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syl_val15's review
3.0
The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Girl
by B.T. Gottfred
3.35/5 Stars!
This whole review contains spoilers.
This book is definitely not you typical YA contemporary book, it deals with heavy issues: death, health issues, sexuality, putting labels on people and it’s kind of a "coming of age" form of a book, too.
This was one of the messiest books I've read, but not in a bad way. The weird thing is that this was a very strange story yet I liked it.
So, a little about the story:
Everyone thinks Zee is a lesbian because she dresses like a tomboy and likes stuff boys like for example going to the gym or lifting weights etc. And everyone also thinks that Art is gay because of his feminine style always wearing pristine clothes, using lotion every day and etc.
Zee is in love with her bestfriend of six years Cam, and Art's bestfriend Bryan is in love with him. The relationships in this book were so confusing I'll get to that part soon.
So, Art is really sweet guy but annoying always making everything about him such an attention seeker like the word Drama Queen was made especially for him. He was the definition of being extra.
Bryan always using the word 'bitch', in every one of his sentence like dude take a chill pill, I'm not joking that word was used 31 times in this book yes, most of them were used in Bryan's sentences and yes, I counted how many times that word was used.
Writing style: It was as if a 14 year old wrote it, I mean I get why the author did that because the main characters were teenagers. It was very quirky and I liked it, as if you’re in the teenagers’ minds. However Art was constantly thinking that he was hilarious I mean sometimes he was but other times I was like: 'OK dude we get it, you’re funny stop repeating it over and over again'.
Literally every guy in this book cried. Was there anyone in this book who hasn’t cried? The answer is no. Seriously the boys cried more than the girls. Whenever one of them started crying I was like:
But I loved the whole idea and the concept of the story in general, putting labels on people is wrong, just let them be or live how they like, we shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance or how they dress.
Relationships: I wasn't fully convinced on Art and Zee's relationship, Art fell in love with Zee the second he saw her, but I wasn't buying it, he was just obsessed with the idea of being in love with her and another thing that bothered me was that Zee is older than Art (that is always a minus for me, I don't like when the girl is older than the guy, especially if they're in a relationship. That's just my personal opinion, though).
But the whole relationships were so messy, the main characters were with different people every time. Art loves Zee, Zee loves Cam, Cam loves Abby (Art's sister) who later on starts dating her ex-boyfriend, Bryan loves Art and then forgets about his ''undying love'' for Art the minute he starts dating Taylor, and Jayden? his was the weirdest, he knows Art is in love with Zee so he starts dressing up like Zee to make Art love him and Art likes it? Oh, and Zee starts liking a girl named Iris or that's how she thinks that, then she crushes on another boy, and Cam dumps Abby for Zee because he saw Zee wearing girly clothes. You see my point and why I was extremly confused with all these?
Like, who likes who? Who's dating who? It was strange.
One of the things I really enjoyed in this book was the acknowledgment and the author’s note that was one of the best parts of the book.
by B.T. Gottfred
3.35/5 Stars!
This whole review contains spoilers.
This book is definitely not you typical YA contemporary book, it deals with heavy issues: death, health issues, sexuality, putting labels on people and it’s kind of a "coming of age" form of a book, too.
This was one of the messiest books I've read, but not in a bad way. The weird thing is that this was a very strange story yet I liked it.
So, a little about the story:
Everyone thinks Zee is a lesbian because she dresses like a tomboy and likes stuff boys like for example going to the gym or lifting weights etc. And everyone also thinks that Art is gay because of his feminine style always wearing pristine clothes, using lotion every day and etc.
Zee is in love with her bestfriend of six years Cam, and Art's bestfriend Bryan is in love with him. The relationships in this book were so confusing I'll get to that part soon.
So, Art is really sweet guy but annoying always making everything about him such an attention seeker like the word Drama Queen was made especially for him. He was the definition of being extra.
Bryan always using the word 'bitch', in every one of his sentence like dude take a chill pill, I'm not joking that word was used 31 times in this book yes, most of them were used in Bryan's sentences and yes, I counted how many times that word was used.
Writing style: It was as if a 14 year old wrote it, I mean I get why the author did that because the main characters were teenagers. It was very quirky and I liked it, as if you’re in the teenagers’ minds. However Art was constantly thinking that he was hilarious I mean sometimes he was but other times I was like: 'OK dude we get it, you’re funny stop repeating it over and over again'.
