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emergencyjam's review against another edition
1.0
***not a spoiler-free review***
One Man Guy is a young adult novel starring an Armenian teen who is really just trying his best. He’s just trying to please his parents, be a good friend, be a good student, and he’s totally not gay.
Like, totally. For sure not a gay boy.
Surprise, he actually is a gay boy, and for someone who didn’t previously know they were a gay boy, he takes it REALLY well. Which is great! I love reading books where being gay isn’t a big deal. Unfortunately, that is one on a very, VERY small list of things I actually liked about the book.
Overall, I’m actually very disappointed with this book. I got so excited when I saw that the book was blurbed by none other than E. Lockhart, author of some of my favourite books (We Were Liars and the The Boyfriend List series). But you know what? E. Lockhart let me down.
I want to begin by reiterating that I totally loved that being gay wasn’t an issue in the book. Alek (our fearless Armenian hero) didn’t go through a giant crisis upon discovering his gayness. Ethan (Blonde Bad Boy of Alek’s dreams) is unapologetically out and his friends could literally care less. They have skateboarding to do. His friends and family don’t even take it badly, either. This is honestly refreshing. Thanks, Michael.
There was also a really funny section of dialogue on page 228 about roses: “I did what any self-respecting guy would do. I returned all the Armenian books I bought this summer and used that money to have a dozen roses delivered to her house with a note begging for her forgiveness and telling her that if she took me back, I’d be her slave forever.” I chuckled.
And now, onto what I didn’t like. There is … a lot.
You can really, REALLY tell that this was Michael Barakiva’s first book. It was overflowing with annoying tropes and clichés. Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with a cliché here and there, and sometimes tropes are fun. But not when the entire book relies on them to exist. Of the top of my head: inexperienced closeted gay falls for a more experienced, out, older, cool gay; straight girl falls for her gay best friend but doesn’t know that he’s gay; best friend is Not Like Other Girls; overbearing parents; older sibling is perfect and the apple of their parent’s affection while the younger sibling can’t do anything right. And that’s only a few of them!
Speaking of the best friend being Not Like Other Girls: Becky. You see, Becky is cool. Becky likes old movies. Becky rollerblades. She is SO not like other girls! There is literally a whole page of dialogue where Becky and Alek make fun of stereotypical popular and “slutty” girls and honestly? It was in really poor taste. And as a feminist woman, it frankly made me uncomfortable. I actually decided to drop the book when I read that, but I thought that I'd pick it back up again because I believe in second chances.
And as a queer woman, the views expressed in the book regarding female sexuality kind of offended me. From what I’m to gather after reading this book, women are just naturally more fluid when it comes to their sexuality. Becky expressing interest in kissing other girls probably doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she’s bisexual but probably not. Which is fine, except not how it was written.
And then, and this is really the icing on the cake for me. There is a woman in the book who, after seeing Alek and Ethan being happily adorable and cute and gay together, says that being gay is really “in” right now and that she’s totally thought about becoming a “lesbo.” Nobody corrects her. Nobody explains to her that, no, being gay isn’t a fad. You don’t just decide to be attracted to the same gender as yourself. I actually flipped back to see when this book was published when I read this exchange.
This book was published in 2014.
I can’t believe that a gay man actually sat down and wrote this and published it in the year 2014.
And that is why this book is only getting one star from this reader.
One Man Guy is a young adult novel starring an Armenian teen who is really just trying his best. He’s just trying to please his parents, be a good friend, be a good student, and he’s totally not gay.
Like, totally. For sure not a gay boy.
Surprise, he actually is a gay boy, and for someone who didn’t previously know they were a gay boy, he takes it REALLY well. Which is great! I love reading books where being gay isn’t a big deal. Unfortunately, that is one on a very, VERY small list of things I actually liked about the book.
Overall, I’m actually very disappointed with this book. I got so excited when I saw that the book was blurbed by none other than E. Lockhart, author of some of my favourite books (We Were Liars and the The Boyfriend List series). But you know what? E. Lockhart let me down.
