Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda | Becky Albertalli

Review:

Title: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
Author: Becky Albertalli Author: Becky Albertalli
Publication: April 7th 2015 by Balzer + Bray
Format: ARC Format: ARC
Source: Publisher Source: Publisher
Genre: YA; Contemporary; Mystery; Romance(subplot)

Genre: YA; Contemporary; Romance(subplot)

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 Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.  With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. 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

Thoughts:

I recived an ARC of Simon way before the book came out, but I thoroughly avoided reading it due to the hype. This book was REALLY hyped, and if you know me at all, I like to wait until the hype settles down before reading something. I did eventually pick it up though, and I will say that I was pleasantly surprised.

We open our novel with Simon, a closeted gay high school student who’s personal emails fall into the wrong hands. And very quickly one of the main conflicts in the novel arises: Simon is being blackmail by someone that he had once considered at last somewhat a friend, and in exchange Simon has to set this person up with one of his actual friends. I found myself just as put out by the entire situation as Simon was.

As the novel progresses, we are introduced to the two main dynamics in Simon’s life: his friend group, and his family. As in real life, neither are perfect, and both are dysfunctional. I quickly became fond of not only Simon and his quirkiness but his cast of friends and the roles that they played in each others lives. As for Simon, he was surprisingly relatable for me personally, but I think a lot of teenagers in general. He uses social media, he reads Harry Potter fan fiction (#Drarry), and he and his friends use curse words! It was refreshing to have a realistic portrayal of teenage language rather than adults censoring ‘vulgarity’.

Aside from the blackmailing, Simon is also dealing with his sexuality, as well as his role in the school play. I loved every bit of the play drama, as well as the different ways Albertalli had Simon come out to different characters. The differences were important, because they truly highlighted the different relationships that Simon had with different characters in the book. Along with blunt teenage vocabulary, Albertalli did not shy away from realisitc talk about sex. The way it was portrayed made it drama free and have a more relaxed vibe as it has in real life.

Mechanics wise, the majority of Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda is told in traditional prose. There are the occasional breaks in format to display the emails, as well as various social media posts. In addition, there were a few moments where Simon breaks off to quickly mock people in a sort of modern inner monologue.

Final Thoughts:

Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda flew from the pages and into my heart, landing a spot on my favorites shelf in the one sitting it took me to read it. I adored all of the attention to detail that Abertalli gave not only to the characters, but also to every scene, making each one purposeful. Simon was not the only character who had extensive development, and I was amazed at the backstories and evolution of everyone. Simon is not a typical YA contemporary, not even a typical LGBT+ contemporary. It is entirely unique in its ability to make you care for its characters, as well as the mystery and drama that surrounds Simon’s life. I wish I had a friend group like Simon, they are basically #friendshipgoals. Readers who enjoyed Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell and Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson will eat this right up.

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