Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli


Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Review by Lauren

Source: copy from library; all opinions are my own

Official Summary: 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.

Review: This is easily one of my new favorite books and I think it's something that pretty much everyone should read. It took me a bit to find the time to grab this one, but I'm so happy I finally did. Don't wait too long - you're sure to love Simon!

Simon has an email relationship of sorts with a guy from his school. That's all he knows about his identify, as he refers to himself as Blue. Simon and Blue, instead, share all sorts of other personal and fun facts about themselves, trying hard not to give themselves away with anything too obvious. Simon is desperate to know the guy behind the computer screen, even though he isn't out himself. However, Blue is far more anxious about this than Simon and doesn't want to exchange phone numbers or meet in person.

Besides Simon and Blue's emails (which were great!), we have plenty of story lines with Simon. There's his family, his friends, and even a fellow musical theater guy who is blackmailing Simon to help him win over a girl. If Simon doesn't help, this guy will reveal that Simon is gay (and perhaps even share information about Blue). Simon isn't quite ready to come out, but he's far more worried about breaking Blue's trust than anything else.

This book feels like a guy wrote it, which is fantastic! It's funny, emotional, realistic. Yeah, Simon is gay and he likes a guy he doesn't quite know. But there is so much more to him and this story. You need to read it!

3 comments:

Lindsey said...

I bought this one not long ago, and I can't wait to read it!

Lindsey

Lola said...

I have seen this book around, but didn't really know anything about it until I read your review. It sounds like a good book and it's so interesting they meet through e-mail. That sounds like something that would happen more nowadays. I might have to give this a try once.

Liz. R said...

I have heard so many good things about this book! Have been meaning to read it for ages, really glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review.