Literally every guy in this book cried. Was there anyone in this book who hasn’t cried? The answer is no. Seriously the boys cried more than the girls. Whenever one of them started crying I was like:
But I loved the whole idea and the concept of the story in general, putting labels on people is wrong, just let them be or live how they like, we shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance or how they dress.
Relationships: I wasn't fully convinced on Art and Zee's relationship, Art fell in love with Zee the second he saw her, but I wasn't buying it, he was just obsessed with the idea of being in love with her and another thing that bothered me was that Zee is older than Art (that is always a minus for me, I don't like when the girl is older than the guy, especially if they're in a relationship. That's just my personal opinion, though).
But the whole relationships were so messy, the main characters were with different people every time. Art loves Zee, Zee loves Cam, Cam loves Abby (Art's sister) who later on starts dating her ex-boyfriend, Bryan loves Art and then forgets about his ''undying love'' for Art the minute he starts dating Taylor, and Jayden? his was the weirdest, he knows Art is in love with Zee so he starts dressing up like Zee to make Art love him and Art likes it? Oh, and Zee starts liking a girl named Iris or that's how she thinks that, then she crushes on another boy, and Cam dumps Abby for Zee because he saw Zee wearing girly clothes. You see my point and why I was extremly confused with all these?
Like, who likes who? Who's dating who? It was strange.
One of the things I really enjoyed in this book was the acknowledgment and the author’s note that was one of the best parts of the book.
pauladamswrites's review
"Everyone assumes that Zee is a lesbian. Her classmates, her gym buddies, even her so-called best friend. Even Zee is starting to wonder. Could they be onto something?
Everyone assumes that Art is gay. They take one look at his nice clothes and his pretty face and think: well, obviously.
But there’s more to Zee and Art than anyone realizes. What develops is a powerful connection between two people who are beautiful in all the ways they've been told are strange. As they explore their own complex relationships to gender, sexuality, and identity, they fall for the complexities they find in each other. With his trademark frankness, B. T. Gottfred delves inside both characters' heads in this story about love and living authentically."
Over the past couple of days, I had the opportunity to preview The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy by B.T. Gottfred. If you've read any of my book reviews to this point, then you know that the description of this book immediately grabbed my attention. And if they didn't win me over, alone, the dedication definitely sold me on reading this book.
"dedicated to everyone who has embraced their own unique, magical mix of feminine & masculine (and olux and xulo) and then embraced everyone else's in return."
And then the book was wonderful. It was consuming. It swallowed me and kept me turning page after page. I was absorbed by Zee and Art. And I identified with them closely. Especially Art. He's hilarious. He's sensitive. He's a good dresser. (I was not a good dresser at 17, like he is. But I am, now.)
I liked how nontraditional they are. Zee is perceived as masculine because she is strong and athletic and androgynous. She love Crossfit. She dresses in a t-shirt and cargo shorts. She's not fussed about her appearance, and her best friend is a guy. All signs point to lesbian, right?
Conversely, Art is beautiful. He's concerned about skincare, he dresses well, he's sensitive. His best friend is gay and he's artistic and not at all interested in sports. Apparently, these things equate to femininity, and thus, Art is clearly gay.
But as The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy unfolds, we learn as readers that there is more to sexuality than that. Things are more complicated. And it's a message people should be told. Because it's true. I am a smart dresser, I am effeminate. I am artistic. I'm a schoolteacher, for crying out loud. So the assumption made about me in school was always that I was gay.
I really identified with Art throughout this book.
But as the characters evolve, we learn about their intricacies and the complications of their life. Zee's mother is very sick as the book opens, and dies within the first chapter. Art's parents are awful and distant. Art's family is awful.
Zee is in love with her best friend, Cam. Art's best friend, Bryan, is in love with him.
It's all very complicated.
Now's the time I point out that one of the things you must keep in mind when you read YA is about intensity. The emotions are intense and amplified. The circumstances are unrealistic and complicated. Everything is very big. Very loud. Very fast. That's just part of the genre.
And, so, The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. The relationship that develops between Art and Zee is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. Starting out, I loved every part of this book.
It was complex. It was inspired.
And then... it wasn't.
For 75% of the book, I was in love. I was involved. I was sold on every aspect of the book.
