Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli

70 reviews

tsar's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

“People really are like house with vast rooms and tiny windows. And maybe it's a good thing, the way we never stop surprising each other.”

Filled with feel-good humor and adorably endearing characters, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda features a tell-tale disastrous story of a closeted gay teenager named Simon Spier who is being blackmailed to matchmake his blackmailer and one of his best friends to keep his secret safe. This proves to be an integral part of his identity as Simon is depicted not to be ready to reveal his "big" secret to his high school peers, which could lead to a permanent social suicide for him.

Despite calling it to have essentially genuine comedic moment due to its writings, Albertalli illustrates one of the most realistically haunting moments in the lives of queer people: how queerness and sexuality are viewed to be an extraordinarily shameful identity to own when you are not a heterosexual that it seems to be common to be used as a sly agenda for those with higher conflict of interests. Not to mention, Albertalli discusses the issues of coming out when it's not in the control of the people who are still in a closet—the way their sexual preference reveals is clouded with fear and anxiety because their fates are in other's hands, creating an atmosphere that is less liberating for them.

Yet, when it comes to consequences as the conflict heightens as it reaches the unwanted reveal, Albertalli does play it safe to cocoon Simon in a comfortable bubble. The more conservative feel of his suburb is quickly melted into a more democratized acceptance despite the fleeting snippets of surprise and little outrage—beyond Simon's misunderstandings with his groupies. So, the book solidly stays in the more feel-good aspect of a queer book.

We could agree that Martin is quite the trash of a character, even though he has admitted to his wrong-doings. On the other hand, the main characters fall to yours truly trope characters in a high school setting, but Albertalli manages to subvert some of their personalities to stray far from the irritating templates of said tropes: each one is given an enough character arc to make themselves grow better alongside Simon, carrying a strong resemblance of relatability that readers could understand.

In the end, while I don't call Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda revolutionary in its depiction of a coming-out journey, I find it to be one of the most balanced yet excellently written books surrounding that issue that could definitely be placed as a comfort book in the heart of young adult readers.

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nindie's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

literally my favourite book

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elledinglasan's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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_mara_becca_'s review against another edition

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emotional funny sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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planner5002's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.25

I‘ve seen the movie, and this was definitely better. As rough as some of the things described were, the book had a hopeful tone. I loved the plot of the play. Although, I really didn’t think Leah added much as a charachter.

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nannahnannah's review against another edition

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3.5

This may one of the few times I'm actually looking forward to the movie version. Not to say the book was bad, but there were parts that I enjoyed so little that I'm hoping the movie got rid of them altogether or at least ... just really put as little emphasis on them as possible.

Using the email account [email protected], 16yo Simon Spier can come out of the closet to someone named Blue and express himself honestly in a way he can't to anyone "irl". Unfortunately, a kid named Martin from drama class sees his email when Simon forgets to log off in the library and blackmails him: help Martin get close to Simon's friend Abby or everyone will know Simon's gay (and worse, because screenshots will be released, Blue is involved in it too).

Basically, it's a messy soup of a high school coming-of-age story mixed with a coming-out story mixed with one hell of an adorable romance. What's not to love?? I honestly stayed up many nights to read a bit longer.

So why the 3.5?

Sometimes the text got to be a tad cringy; I mean, I get it takes a book a few years to get from finished mss to published text, so already you have some outdated slang (e.g. "I can't even"), but some dialogue exchanges could be a bit awkward. I just couldn't imagine kids talking like this, or even the adult characters either. Things just ran a bit stilted.

But the real villain of this book was Leah. An anime-obsessed yaoi-loving gay-fetishizing friend of Simon who was supposed to be an ally??? I don't think so. But this book never changed its stance on her. Simon keeps his opinion that she's like ... the most understanding out of all his friends because she introduced him to "slash fanfiction".

So let me make this clear, as a wlw: people who love yaoi (especially women and especially women who call themselves "fujoshi") basically fetishize gay people, and fetishizers are not allies.

Just like Simon, on page 21, says he thinks gay women have it easier (LOL), because dudes find them hot. Again, fetishizing gay people isn't the same thing as being allies. GOD, this part made me so furious. Almost to the point of quitting the book right there on page 21.

Anyway, despite this (which made me despise every single time Leah showed up in the book), I still loved the book as an easy romantic read. But since it looks like the next book is all about Leah ?? I definitely won't read on. There are enough stuff about gay fetishization out there being seen in a positive light. Yuck.

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blues's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

È una storia davvero molto carina e su cui possiamo trarre molti spunti di riflessione. Lo stile di scrittura è semplice e scorrevole, si legge velocemente.

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