that was in the book a lot (or was he? I felt like I had kind of guessed maybe who it might be but I was totally wrong).
I liked all the friendships that Simon had and that he wasn't only talking to like the drama kids because he was involved in the school play.
I will be interested to read more that Becky Albertalli writes because this was a great start!
This book held up to what everyone was saying about it. I really liked Simon and I feel like his tone in the story is true to what a teenager boy would talk. He did swear a ton in the book which was kind silly to me but like I said, he speaks like an actual teenager.
I liked the emails that were in some of the chapters. I thought that was unique. When it was finally revealed who Simon was emailing back and forth with, I was surprised. I felt like the character wasn't someone that was in the book a lot (or was he? I felt like I had kind of guessed maybe who it might be but I was totally wrong).
I liked all the friendships that Simon had and that he wasn't only talking to like the drama kids because he was involved in the school play.
I will be interested to read more that Becky Albertalli writes because this was a great start!
yukarin's review
3.0
It was okay, I guess. Partly cute, partly ultracheesy, partly weird.
The way bullying was handled but not as I would liked. I would have liked less drama for the sake of resolving the friendship and bullying issues more. Because not everything is resolved with saying sorry.
I 'guessed' Blue in that way that I didn't tought about the options Simon saw. I knew it was someone of the sports group but the name of the president twist was done quite well.
It was ok but not an extraordinary read for me.
The way bullying was handled but not as I would liked. I would have liked less drama for the sake of resolving the friendship and bullying issues more. Because not everything is resolved with saying sorry.
Spoiler
I 'guessed' Blue in that way that I didn't tought about the options Simon saw. I knew it was someone of the sports group but the name of the president twist was done quite well.
It was ok but not an extraordinary read for me.
remmslupin's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5