And then the last quarter of the book went off the tracks for me. It's not even that it was bad. It was just not the trajectory of this book. There were extra complications. There were extra characters who just appeared solely to complicate things. There were extra plot points that weren't necessary.
And 100% maybe this was just me. Maybe this book just didn't jive with me, which doesn't mean it won't jive with someone else. It just wasn't my style of book. Which was so disappointing, because I really, truly loved everything about this book until then.
Everyone assumes that Art is gay. They take one look at his nice clothes and his pretty face and think: well, obviously.
But there’s more to Zee and Art than anyone realizes. What develops is a powerful connection between two people who are beautiful in all the ways they've been told are strange. As they explore their own complex relationships to gender, sexuality, and identity, they fall for the complexities they find in each other. With his trademark frankness, B. T. Gottfred delves inside both characters' heads in this story about love and living authentically."
Over the past couple of days, I had the opportunity to preview The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy by B.T. Gottfred. If you've read any of my book reviews to this point, then you know that the description of this book immediately grabbed my attention. And if they didn't win me over, alone, the dedication definitely sold me on reading this book.
"dedicated to everyone who has embraced their own unique, magical mix of feminine & masculine (and olux and xulo) and then embraced everyone else's in return."
And then the book was wonderful. It was consuming. It swallowed me and kept me turning page after page. I was absorbed by Zee and Art. And I identified with them closely. Especially Art. He's hilarious. He's sensitive. He's a good dresser. (I was not a good dresser at 17, like he is. But I am, now.)
I liked how nontraditional they are. Zee is perceived as masculine because she is strong and athletic and androgynous. She love Crossfit. She dresses in a t-shirt and cargo shorts. She's not fussed about her appearance, and her best friend is a guy. All signs point to lesbian, right?
Conversely, Art is beautiful. He's concerned about skincare, he dresses well, he's sensitive. His best friend is gay and he's artistic and not at all interested in sports. Apparently, these things equate to femininity, and thus, Art is clearly gay.
But as The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy unfolds, we learn as readers that there is more to sexuality than that. Things are more complicated. And it's a message people should be told. Because it's true. I am a smart dresser, I am effeminate. I am artistic. I'm a schoolteacher, for crying out loud. So the assumption made about me in school was always that I was gay.
I really identified with Art throughout this book.
But as the characters evolve, we learn about their intricacies and the complications of their life. Zee's mother is very sick as the book opens, and dies within the first chapter. Art's parents are awful and distant. Art's family is awful.
Zee is in love with her best friend, Cam. Art's best friend, Bryan, is in love with him.
It's all very complicated.
Now's the time I point out that one of the things you must keep in mind when you read YA is about intensity. The emotions are intense and amplified. The circumstances are unrealistic and complicated. Everything is very big. Very loud. Very fast. That's just part of the genre.
And, so, The Handsome Girl and Her Beautiful Boy is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. The relationship that develops between Art and Zee is big and intense and loud and complicated and emotional. Starting out, I loved every part of this book.
It was complex. It was inspired.
And then... it wasn't.
For 75% of the book, I was in love. I was involved. I was sold on every aspect of the book.
And then the last quarter of the book went off the tracks for me. It's not even that it was bad. It was just not the trajectory of this book. There were extra complications. There were extra characters who just appeared solely to complicate things. There were extra plot points that weren't necessary.
And 100% maybe this was just me. Maybe this book just didn't jive with me, which doesn't mean it won't jive with someone else. It just wasn't my style of book. Which was so disappointing, because I really, truly loved everything about this book until then.
kelliegirl6's review against another edition
emotional
funny
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
kellenpenn's review
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
jowithtwoiis's review
Bi-erasure much? Stereotypical bullshit much? I want to burn every copy of this sodding fucking book. What a waste of my time and now every time I fucking think about it I get purple shades of livid angry. Zero stars, BT Gottfred. ZERO FUCKING STARS. I work in a library and I'm going to tell anyone that asks me not to read this piece of shit book.
bookishjosh's review against another edition
4.0
nklosty's review
4.0
This book left me wondering how I could like two characters so much but be so confused about a book and topic. Maybe it's like Jayden understanding because he grew up in a situation. 89
inkstndfngrs's review
4.0
I started reading this book at around like 6 PM. Took a break to watch POSE, then went back to it. Went to bed around midnight. Had weird dreams, and subsequently started reading again at 6 AM in order to get the story out of my head.
