Review: Simon vs The Homo Sapiens by Becky Albertalli

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Published: April 7, 2015

Publisher: Penguin

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

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.

My Thoughts

By now everyone knows the premise of this book; I, of course, am the last one to read this book. I wanted to read this before the movie came out so this isn’t really a review of sorts but more just me saying how I felt about it.

This was a cute and fun read for me. I love the emails between Simon and his admirer and how they expressed their emotions. However what I loved the most was the relationships between Simon and his family and friends. His friends were close and I enjoyed their banter with each other. I liked how they were portrayed as real teens with real teen problems. I also liked the relationship Simon has with his family. They are really close-knit and seemed like they could really tell each other anything and be honest about things.

Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda is a great story of coming to terms with yourself and not being afraid of whom you really are. It’s about allowing yourself to love who you want and to know you deserve it. This was one read I was happy I finally got to enjoy, it was well worth it.