Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
AUTHOR: Becky Albertalli
PUBLISHER: Balzer & Bray / Harper Collins Publishing
LENGTH: 325 Pages
BLURB:
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.
REVIEW:
One great thing about having a bunch of authors on my Facebook friend list is that a lot of them post links to books they’ve read and recommend. The other day, one of them posted a link to this book on Amazon. He stated if anyone hadn’t read this book, they needed to. OK, I figured, I usually get my books for free through our blog and then write an honest review on them. But this time, I hit one click. It was only $1.99, so I figured what the heck, not a huge investment.
I’m glad I clicked on it, but I’m not 100% sure what all the hype is about. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, was an entertaining, young adult level book. We meet then sixteen-year-old Simon Spier, a gay, but in the closet, young man who has been corresponding to another teen on line via email. They use anonymous names and although they know they go to the same school, they don’t know who the other is.
One day Simon leaves the computer too quickly and forgets to close down his Gmail account all the way. Another teen, logging onto the computer, sees the email history between Simon and the other teen, who goes by “Blue”, and prints it out. Simon has something the other boy, Martin, doesn’t have. Lots and lots of friends, and one girl in particular that Martin has a serious crush on.
Blackmail ensues, and Simon works to have his secret not be released to the whole world. What follows is a coming out tale, with a little drama and a happy ending. That said, I did have some issues with this story, which have to push my rating down. As someone who went through the “forced out” process when a friend reported me to the military and it led to my public outing and eventual discharge, I had a LOT of angst. Granted he is 16/17 and I was 21, but I think I know what I’m talking about here. There is no way that a kid being outed to his entire school would be so calm about it. The instant acceptance by all friends, family members, teachers, and most of the student body was unrealistic and the bullying events were downplayed. I found it particularly unrealistic since it took place in Georgia, which isn’t known for its liberalism.
This book reads like it is written for high school students, maybe to be read in class. It is too sweet, too understanding, and just too much. We’re in love and it is happily ever after doesn’t happen in the real world like it did in this book.
I thought the book was good. I’m going to rate it 3.5 out of 5.0 stars. I liked it, and it showed above average writing, but it could have used some real life angst thrown in to make it a much better and more realistic book. It was too much rainbows and unicorns and cotton candy for me. Final opinion…too sweet and not really enough substance…kind of like those ABC After School Specials that used to run back in the eighties.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Dan, I’m so sorry about your involuntary outing.
But that said, times have changed and Simon lives at home (in Atlanta) with two very accepting parents. Mom’s a shrink I seem to recall. Take it from someone who grew up in a small town but who’s lived in big cities, The difference is like night and day, Big cities are ten or twenty years ahead of small towns when it comes to things like acceptance of diversity.
I was given a copy of this book (Not even in exchange for a review) and I really enjoyed it. The film version got pretty badly mangled in spots but most viewers even like that version of the story. Still, not a bad review overall!