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Not long ago I’ve finished reading the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and so I decided to a write a review on it.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is a young adult novel released in 2015. Written by Becky Albertalli, the book was adapted into a film entitled as Love, Simon which was released this year.
In 2015, Wall Street Journal listed this book as one of the Best Young Adult novels. The author also received the William C. Morris Award from the American Library Association and the novel was featured on the National Book Award longlist.
Plot:
The book depicts the story of a 16-year-old boy named Simon Spier. He keeps a secret from his family and close friends: he is gay. Using the pseudonym Jacques, he emails someone called Blue. As time passes by, his feelings for Blue continue to increase making him want to know the real identity of the person his emailing to. However, his secret is threatened by Martin and as consequence, the blackmailing forces Simon to reveal his sexual orientation to everyone.
*Contains some spoilers*
My opinion:
The story is simple, fresh and easy to follow. It has the right number of characters. Not too many, not too few. The writing approach is simple. You can easily read the story without worrying about difficult fancy words. Furthermore, there is no hidden symbolism in the story meaning that you don’t have to overanalyse everything you are reading to fully understand the message that the author is trying to convey.
Although it is mainly a romantic story about two guys falling in love with each other but who are afraid of what the world may think about their sexual orientation, the storyline also has a mysterious element which grabs your attention from the beginning until the end of the book. This mysterious element is around the true identity of Blue. When I was reading the book, I was so unsure of who he could be. There was a moment where I thought it could be Martin and then Cal. It got to a point where I was suspecting of every single guy Simon talked to. This uncertainty made me feel even more thrilled to find out who Blue really was. I wanted to be surprised and I have to admit that when I found out Blue’s real identity, it caught me out off guard. I mean, there was a moment in the story where I thought maybe it could that person but it was just a “maybe”. In my mind, he wasn’t the strongest candidate and so I forgot about that possibility.
Another aspect I was anticipating to know was how Simon’s parents and close friends would react when he revealed his real sexual orientation. They reacted better than I thought they would which made me happy because there is nothing worse than being unaccepted by the people you love the most.
However, there was one character who annoyed me so much and that character was Martin. He was childish and immature. He didn’t have any right to blackmail Simon just because he found out his secret. When he exposed Simon’s secret on Tumblr, that’s when I wished I could teleport myself into the book so I could teach Martin a lesson. That was Simon’s secret and only him should decide when was the right time to self-disclose it.
Finally, I’m going to talk about two lessons I have learned from this book. In the storyline, the author conveys two messages which in my opinion are important to talk about. One of those messages is that straight is not default. We should not assume that everyone is straight simply because that person hasn’t admitted being gay. Just because the homosexual community is a minority compared to the heterosexual community, it doesn’t mean that we have the right to expect most people to be heterosexual. Whether you are heterosexual or homosexual, you deserve to love and to feel loved. The other message is that we should be more attentive towards our close friends. Sometimes we forget to ask simple yet important questions such as: What are your interests? Why are you feeling sad? We sometimes tend to take friendships for granted and we believe we know everything about that person when in reality that may not be true.
In conclusion, I highly recommend you read the book. I’ve enjoyed reading it, it took me just a couple of days to finish it. Unfortunately, I still haven't had the time to watch the film adaptation but I hope it is as good as the book.
What do you think about the book?
I hope you have a lovely day!
Jesika x
2 comments
I'm waiting for it to show up at the library, I'm on the waiting list, and I've been for months, can't wait to get to it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts :) Great review!
ReplyDeleteThank you! (: I believe you will enjoy reading it! xx
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