I want to begin by reiterating that I totally loved that being gay wasn’t an issue in the book. Alek (our fearless Armenian hero) didn’t go through a giant crisis upon discovering his gayness. Ethan (Blonde Bad Boy of Alek’s dreams) is unapologetically out and his friends could literally care less. They have skateboarding to do. His friends and family don’t even take it badly, either. This is honestly refreshing. Thanks, Michael.
There was also a really funny section of dialogue on page 228 about roses: “I did what any self-respecting guy would do. I returned all the Armenian books I bought this summer and used that money to have a dozen roses delivered to her house with a note begging for her forgiveness and telling her that if she took me back, I’d be her slave forever.” I chuckled.
And now, onto what I didn’t like. There is … a lot.
You can really, REALLY tell that this was Michael Barakiva’s first book. It was overflowing with annoying tropes and clichés. Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with a cliché here and there, and sometimes tropes are fun. But not when the entire book relies on them to exist. Of the top of my head: inexperienced closeted gay falls for a more experienced, out, older, cool gay; straight girl falls for her gay best friend but doesn’t know that he’s gay; best friend is Not Like Other Girls; overbearing parents; older sibling is perfect and the apple of their parent’s affection while the younger sibling can’t do anything right. And that’s only a few of them!
Speaking of the best friend being Not Like Other Girls: Becky. You see, Becky is cool. Becky likes old movies. Becky rollerblades. She is SO not like other girls! There is literally a whole page of dialogue where Becky and Alek make fun of stereotypical popular and “slutty” girls and honestly? It was in really poor taste. And as a feminist woman, it frankly made me uncomfortable. I actually decided to drop the book when I read that, but I thought that I'd pick it back up again because I believe in second chances.
And as a queer woman, the views expressed in the book regarding female sexuality kind of offended me. From what I’m to gather after reading this book, women are just naturally more fluid when it comes to their sexuality. Becky expressing interest in kissing other girls probably doesn’t mean anything. Maybe she’s bisexual but probably not. Which is fine, except not how it was written.
And then, and this is really the icing on the cake for me. There is a woman in the book who, after seeing Alek and Ethan being happily adorable and cute and gay together, says that being gay is really “in” right now and that she’s totally thought about becoming a “lesbo.” Nobody corrects her. Nobody explains to her that, no, being gay isn’t a fad. You don’t just decide to be attracted to the same gender as yourself. I actually flipped back to see when this book was published when I read this exchange.
This book was published in 2014.
I can’t believe that a gay man actually sat down and wrote this and published it in the year 2014.
And that is why this book is only getting one star from this reader.
literarylovebug's review against another edition
5.0
A very cute book that I highly enjoyed!! A little cheesy in some aspects but it was a good cheese! I'll definitely read more from this author!!
melissaverasreads's review against another edition
4.0
Rainbow Readathon: Yellow.
Omg, this was so awesome I can't even :D It was so funny! I was laughing out loud until the very end. This is a really cute, light, short read that I highly recommend to everyone that wants to laugh!
The Armenian culture present in this book was awesome, and the food! I find myself wanting to try the Armenian food several times!
Alek, the lead character, is an amazing character, I really loved reading from his point of view!
There were a few things that I have problems with:
-The main characters did certain thing that left me frowning.
-The writing was lacking something. The author sometimes did really unnecessary descriptions, and other times he wasn't descriptive enough. Plus, he tend to cut a scene just to describing it later... Why? Was that really necessary?
But I have to say, this is exactly the kind of lgtb romance I like to read. So four stars for you, book, well done!
Omg, this was so awesome I can't even :D It was so funny! I was laughing out loud until the very end. This is a really cute, light, short read that I highly recommend to everyone that wants to laugh!
The Armenian culture present in this book was awesome, and the food! I find myself wanting to try the Armenian food several times!
Alek, the lead character, is an amazing character, I really loved reading from his point of view!
