(no subject)

[skygiants]

I'm trying to figure out how I feel about the structure of Leah on the Offbeat, the sequel to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, in which Simon (of book one)'s best friend Leah navigates Senior Year, Friend Group Drama, And Bisexuality.

This book is not as cute as Simon, which might be a pro or a con depending on where you're standing. Leah is a much angrier character than Simon, and while the book could still fall pretty squarely into the category of rom-com, it's significantly less tropey and comes down more heavily on the coming-of-age aspect of the story.

But: it's nonetheless a rom-com. And, as rom-coms do, it ends with a triumphant Getting Together in spite of all the obstacles standing in the way of our protagonists. I'm super good with the triumphant Getting Together, but the book does set up an awful lot of dominoes that are definitely going to fall once the Getting Together happens, and then just ... stops before they hit? Our kids agree to face the fallout, and then we're at an epilogue and in the epilogue everything is totally one hundred percent fine.

And maybe that's okay, rom-com-wise! It's not like I really wanted to see all the dominoes fall and hit everyone in the face, it definitely wasn't going to be a fun time, and -- especially in queer rom-coms -- sometimes you do just want to see kids have a fun time. But structurally speaking a part of me feels like if you're going to establish stakes then at least some of the results of those stakes need to actually happen on-page.

Anyway, structural doubts aside: Albertelli is extremely good at writing teenagers. Her high school friend group dynamics feel so believable and messy and complicated! Everybody is friends with a whole bunch of people who aren't necessarily friends with each other! She even successfully writes about Teens Engaging in Fandom in a way that was not (to me) cringey, and I normally cannot even contemplate reading YA books involving fandom due to overwhelming secondhand embarrassment, so kudos to that.

(However, I am so overwhelmingly glad that 'promposals' were not a Thing when I was a Youth. SO GLAD.)

Comments

[sovay]

It's not like I really wanted to see all the dominoes fall and hit everyone in the face, it definitely wasn't going to be a fun time, and -- especially in queer rom-coms -- sometimes you do just want to see kids have a fun time.

What kind of dominoes are we talking about?

(However, I am so overwhelmingly glad that 'promposals' were not a Thing when I was a Youth. SO GLAD.)

Oh, God, yes. How did those become a thing? Is this like gender reveal parties?

[skygiants]

The specific obstacles in place are:

a.) one of the heroine's friends has a huge crush on her and she's spent the whole book avoiding the necessity of telling him that they're not really dating and she's not really into him
b.) her love interest recently broke up with her boyfriend, who is one of the heroine's best friends and has spent the past several weeks extremely and possibly dangerously Not Okay About It and asking [heroine] to put in good words for him to see if he and [love interest] can reconcile
c.) the heroine has spent the entire book angry at her friends for an incident of bad behavior towards [love interest] but, like, on principle! ON PRINCIPLE. IT'S A PRINCIPLE
d.) the entire book is about complicated, changing friendship dynamics, and the triumphant getting together at prom, where everybody involved in Situations A, B, and C is definitely present, IS DEFINITELY GOING TO CHANGE THOSE DYNAMICS

(I do believe, anecdotally, that some people enjoy promposals and find them cute and enjoyable and relationship-affirming, much as I believe, anecdotally, that some people enjoy elaborate public proposals; I just never want to be confronted with one in any capacity!)

[monanotlisa]

Oh! I should totally read this; I liked Simon the book (and the movie too, but the book's better).

[skygiants]

The book is definitely significantly better! I don't think I liked this one quite as much as Simon but I think that's mostly taste/mood/tropes, not quality.

[obopolsk]

Have you read Ship It by Britta Lundin yet? As far as YAs about Teens Engaging in Fandom go, it has cringey moments, but there were also a lot of things I liked about it.

(I have not read Leah yet but it's on my list!)

[skygiants]

oh no I don't think I could do Ship It, I'm sure there are parts that are good but just looking at the summary makes me do an agonized turtle-shell retreat whispering nooooooooooooo

The level that's in Leah is, like, "kids have a tumblr, occasionally talk to each other about Harry Potter!" That's about the level I can cope with, anything else I would have to ease into with EXTREME CAUTION.

[larryhammer]

I am so overwhelmingly glad that 'promposals' were not a Thing when I was a Youth.

Word. SO WORD.

(I didn't actually get a prom date until a couple days before, when mutual friends realized that we were both dateless. I would not have thought to ask her otherwise, as she was my English teacher's daughter.)

This (and the previous) sounds like a Thing I want to track down.

[skygiants]

(My plan was to skip prom entirely, because my college pre-orientation was the same weekend on the other side of the country, but my friends finally convinced me that I would regret it if I didn't go, so I had to call up the friend I'd turned-down-due-to-schedule-conflict several weeks prior and be like HEY BUDDY I HOPE YOU DIDN'T GET A REPLACEMENT DATE YET

...and also figure out how to tell the other person I'd turned-down-due-to-schedule-conflict that I was actually going to be there and still not with him, sorry!!)

They're both extremely enjoyable books!

[wakeupnew]

Our kids agree to face the fallout, and then we're at an epilogue and in the epilogue everything is totally one hundred percent fine.

yep!!!! this was 1000% my problem with the book; the ending felt so anticlimactic! it just hit that sudden 'well i guess it's over now' wall

[skygiants]

like I totally get not wanting to write the inevitable 'and then our friends were deeply hurt and didn't speak to us for a year,' because it's a bummer, but if you set up stakes I think probably they have to actually be stakes ......

[nevanna]

I had mixed feelings about that ending, for what I think were a lot of the same reasons that you did, so thank you for putting them into words!

I actually have enjoyed stories about Teens Engaging With Fandom, though some have made me cringe more than others, but I really liked how this book seemed to be treating it like a hobby no more or less weird than any other hobby.

[skygiants]

Yeah, it did a really good job with that, I thought! Like, Leah has music and also fandom and also friends unrelated to any of that and they all affect her life to approximately the same degree, which is about how I remember it being for me as a nerdy kid in high school who did orchestra and theater and wrote some fanfic on the side.

[izilen]

Hmmm!! I didn't until very recently know that Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda had got a sequel, and I am intrigued for multiple reasons: I really liked the Simon book! I like that this book is...also...gay (? I THINK) and about a GIRL, but what you're saying about the drama and the fact that it might be unresolved makes me go hmmmmmmm. HMM!!

Sorry this was a very pointless comment. I enjoy your reviews as ever.

Also, +1 on Promposals and Fandom In Books Being Cringey.

[skygiants]

This book is INDEED GAY and ABOUT GIRLS and THEY'RE CUTE. The romance is resolved! Everything else is .... elided over and epilogued out, pretty much. But if you liked the Simon book I do think this is worth reading!

(not a pointless comment, I am always happy when you drop in :DDDD)