How do I feel about this book?Confused. Definitely confused.
This book is actually hard for me to review. There were parts I loved, parts I hated, and parts that left me just being like "what the shit?"
The beginning of the book was exciting and fun. I did, however, quickly get annoyed and confused with the timeline. There was a lot of flip-flopping and I guess it made sense, done that way, but it was hard to follow, for me at least. Also the past stories... I found myself not... really caring.. to read them?
At first, I was definitely team Nate. Poor guy. He did seem awfully needy though and Adam was hanging out with naked dudes in his apartment... with a roomie who kissed him. I'd be right pissy too if I were Nate. But then he didn't talk to him. No communication. And I get it.. it was high school and I was probably as stupid and dramatic as these kids in high school, but that doesn't mean I wanted to read about it.
I was so happy when Adam was back... but can I ask what the fuck is the deal with that shit that happened between Luke and Nate? That was outta left field and weird and heartbreaking and annoying. The ending was... gratifying? I don't know. I just don't know.
Awesome stuff:
- Daniel. Best character in the whole book, by far.
Things in this book that bothered me:
- The blog. I felt like this book was centered around a blog that was posted in.. what, 5 times total that you read about? What was the point of a blog? A teenage boy trying to make a stance or a whiny outlet? I don't know.
- Nate seemingly gave up on his activism role. He started the shirt thing, awesome. He went to the dance with a boy.. to make a point. To preserve the integrity of his own rights. But then what? Nothing? Right. Nothing. He did jack shit afterwards.. which was sad. I was disappointed. It's like there was a point to be made.... then it... just never.. got made.
- Dont. Fucking. Cheat. God damn idiots kids.
- Parental abuse. Abuse in general. Everyone was all "BUT LUKES DAD HAS RIGHTS!" uh, newsflash. Even in the early 2000s, you know what people hate more than queers? CHILD ABUSE. Thats right, even in Texas. And these people didnt do anything about it! My entire family and everyone I know would have called the cops within a hair of a second if some kid was beaten by his dad. I recall Wolf being all "he's not a bad person, he just did something bad". Sorry, my definition of bad person is DEFINITELY someone who beats a defenseless kid. Definitely bad person material right now. By the way, nice parenting, Nate's mom. "No, stop. Dont yell at my kid or I'll press charges." UH, REGARDLESS... you call the god damn cops! This makes me mad. I'm done talking about it.
- Sometimes Juliet is in love with Nate, sometimes she seems completely indifferent. At the beginning I thought it was gonna be a whole THING because she was in love with Nate but somehow the story kinda dropped that and then she went into normal friend mode, then sometimes she magically was in love with him again. Okay....
- I never fell in love with the characters, which is weird. Didnt care for Nate or Adam or Luke. Just didn't really care for them.
- I felt like I read the wrong part of this story. Let's imagine these are real people. I'm kind of more interested in the time it took for Adam to forgive Nate when he was in college. That sounded like a better part of this story.
- Nate. Learned. Nothing.
Nothing. Literally, jackshit. You want stories to have a point.. a meaning, learning a lesson. I didn't understand the moral story of this book. Nate was all for gay-rights and taking action... for a bit. Then nothing. At the end of the story (before the 10 year mark), Nate is a whiny little brat who cheated and then just complains about it. The author doesn't tell us how Nate learned that he did what he did because ____________ or was crazy and needy because ______________ or that Nate learned he didnt need his blog anymore because ________________. It just... was. They made up. Yay. And why... how? What lessons were learned? The only lesson I learned is that if a parent abuses a kid but hes a "good person" *cough*totalfuckingpsycho* if you give it 10 years, maybe one day he'll go to your gay wedding. I don't get why it ended with him shutty down his blog? If his blog helped kids out there dealing with gay issues, why would you ever shut it down? It seemed like "Ah life has changed. It's better for me now. I don't need this blog anymore"... but maybe tons of other kids out there who read your blog, do. I just don't understand why he shut it down like it was monumental.
Yes, after this long, rant-like review.. that's how this book left me feeling. Overall impressions:
CONFUSED
