simon vs the homo sapiens agenda // becky albertalli

published: 2015
pages: 210 (but 199 realistically)

ISBN: 9780062348692

read: 11/15-24/2017

rating: 50/50. like yes but like eh

book: 30 of 29 for 2017. I AM DONE!

"he talked about the ocean between people. and how the whole point of everything is to find a shore worth swimming to."

-Simon pg 19

SYNOPSIS

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 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.

MY THOUGHTS

i wanted to blog about this the very minute that i was done with it but i told myself to give me some time because sometimes your emotions can change.

and i wish i could say that that's what happened with this book but realistically, i still feel the same.

like it was a cool read but i could have done without.

this book was recommended to me and i bought it as an ebook a whiiiiiiile ago when it was on sale but it wasn't until we were taking off on our trip (post coming soon eventually) that i decided to give it a go.

it was all good for me up until i found out who Blue was.

its not that i didn't like Blue or the idea of Blue or what he was and what he meant to Simon, i just feel like the discovery took some of the fun of the story away.

usually, I'm all for having a "life" after the plot has been given away and i desperately want to know what happens with them but in my honest opinion, had they solved everything beforehand with his blackmailer and his friends and then they would have revealed who blue was and then end scene, i think i would have loved it 1000 x's more.

i do have to give it credit for this being more than just about Simon and Blue because there are other issues with him having to come out to his friends and family and he does have several issues with his friends that he realizes that he needs to work on (albeit, i wholeheartedly 100% think Leah is a bitch) that makes this book so much more than what it could have been had it all been just about finding out who Blue was.

and so i guess all of this brings me to:
HOW THE HELL ARE THEY MAKING THIS INTO A MOVIE!!!!????
for me, there isn't enough to make a movie of it.
i did want to read this before the movie so i could watch it when it came out.
but honestly, I'm going into it with super low expectations so hopefully it does for me what the book did not.

anyway, so yea.
been several days and i don't miss any of the characters and i still feel the same.
thanks book but meh, no thanks.

but there were a few hidden gems.
here are some of my fave quotes.

"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...........and every freaking time, i have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again."

-Simon pg 41

"Bram was right: people are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows. and maybe its a good thing, the way we never stop surprising each other."

-Simon pg 193

spoilers below as always.

thanks for reading!

#lesreads on IG
SPOILERS

Simon finds blue on tumblr and messages him after one of his posts resonates with him.

then they become email buddies.

and then little by little, Simon falls in love with blue. (i mean there's other stuff in between but whatev's)

one day, he leaves his email open at school and Martin some shit sees the emails and decides to blackmail him into getting him a date with Abby.

for a good minute it's a no go and then eventually, Martin starts hanging out with them.

blah

.....simon isn't holding his part of the deal and there's a scene where Cal (some other dude in their drama class) pushes Simon on a chair and then he crashes and then Abby runs over and basically throws herself at him and that pushes Martin over the edge.

so....he goes on tumblr and leaves a message basically outing Simon and Si he has to come clean from there.

first he tells Abby (or actually, she already knew before the incident.)

then his sister

then his parents

and then nick & leah.

blah

he realizes that he hasn't been a good friend to his friends so he tries to fix that and then some other shit with his family.

and the whole time he's trying to a) figure out who blue is while also b) basically force begging blue to reveal his identity.

and then...he finally tells blue that he needs to know who he is so he emails him to meet him after the play at a fair in their town.

after the play, Simon rushes home to grab a shirt that blue gave him (why the fuck didn't he just wear it or carry it in his backpack considering he couldn't live without it basically!!!) so he can wear it ONLY TO REALIZE THAT HE COULD HAVE JUST TEXTED OR CALLED HIM ABOUT A WEEK AGO. (because Blue stuffed his number on the inside of the shirt.)

but of course now that its easy for him, no dice.

he's going to wait to meet him in person.

he goes to the fair hangs out with his friends, apologizes for being a shitty friend. and then he gets on some ride as his last fair hurrah! and BOOM! blue sits next to him.

and blue is BRAM.

and because i didn't give 100% of a shit about this book i didn't even mention to you that Bram is actually a soccer player in the school team / his own freaking lunch buddy who sits at the table with Simmon's group.

so he's been like 2 feet from blue all along.

and so yea.

they fall hopelessly in love and it ends with them hanging out at a school play that ends up at Simon's house after his parents go out to eat.

and that's it.

i left out a shit load.

thanks!!!!