So, I like most people, I read Simon vs. The Homo-Sapien Agenda by Becky Albertalli when the trailers for the movie Love, Simon first came out. I hadn’t really read or seen much LGBT fiction so I was immediately interested, representation really matters so I was automatically drawn into the book. I can tell you that the book is amazing, the moment I got it I started reading it and I didn’t put it down until I had finished it. So, I managed to finish it in one day and it was entirely worth it.
Simon vs. The Homo-Sapien Agenda is about Simon who’s a kid who’s not really out. He starts emailing “Blue,” another kid at his school who’s also gay using the pen name “Jacques.” They slowly start to fall for each other the longer that they’re emailing. Another kid at their school finding Simon’s emails and he begins blackmailing Simon. Certain circumstances due to the blackmailing leads to Simon being outed and later on leads to Simon finally meeting Blue and learning who he is.
Ok, so let me get started on the writing and Albertalli’s style. First off, I want to say that Albertalli writes in such a wonderful way, there’s very few authors that I know of who can write from a teenager’s point of view and make it where it isn’t cringey and obvious that it’s not a teenager writing the book so that earns her a lot of points. The second thing that I loved was the relationship between Blue and Simon. In a lot of other books, you see the main character meeting the love interest and it’s shown by having them flirt with one another. What’s great about this book is that when Simon and Blue meet and start talking it’s more about becoming friends and just bonding over being the two of the only known gay people in their town. Their relationship starts with friendship and watching it progress is really kind of cute. Their interactions with each other are pure with them only talking of some mature topics at times. And to be honest, watching them talk with one another about everything is kinda goals. The third thing that I loved in the book was seeing the way that Simon was accepted by his family and friends, knowing what goes through people’s thoughts when they’re coming out about if they’ll be accepted or not and seeing the way Simon’s family and friends react to the news was very heartwarming. One last thing that I love about Albertalli’s writing is how she addresses stereotypes throughout the book. There’s a lot of stereotypes surrounding gay men and Albertalli addresses these a lot. When Simon is outed and he’s planning on going back to school, he starts to think about the clothes he’s wearing and what they say about him and starts wondering if he should switch to something that’s more “gay.” Seeing Simon go through this struggle of knowing people are going to look at him a certain way now that they know and watching him decide if he’s going to change the way he acts or the way he dresses or his interests was really interesting to see. He thinks now that everyone knows that he’s gay that he has to change the way that he was before and start acting in the way people would expect. These thoughts of the stereotypes are also heavily enforced because Ethan, the only open kid at their school acts and dresses in a way that follows these stereotypes to a degree. And once Simon is outed, the students at his school and even the teachers start to push him and Ethan together thinking that just because they’re the only two open kids at their school that of course they’re going to date.
So the last thing I want to say is that I highly recommend this book. It’s such a great read and you will honestly fall in love with the characters as well as the story. And there’s even a new book by Albertalli about one of Simon’s closest friends that I’ll be reading soon called Leah on the Off-Beat that I may just review.
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