Review: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

by Becky Albertalli

April 7, 2015

303 pages

Goodreads  Indigo

Goodreads Summary:

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.

 

Review

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is one of 2015’s must-read contemporary novel. With a sincere voice, funny dialogues and the most honest of thoughts, I easily gobbled up the story. It put a permanent smile on my face.

The synopsis so accurately sums up this book. Simon is gay and so is Blue. Without knowing each other’s real identity, they exchange emails and got to know each other like no one else. Surely and slowly they fall in love. There are hesitations, doubts, insecurities and even some impulse actions but every bit was sweet and down-to-earth.

Simon has a very healthy relationship with his family and friends. It’s one of the things I absolutely adore about this book. His parents may be all over the place but I see that as a show of how much they love their son. I was also very touched by how caring and understanding his sisters were. Simon had a group of diverse friends who were all very open-minded and saw him for who he is, not who he shouldn’t be. They protected him and stood up for him.

Part of the thrill to this book was guessing Blue’s identity. Since I managed to pick up on the minor hints Ms. Albertalli dropped, it wasn’t hard for me to figure it out. It became pretty clear about half way through the book. Nonetheless, I had a great time seeing Blue transform from a shy online being into a passionate presence in Simon’s life.

I’m kind of hoping for a spinoff. Ms. Albertalli meticulously gave all the characters a happy ending but there is one person I’d like to see more of, Leah. If my assumption is correct, then she’s paired with Garrett. I’d like to see the growth and blossoming of that relationship. Can we please make this happen?

All about diversity and relationships, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is simply one great contemporary title you do not want to miss out on. Smiley emojis for this book!