There were a few things that I have problems with:
-The main characters did certain thing that left me frowning.
Spoiler
I'm sorry, but what's with the stealing thing? I know they're young and whatever, but NO.-The writing was lacking something. The author sometimes did really unnecessary descriptions, and other times he wasn't descriptive enough. Plus, he tend to cut a scene just to describing it later... Why? Was that really necessary?
But I have to say, this is exactly the kind of lgtb romance I like to read. So four stars for you, book, well done!
princessklee's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
serru's review against another edition
2.0
It's the author's first book and it really shows. There was lots of telling instead of showing, some unrealistic dialogue (there were many parts that sounded less like real people's conversations and more like the author's mouthpiece to send a specific message to his readers), inconsistent characterization (Alek going from being practically scared of Jake to suddenly pulling off a somewhat mean practical joke on him at the lunch table, for example), and just overall simplistic writing that frequently focused on explaining unnecessary details (such as basically taking us on a tour of NYC) while barely fleshing out major characters beyond "he's so cool because he skateboards and starts food fights but he's actually got a really deep, sensitive side because he listens to Rufus Wainwright".
Speaking of Ethan, I felt he came off less as a cool, older guy the way the author clearly intended him to, and more like a bad influence for Alek. I don't have a problem with kids skipping school occasionally but there was no indication that Ethan actually cared about his academics at all. And all his little tricks for getting around the city on just $10 made him seem more like a sneaky person rather than a respectable, streetwise guy. Especially that bit about "returning" a brand new book to the bookstore in order to get trick the cashier into giving him some store credit -- that was just outright theft.
Speaking of Ethan, I felt he came off less as a cool, older guy the way the author clearly intended him to, and more like a bad influence for Alek. I don't have a problem with kids skipping school occasionally but there was no indication that Ethan actually cared about his academics at all. And all his little tricks for getting around the city on just $10 made him seem more like a sneaky person rather than a respectable, streetwise guy. Especially that bit about "returning" a brand new book to the bookstore in order to get trick the cashier into giving him some store credit -- that was just outright theft.
nklosty's review against another edition
3.0
The Armenian twist on the story was entertaining. It brought out the culture of the boys and how differently perceptions might be from one generation to the next. I liked how the parents and kids were willing to look at things and try to figure them out together. 85
hayleyreadwhat's review against another edition
5.0
Let me start out my saying that I don't typically read teenage romance novels, not even when I was a teenager. Now, the amount that I truly loved reading this book is so great, you'd think I was exaggerating. Trust me, I'm not. It was an adorable story - one that I found myself smiling over from beginning to end. I simply could not put it down. Leaders of the campaign to diversify children's books should add this title to their list of examples to follow.
zombiegomoan's review against another edition
3.0
Sadly, just kinda "meh." Like it's not bad, but also not great. It just sort of is. I appreciate the representation or Armenian culture; we need more LGBTQ+ stories of non-White experiences [some would debate whether or not Armenians are truly non-White, but there's no denying they're spicy-White at the very least]. Other than that, it's just a mediocre romance story.
dynamicdylan's review against another edition
5.0
This was a spectacular debut. It was cute, romantic, and hilarious. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.
Haven't read a book this enjoyable since The Truth About Forever by Sarah Desson.
I loved the addition of the armenian culture. It made it so intriguing, and Alek's family is crazy. I love them.
Ethan was cool, hot, sexy, and sweet. I fell in love.
Becky was everything you could want in a best friend. Funny, sarcastic, and not afraid to get dirty to help a friend.
This book was just incredible. I enjoyed every second of it.
Haven't read a book this enjoyable since The Truth About Forever by Sarah Desson.
I loved the addition of the armenian culture. It made it so intriguing, and Alek's family is crazy. I love them.
Ethan was cool, hot, sexy, and sweet. I fell in love.
Becky was everything you could want in a best friend. Funny, sarcastic, and not afraid to get dirty to help a friend.
This book was just incredible. I enjoyed every second of it.