Book: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda (Simon/Creekwood series book #1) by Becky Albertalli
Cover Art by Chris Bilheimer
Cover Design by Alison Klapthor
Edition: Paperback
Description:
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.
Incredibly funny and poignant, this twenty-first-century coming-of-age, coming out story—wrapped in a geek romance—is a knockout of a debut novel by Becky Albertalli.
Rating: 5 stars
Review:
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda is a wonderfully written story that follows 16 year old high school student Simon Spier. Simon is a typical teen who enjoys hanging out with his best friends Nick Eisner, Leah Burke and Abby Suso, spending time with his loving yet embarrassing family, walking his dog Bieber and being in the school play. But he also really enjoys writing e-mails to his anonymous friend (possible crush) Blue. Writing to Blue allowed Simon to talk about things such as him being gay that he couldn't with his family and friends.
But a mistake in not logging out of his e-mail account from a school computer placed Simon in a difficult situation. Martin Addison, a fellow student, had seen some of Simon's anonymous e-mails and was using them as leverage. Martin liked one of Simon's friends and wanted (more like forced) Simon to help him to get close to the girl he liked. Simon fearing his secret that he was gay would be revealed, felt as if he had no choice but to help Martin.
In between all the friend and family drama and not to forget the extortion and manipulation, Simon and Blue were starting to grow closer. In the e-mails they would reveal a little more about themselves but not so much information they could identify each other since Blue is also a student at his school.
All things aside Simon's life is pretty good but things changed over winter break with his secret being revealed. Simon was going to have to figure out how to deal with this new change in his life. In the story, he mentioned how he doesn't really like things to change such as the slowly growing uneasy tension among his friends. While at the same time he wanted his parents to see that he had changed. He felt like his parents made such a big deal about every little change because they constantly see him as the little boy he used to be and not the teenager he is now.
Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda is such a delightful read that has the perfect balance of drama and humor. The reader is given a very poignant, nuanced and humorous story that deepens as it goes on. I feel like Simon is a typical teen trying to figure out who he is which includes trying to understand his sexuality. He worries about how things would change if or when he came out but unfortunately his decision was taken away from him. His younger sister Nora was the one who showed him the post online that outed him. He could have easily dismissed it and said it was a lie or a bad joke but he admitted it was true. From there, I think he was still able to manage some sense of control of the situation by being the one to tell his parents and older sister Alice. And despite knowing his friends had seen the post, he still needed a few days before he could admit it to them.
One good thing about this situation for Simon, it made him want to get to know Blue in person. Simon had grown to know (and dare I say love) him through their e-mails and wanted to meet but Blue was a little apprehensive about it. There's a point in the story, where you're wondering will they or won't they meet.
I really enjoyed reading this and the author's dazzlingly clever and heartfelt voice really gives the story a whimsical emotional feel. You truly feel what Simon is feeling throughout the story. I like Simon and his friends are pretty cool too. And although he won't admit it, he's rather dreamy and romantic especially in regards to Blue. This was a really good read, I can't wait to read the other books in the series.
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