2018 -Discussion Thread Q2 - Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens

Well I have noticed that a few people already have their copy and are starting to review. I have therefore, decided to open the discussion thread for you lovely people.

You all know what to do now, make sure to white out any spoilers.

Thank you once again for your support with the book club

No worries, I haven't read the whited out section so I don't know if you liked it or not

I started this expecting it to be an April carryover but a combination of having a lot of waiting time today plus the book being a nice easy and relaxing read meant I got through it in a day. Overall it was a book that I really enjoyed (but then again, I tend to like young adult fiction): I was able to relate to many of the characters, and Simon's family was amazing in so many ways. 

I tend to agree that I sort of wish that Simon had figured out earlier who Blue was - not sure about the rest of you but for me it was blatantly obvious! The author seemed to try and hide the clues of his identity e.g. by him being known as a short-form of his real name (to avoid the American president reveal I suppose) and the ambiguity around whether or not he would be going to the game but the very limited number of characters in the book meant that there really weren't many other possibilities as to who it could be. Among the other male characters: Nick was very clearly portrayed as being heterosexual from very early on, and Simon revealed that he suspected Cal way too early on for him to be the one. I was slightly worried halfway through that the author would spring a "oh Blue turned out to be this random guy that got mentioned once in the first 200 pages" which would have properly upset me, but thankfully she didn't. 

The blurb on GoodReads also describes Martin as being the class clown, I'm not quite sure that I felt the same way about him. Sure, he seemed like a bit of a free spirit and a bit of a bully at times, but I didn't feel he was really class clown material. Perhaps I missed something, but apart from the blackmailing incident and the singing in the waffle house scene, there wasn't really anything else that I would have described as clown-like in any way. And those two incidents in themselves I thought stemmed more from his desire to court Abby than his actual nature of making people laugh. I did feel a bit of resentment for him on behalf of Simon when the Tumblr post went out, but when Martin subsequently tried to make amends by promising that the screenshots were deleted and in revealing how he felt when his brother came out, I got the feeling that when push comes to shove, he isn't that bad a guy after all and it was more of an emotional teenager who didn't really know how to react to news of his brother in that way and his parents behaving strangely. 

All in all it was a fun ride with a group of relatively sensible teenagers, who have healthy hobbies and a strong network of friends to support them. It was so easy to root for each of them - from Leah bashing out her heart's desire on the drums to Nora's secret guitar lessons with Nick. The part of the story which was glossed through slightly, and I wish was expanded on a bit more, was the part where Leah felt left out after Nick started dating Abby. The long friendship between Nick, Simon and Leah was such an important pillar of support to all of them that I really wish they'd bashed it out properly (over a waffle and an Oreo milkshake obviously) instead of kind of just becoming friends again.

And I can't end my thoughts without expanding on what I mentioned earlier about Simon's family being amazing... the way in which his father apologised for making gay jokes, both of his parents sitting him down to let him know that they are firmly on his side, are precisely the way I would hope that all teenagers coming out would receive support. And Alice. That little ploy at the end to give Simon and Bram some time together at home was incredibly sweet, I'm not sure there are that many siblings who would look out for each other like that at that age! 

I've just written my thoughts in paragraphs as they came, not quite sure what is a spoiler and what isn't so I think I'll take the lazy way out and just white out the entire chunk. Hope that others enjoyed the book as much as I did and looking forward to reading what the rest of you think of it!

Yes My copy of Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda comes with an excerpt from the follow-up at the back. Amazon says expected in April, I can't wait! 

EDIT: My bad, that was the audiobook. The paper copy comes out 3rd May. 

I will start my review by pointing out that I do not usually read any YA .. plus I finished this book within the day ..

As a whole, I must say that I enjoyed the book and the 'journey' of the main character, Simon, into discovering his emotions ..  I tended to overlook all the 'cultural references' to life as a teenager in the 21st Century ..  I agree with much of what has been said here already, however, where I differ, seems to be that I didn't think that it was hard hitting enough .. Martin has email addresses, access to the internet & gets Simon to put his cell no into his phone, but then doesn't use any method to apply any pressure at all .. whether he just didn't realise how far Simon would go to protect Blue, I cannot say ..  These are the parts that turned what could have been a powerful and agst ridden book into a love story, essentially ..

I must confess that with such a small pool of characters, I was simply expecting Blue to be an 'enter stage left' guy that we met near the end .. if at all 

Abby was a very likebale character, but again the race aspect was so subliminal .. based in Atlanta ?? 

With everything that seems to go on with bullying etc on Social media these days and the devastating affects it causes, I expected more .. to be angered more, disgusted even, by the homophobia portrayed .. but all that was missing from this book  ..  Was I expecting too much ??  Perhaps I am looking through my adult eyes, rather than the target market of teenagers ??

...

 

You're correct Suzanne, I was expecting the blackmail to be worse, like full on all over social media and www. In fact it was so subtle I couldn't tell at times whether it was more in Simons imagination.

Spoiler comments above 

Me too

Regarding the bullying not being as much of a factor as expected, I think that was intentional, and the author's message to teens was that it isn't as bad today as they might expect from all the stories of the past. Things have changed a lot very fast, even in the last five years, and although Atlanta is in the South, it is a big city.

I was just reading about the film and apparently in that they have introduced a much more "out" and "feminine" gay character who isn't in the book at all and who does get bullied more. So Hollywood obviously isn't quite in agreement with the author on this. But I am happy that gay young people are starting to get stories that aren't all gloom and doom.

end of spoiler