It's that kind of story.
That said, before I launch into criticism about the book's plot, let's talk about the manufactured product first. I mean, the book as you hold it in your hand. Feel the pages in your fingers. This sucker is heavy. It doesn't feel like it should be, but considering that many times each character's view point takes less than a page...and rather than being broken into chapters, they are broken into titled "parts". It's a lot of pages, but it's not -really- a long book. You understand what I mean? Don't let the 1 3/4" thickness fool you.
Yes, I seriously just measured that. Covers included, so it's probably more like an inch and a half.
Besides the weight of the book, I was also bothered by the minuscule text. I am not old (...dear god, I am not old yet!), but the text made me feel like I had to hunch over this book to read it. As I was finally trying to get some sleep last night, I was thinking, "Dang, my shoulders are really tight...what the heck did I do?" Then I realized: I was reading this book, hunched over in bed, and previously in my recliner and my desk chair. Not fun.
Anyhoo. As for the book itself. I kind of didn't like Art. But I saw a lot of myself in Zee. Art just came across as overwhelming. He's got a big personality, he thinks he's funny (...and if I hate any kind of person, it's the ones who -think- everything they say is hilarious...). I kind of just wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled.
So, if I didn't really like one of the main characters, why would I give this book four stars? ...Why do any of us do anything? I did legitimately enjoy the book. I think the characters definitely made some headway on their self-discovery journeys and the idea that we don't all fit into pre-described boxes (a theory I've been shuffling along with for at least a decade). That's an important enough message that was conveyed well to earn it an extra star. I wish I'd had this kind of story when I was an awkward seventeen year old, questioning what the hell it was that I wanted to be and the kind of person I was most attracted to.
The most important part of this book though is the very last page, and really should be the forerunner to the book. "The Universe wants you find partnership (purpose/happiness/pleasure/love/peace) with whoever (boy/girl/both/many/yourself) you want in whatever way (emotionally/sexually/intellectually/chemically/spirtually) you want."
Because life isn't always about being attached to a person just romantically. Every person we meet serves a different purpose for us. So, I hope everyone that reads this book, remembers to flip to that last page for the reminder.
It's that kind of story.
That said, before I launch into criticism about the book's plot, let's talk about the manufactured product first. I mean, the book as you hold it in your hand. Feel the pages in your fingers. This sucker is heavy. It doesn't feel like it should be, but considering that many times each character's view point takes less than a page...and rather than being broken into chapters, they are broken into titled "parts". It's a lot of pages, but it's not -really- a long book. You understand what I mean? Don't let the 1 3/4" thickness fool you.
Yes, I seriously just measured that. Covers included, so it's probably more like an inch and a half.
Besides the weight of the book, I was also bothered by the minuscule text. I am not old (...dear god, I am not old yet!), but the text made me feel like I had to hunch over this book to read it. As I was finally trying to get some sleep last night, I was thinking, "Dang, my shoulders are really tight...what the heck did I do?" Then I realized: I was reading this book, hunched over in bed, and previously in my recliner and my desk chair. Not fun.
Anyhoo. As for the book itself. I kind of didn't like Art. But I saw a lot of myself in Zee. Art just came across as overwhelming. He's got a big personality, he thinks he's funny (...and if I hate any kind of person, it's the ones who -think- everything they say is hilarious...). I kind of just wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled.
So, if I didn't really like one of the main characters, why would I give this book four stars? ...Why do any of us do anything? I did legitimately enjoy the book. I think the characters definitely made some headway on their self-discovery journeys and the idea that we don't all fit into pre-described boxes (a theory I've been shuffling along with for at least a decade). That's an important enough message that was conveyed well to earn it an extra star. I wish I'd had this kind of story when I was an awkward seventeen year old, questioning what the hell it was that I wanted to be and the kind of person I was most attracted to.
The most important part of this book though is the very last page, and really should be the forerunner to the book. "The Universe wants you find partnership (purpose/happiness/pleasure/love/peace) with whoever (boy/girl/both/many/yourself) you want in whatever way (emotionally/sexually/intellectually/chemically/spirtually) you want."
Because life isn't always about being attached to a person just romantically. Every person we meet serves a different purpose for us. So, I hope everyone that reads this book, remembers to flip to that last page for the reminder.