Book: Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli
Pages: 303
Read On: Paperback
How Long it Took Me To Read: 2-3 days
Plot 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 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.
General Thoughts: This book got a massive amount of hype last year when it released. And I only heard amazing things about it since then. Obviously I had it on my TBR but I was a little apprehensive to read it. Often with books with a lot of hype surrounding them they turn out to be a little letdown-ish.
Things I Liked:
1. I loved the writing. It was easy and engaging and really enjoyable.
2. Simon...oh Simon! He was such a fun and memorable character and just an all around good person to get to know and spend time with. He was real and immensely likeable. You immediately found yourself rooting for him and wishing him well.
3. LGBTQ books need to read and we as readers must strive to read about the lives of those who might seem different but are really going through the same things we are, only their love is frowned upon by society and close minded people.
4. The love aspect of this book, the emails going back and forth and the banter is just so fun.
5. The friends circle in this book, Simon's group of friends was so refreshing to read about. They were just regular and normal teens. And not insanely cliquey like so many YA books make high school seems like a war zone where people with different interests just can't hang out together.
6. I loved that there was so much family in this book. Normally parents and siblings do a vanishing act in YA books and it was so nice to see Simon's family in so much of the book.
7. There was also this little mystery of who Blue was. And it was nice to make guesses along the way.
8. This was overall such a wonderful and lovely and heart-warming read. I really enjoyed my time with this book and the people in it.
9. There was a school play that was in the background of the this book and I really loved it. It reminded me of being a part of so many school plays and the fun we always had.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Hmm...very minor but I didn't quite like how Simon didn't want to come out to his parents because he thought they'd make a big deal out of his being gay. They would approve and try to be supportive and for some reason he wasn't feeling it! Really? I felt like he was making a big deal out of the best possible outcome. Shouldn't he feel super blessed to be in this family. So many teens are abused and shunned for coming out and Simon was worried about being loved the heck out of??? Really!
2. At some point in the book Simon gets really friendly with his blackmailer...which just didn't feel right and I found it a little hard to believe.
Rating: 4/5
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