A review by morebedsidebooks
Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin Van Whye

Important to note Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye has after its publication been banned in some US libraries. Because of this I decided I should share this review I’ve been sitting on for way too long because of different controversy the title has been involved in. 

From an affluent family but with a messy home life and teased about his disdain for high school relationships, captain of the boys’ soccer team Bryson Keller is dared to date anyone from among the senior class (including underclassmen apparently would be gross) who asks him out on Monday. BUT… only for the school week. After over two months of Bryson with a parade of girls, the closeted and less than popular Kai Sheridan impulsively asks Date Me, Bryson Keller! 

Kevin van Whye, a gay mixed race South African writer, in an author’s note to the book besides speaking on his own lived experiences lists several works and their creators he feels indebted to as inspiration for his debut #OwnVoices young adult novel Date Me, Bryson Keller. These are Skam a 2015-2017 Norwegian teen drama TV webseries (especially season 3), two other English language young adult novels in 2014 To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han, in 2015 Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, also the latter 2018 film adaptation, going way back a 1999 American teen movie rom com She’s All That, and finally a Japanese boys love comic series Seven Days written by Venio Tachibana and illustrated by Rihito Takarai. But it was concerning this last well-liked work where a nerve was touched across readers of Japanese comics and YA books. 

Firstly, with accusations against Kevin van Whye of plagiarism. Seven Days features a popular first year high school student who dates the first person to ask him out on a Monday but, only for the week. Until, instead of a girl, a handsome upperclassman on a whim asks him out. For more details on Seven Days, I have previously reviewed the 2010-11 English edition. While dating with a time limit is common in the romance genre, I hadn’t encountered another title quite like it before. In fact, it was the mention of Seven Days which led me to put Date Me, Bryson Keller on my list of 2020 anticipated releases. 

Secondly, the conflict involved the concept of representation and critique of the BL genre. During February 2019 the author posted a response on Goodreads. In part: “There were themes that I wanted to explore in a western setting and as an own voices writer. These were born from my own critique of the work with respect to actual and realistic LGBT culture, people and issues. I wanted to write a story for the LGBT reader, as told by my own lived experience.” Further in an interview on the YA Sh3lf blog in November 2019: “my own critique and feelings toward the manga Seven Days (and the Boy Love genre in general) definitely served as a jumping off point as far as inspiration.” 

Critiques and the question of representation in Japanese BL is a decades long complex discourse. At times swinging from the more apolitical to political. Furthermore, especially fraught when involving identity politics. Which may be somewhat familiar as many other examples of queer literature from elsewhere around the globe undergo analysis, critiques, and disputes. Too movements like #OwnVoices, intended to promote marginalized writers, became less helpful and after years faced demise. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to outline the parallels, differences, and nuances of these debates in this review. (Though if one is interested, I can suggest some scholarly reading.) However, it is this background which the author, who also pointed to a rudimentary TV tropes page on the BL genre, stepped right in to. 
 
Speaking of tropes, I have a soft spot for dating tropes. Also, to include works like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. After old love letters are sent, Laura Jean Covey ends up faking dating an old crush Peter Kavinsky, which then turns into the real thing. (Also, Peter’s character most influenced Kevin van Whye with Bryson.) The concept of a dating dare is also the premise of She’s All That (itself a take on My Fair Lady, in turn adapting the stage play Pygmalion). Where soccer star and class president Zack Siler on a bet tries to make Laney Boggs, an artistic clumsy girl, Prom Queen to his King. 

But heaping parts tropey teen dating novel Date Me, Bryson Keller is also a coming out story, with hardships. Grappling with the meaning of gay identity and the effects. In common with the hugely popular Simon (among several other similarities) and Skam Season 3. 

Seriously, if one is well read in a genre, one knows the scènes à faire. Further if you are familiar with these works you can pick up the beats and bits from here and there, and there and here with Kevin van Whye’s book. He calls the stories “woven into the tapestry of this novel “. But, unlike some cases, these threads do make the work stand out less and feel more derivative. Even as the author specifically also talks about some of the aspects that are personal. Still, it is true as he writes in the author’s note: “I’ve always believed that more than one story of a certain type can exist. We need more representation all around. We shouldn’t settle for just one thing, because we are not just one thing. Our race, culture, geography, sexuality, and experiences make us different. These things shape our stories, our lives.” 

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