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

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author : Becky Albertalli
Publication Date : April 7th 2015
Publisher : Balzer + Bray
Goodreads - Amazon - Barnes & Noble

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. 

Personal Thoughts

Has there ever been a book cuter than Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda? NOPE! I'm a little ashamed to admit that this a book I initially dismissed. I had preconceived notions that this would be the same old book with LGBTQ characters struggling with discrimination and having to deal with coming out. But Danielle a.k.a book pusher extraordinaire, basically threatened to end our friendship if I didn't read it. And of course, this girl knows my tastes way too well!

In a contemporary book, if the characters don't grab me as much as I expect them to, then I have a hard time enjoying the book. The cast in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens was just so wonderfully well-written. Becky Albertalli is an absolute star at fleshing out characters and you could tell with the way ALL of the characters shone through in the book. Of course, I did have a huge soft spot for our boy Simon, but I absolutely loved each and everyone of the characters. Simon was so endearing, you guys. I just wanted to squish him and carry him in my pocket at all times. I loved that the author did not resort to stereotypes to craft his character. There was nothing about him that "stood out" in a sense that made you think that he was gay. In doing so, the author actually went about to highlight that there is nothing abnormal about being gay and I absolutely loved that, of course. She showed that being gay is as normal as being straight. Basically, Simon's homosexuality does not define who he is, but rather his characteristics do. And he has a lot of great ones at that! I loved his loyalty to his friends and family and I loved how genuine he was. Plus, Simon really grew as a character throughout the book and by the end, he was an even better character than he originally was.

As I said, the secondary characters were also outstanding. Becky Albertalli nailed the character development and the character dynamics. One of my favorite parts about this book has to be the relationships that Simon had with the various people in his life. I adored Simon with his family! This was family that loved each other and were so supportive of each other, but at the same time faced some obstacles, which was realistic is so many ways. Then there's Simon's bond with his friends. It was perfectly depicted. Not only do we get to see the great happy moments between them, but we also get to see the sadder moments which is so typical of friendships in real life. And then of course, there was the romance that had me squealing in happiness and screaming "OTP FOR LIFE" while I was reading. Most of Simon and Blue's relationship took place over emails and watching them flirt with each other just made my heart soar (and also had me totally jealous of their relationship). I also liked that we had no idea who Blue was and the guessing game was fun, but it also made me ridiculously happy when I guessed right. If you can't already tell, I was madly in love with Simon and Blue's relationship and Becky's lovely writing made the reading experience so much more awesome.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda was a wonderful novel about love, friendship and family. This is a book that I want to buy for all of my friends. Seriously guys, read it, experience the joy that I felt and fall crazy in love with it!


Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5


Thank you to Edelweiss and Harper Teen for the e-ARC of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. 


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