Book Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

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BOOK review

Started on: 19.June.2015
Finished on: 22.June.2015

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Title : Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author : Becky Albertalli

Publisher : Balzer + Bray
Pages :  303 pages / 235 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication : 2015

Price : $ 18.81 (www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5

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"Blue doesn't live in California. He lives in Shady Creek, and he goes to our school. Blue isn't his real name.
He's someone. He may even be someone I know. But I don't know who. And I'm not sure I want to know."

Simon Spier—a not-so-openly gay teenage boy—is facing a crisis when his schoolmate, Martin, discovered Simon's email that was supposed to be a secret. Martin said that he had a screenshot of Simon's email to a boy under the pseudonym Blue, that was supposed to be a secret. And Martin will expose that email if Simon doesn't help him hook up with Simon's friend, Abby. Simon felt like he was blackmailed; but he had to do it because Simon wants to be the one who decides when and how he's going to come out. And Simon especially doesn't want Blue's privacy to be compromised.

"But I'm tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again."

Simon's attraction to Blue grows over a series of emails they sent to each other. They only know that they went to the same school but doesn't know each other's real identity because Simon sends his emails under the pseudonym Jacques. Simon kept giving hints in his emails about his identity but on the other hand, Blue is always very careful in revealing his personal details. While struggling to find out Blue's real identity, Simon also had to face the complicated matters that's happening amongst his friends: Nick, Leah, and Abby. Furthermore, when Blue said in one of his emails that he finally comes out to his family, Simon felt like he had to do the same thing. Coming out is definitely not an easy thing for Simon to do, especially since he's born in a family who's always so worked up over the smallest changes in his life.

"What I want is to sit here and think about Blue. I think I'm starting to get a little obsessed with him. On one hand, he's so careful all the time about not giving me details about himself—and then he turns around and tells me all kinds of personal stuff, and it's the kind of stuff that I could totally use to figure out his identity if I really wanted to. And I do want to. But I also don't. It's just so totally confusing."

image sourrce: here. edited by me.

OMG. THIS BOOK IS TOO FREAKING ADORABLE. So I recently joined this new book club called We the Book Dragons that was formed by a group of bookstagrammers (if that word exists) and all the members voted for a book they want to read in June. Out of the three choices, I voted for this book because I'm intrigued; especially since I don't read a lot of LGBT books. I also heard a lot of great things about it. And I seriously do not regret picking this book up; because it's a really fun book to read! It's about friendship, love, family, and also self-discovery. The story is pretty much character-driven because it focuses on our main character, Simon Spier, and all of the conflicts surrounding him: his relationship with his friends, family, and especially his mysterious relationship with Blue. I instantly fell in love with the story right from the very first page; the writing-style is very casual and easy to read. The book is written from Simon's point of view; so the reader will get to see his feelings/thoughts and that made me sympathize with the situation he's in. The one thing that got me curious throughout the book is of course Blue's identity; I feel like I've become Simon who desperately wants to know Blue's real identity while making guesses according to the bits of clues given in the emails. While reading, I was also extremely curious as to how Simon's friends/families will react about him coming out. After all the things that have happened in the book, I'd have to say I'm extremely satisfied with how it all turned out in the end. Everything is just so perfect. Honestly, I had a really difficult time trying to hold myself from smiling or giggling too much by the end of this book. It's that cute.

"She does this every freaking time. Both of them. They put me in a box, and every time I try to nudge the lid open, they slam it back down. It's like nothing about me is allowed to change."

I think I love most of the characters in this book, but I think my favorite will be Blue (and of course his super cute chemistry with Simon). Of course I won't spoil his identity in this review because that will definitely take the fun away from those who haven't read this book. Throughout most of the book, Blue's real identity remains mysterious and I guess that's part of his charm. And his emails are way too adorable. I can totally relate with how Simon fall for Blue over a series of emails, because I find myself loving Blue as well.

I have so many favorite scenes that involved Blue. The first one will be the moment when Blue said in the email that he's almost positve that he knows about Simon being Jacques. At that moment my mouth was gaping because I didn't expect it to happen. Another one of my favorites is when Simon discovered Blue's letter with his phone number written underneath it! For a very long time Blue was very secretive about his identity and doesn't want to exchange phone numbers with Simon, so this was a HUGE step for him. I'm squealing like crazy when I read this scene. Like literally. And of course, my most favorite scene will be the moment when Simon and Blue finally met each other. I'm sorry if I'm being repetitive here, but it's just so freaking adorable! Couldn't stop smiling when I read that scene. It's a mix of awkward and sweet and cute—and I absolutely loved it! UGH. SO CUTE.

"And I can't believe you rode the Tilt-A-Whirl for me."
"I must really like you," he says.
So I lean in toward him, and my heart is in my throat. "I want to hold your hand," I say softly.
Because we're in public. Because I don't know if he's out.
"So hold it," he says.
And I do.

And here's me giggling and smiling over all the cuteness in this book.

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

"And you know what? You don't get to say it's not a big thing. This is a big fucking thing, okay? This was supposed to be—this is mine. I'm supposed to decide when and where and who knows and how I want to say it."

"Right, because things aren't shitty enough. People at school think I'm a joke, and there's a boy I can't seem to stop being in love with, and he just might be someone I can't stand. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to puke tonight."

The main star of this book is of course Simon Spier; who's going through a very important phase in his life—which is coming out as gay. I really like his character because of how he deal with things that happened to him. I love his relationship with his friends and family; Simon's narration is really fun to read and I find myself thoroughly following his train of thoughts. Even though looking back at it, his guesses on Blue's identity are actually a little bit off and almost doesn't make sense. And yet I sympathizes with Simon's worries when he guessed that Blue might be a person whom he couldn't stand. Anyways, I love Simon's narration and how his character grows throughout the story. It's fun reading his thoughts and feelings about everything that's going on in his life :))

"I'm not going to pretend I know how this ends, and I don't have a freaking clue if it's possible to fall in love over email. But I would really like to meet you, Blue. I want to try this. And I can't imagine a scenario where I won't want to kiss your face off as soon as I see you."

This book was so much fun to read from start to finish. Everything about this story felt so realistic to the point where I feel like I'm starting to understand how gay people feel. I've always been curious about what causes a person to become gay or does a person born with it. Even though I still haven't found an exact answer for that, at least now I know that it's a struggle to be gay and that we should not made fun of someone because they're not straight, because they're not the 'default'. After reading this book, I'm really eager to pick up more books with LGBT elements in it. Thank you, Becky Albertalli, for writing such a wonderful and heartfelt story. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda has officially become on of my favorite reads in the year so far ;)

"Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it shouldn't be this big awkward thing whether you're straight, gay, bi, or whatever. I'm just saying."

"And I can't stop smiling. I mean, there are times when it's actually more work not to smile."

♥♥♥♥   by.stefaniesugia♥ .