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A review by topy_loving_books
Different for Boys by Patrick Ness
3.0
I liked the illustrations and the black boxes over the swear words and references about sex at first. It's what drawn me to this book at first. That and the subject of facing your sexuality as a teen boy, which can be very difficult for a gay boy (thanks to patriarcal society and toxic masculinity). I thought the black boxes were a clever way to make the book even more accessible for a YA audience (as queer books get banned more and more in the US).
But quickly I struggled with both concepts, as it got more difficult to understand what the hero was talking about, especially about his sex experiments with his friend. It would have been helpful to have a better understanding of what they were doing together to kind of answer Ant's own questioning. Also as much as I liked the illustrations at first, I struggled to identify who was who as they were not clearly defined as the story progressed. And it was putting me out of the story.
About the story on its own, I was expecting more development especially about Ant and Charlie as they explore each other body (and sexuality) for months. The way Charlie acted with Ant was full of own self homophobia to me. Even if for Ant at the end, he thought his friend was not gay but lonely. Over all this book felt pretty generic. Especially as many other YA books had done a better job at portraying such struggles for queer teens.
On a side note, I've read the Canadian/US edition so the main talk between the two boys was about american football and regular football (soccer). When in the original version it's between regular football and rugby. I don't get the change. As the north american audience couldn't understand it or relate?!
But quickly I struggled with both concepts, as it got more difficult to understand what the hero was talking about, especially about his sex experiments with his friend. It would have been helpful to have a better understanding of what they were doing together to kind of answer Ant's own questioning. Also as much as I liked the illustrations at first, I struggled to identify who was who as they were not clearly defined as the story progressed. And it was putting me out of the story.
About the story on its own, I was expecting more development especially about Ant and Charlie as they explore each other body (and sexuality) for months. The way Charlie acted with Ant was full of own self homophobia to me. Even if for Ant at the end, he thought his friend was not gay but lonely. Over all this book felt pretty generic. Especially as many other YA books had done a better job at portraying such struggles for queer teens.
On a side note, I've read the Canadian/US edition so the main talk between the two boys was about american football and regular football (soccer). When in the original version it's between regular football and rugby. I don't get the change. As the north american audience couldn't understand it or relate?!