Anne of Greenville - Mariko Tamaki

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Hello! Welcome to the inside of my book! My name is Anne, and this is my story. Yes, the WHOLE story is mine, all mine. Well, not exactly, but most of it is me. Even the not-so-pretty stuff. My moms say I have a tendency to get 'lost' in things, that I'm a daydreamer who is easily distracted. I take that as a compliment. Possibly you will read these pages and think they are a mess, and I will take that as a compliment, too! Possibly you will think I have terrible grammar. To that I will say, language is evolving. Maybe you'll read these pages and think, Is Anne the coolest or is it just me? A perfectly reasonable response to this book.

Where was I? Distracted. Right! More about me! I'm a queer Japanese American singer, actor, and choreographer of disco operas. I've recently moved to the most boring place in the world, also known as Greenville. I have a tendency to A) fall in love quickly, deeply, and effervescently and B) fly off the handle in the face of jerks...who are sadly in abundance in my new hometown. But Greenville is also where I met my new BFF, Berry, and first laid eyes on the girl of my dreams, Gilly - so it's not the worst place in the world.

It's close, though!

So yes, my first months in Greenville involved a series of increasingly dramatic and disastrous events that were somewhat sucky for me but will make for a thought-provoking and enjoyable read. If you like romance, being caught in the middle, exotic school outfits, golden retrievers, high school drama (societies), and love triangles, this is the book for you!

Want to see if I survive Greenville? If I land the big part and find my one true love? Turn the page and find out!"

Oof, I went back and forth for so long on how high to rate this book. If you average out the 5, 3, and 3 for each category, it's, what, 3.6? I still cant decide if that's accurate to how I felt about this, but I'm going with it. On the one hand, Anne roller skates! And very accurately describes the act of roller skating as being like "putting wings on your feet, like that god Hermes, but with way less family baggage." You also get excellent one-liners, such as:

"The butt, the softest but hardest landing of them all."

"Danny is 'aggressively gay' and I am 'deliriously queer.'"

On the other, I feel like the cover description is kind of an over-promise-under-deliver situation, unfortunately. Like, on paper, is all of it technically true? Sure. But while objectively factual, the reality of the reading experience was that you get miniscule tastes of her crush, her involvement in the play, the "love triangle" with hefty, disgusting, and truly irredeemable amounts of racism and homophobia in between. Which leads me to my other reason for not being sure how high to rate this book in spite of the massive amount of promise it held - why in the fuck did she and her moms move to Greenville?! 

Their move is explained in only the vaguest of terms. One of her moms is a vice principal, and they move a lot so she can work at different schools. The age-old story of public school admin families, constantly bouncing from place to place based on where the parent is stationed. Tale as old as time. But even if I buy the idea of  them moving to all these places to experience different school settings, I have to say the level of vitriol in that town, coupled with the complete lack of upside, would have for me and should have been for them an immediate nope the fuck out. 

In all honesty, it read like the author had this idea of someone moving to a new town and it being horrifically, inexplicably toxic, hostile, homophobic, and racist, but them being trapped there and having to find a way to stick it out...but then they never actually fleshed out why they had to be there, so instead they just wrote around it the entire book. Without the why, the entire thing falls flat. Add to that like 99% of the book being unforgivable acts of racism and homophobia and then the last twenty pages (literally, I counted) things turning on a dime and magically being better, and the wheels kind of start to fall off for me.

Overall, I liked Anne, her parents were great, Berry was solid, Bev was excellent, and I wish we had seen more of Gilly's dad because he seemed chill. I would have been very on board with the book if the plot had been developed better - give us a reason for being in Greenville, show us glimpses of the town being redeemable, if the antagonists are going to eventually turn things around make them more three-dimensional and less caricature-y - and if more time had been spent on the falling action. It had potential, but needed balance.

Two Boys Kissing - David Levithan

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other."

First off, David Levithan is an amazing narrator. I want him to read everything to me. Second, this book is not a light read, but my damn, it is amazing. The main narrative is about Harry and Craig as they try to break the Guinness World Record for longest kiss, but the story branches off to follow several other boys--Peter and Neil, a couple in a long-term relationship, Avery and Ryan, who meet at the start of the book, Cooper, who is only out online and struggling with his mental health, and finally Tariq, who early in the book is attacked on the street for being gay. Like I said...not a light read.

The narration by the "Greek Chorus" of gay men lost to AIDS took a bit for me to get used to, but after the first couple of chapters I was hooked. All the stories have their heartbreaking moments, but a few hit me particularly hard, like Avery and Ryan's experience at the abandoned mini-golf place, Neil's experience with coming out to his family, and basically everything about Cooper's story. Also, I've never kissed someone for 32 hours before (oof, no thank you), but Harry and Craig's experience was so descriptive that I felt what they felt. Reading about their aching backs, their thirst, their discomfort made me feel those things. And what I really felt was the support of their friends and family throughout the experience. When the theater group worked together to get more lights for the broadcast, when they formed a wall to protect the boys after someone drove by and egged Harry...seeing the way everyone pulled together to show their love for the two of them was beautiful. This book will make you feel everything. It's amazing. You should read it.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life - Benjamin Alire Saenz

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"The first day of senior year:

Everything is about to change. Until this moment, Sal has always been certain of his place with his adoptive gay father and their loving Mexican-American family. But now his own history unexpectedly haunts him, and life-altering events force him and his best friend, Samantha, to confront issues of faith, loss, and grief.

Suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and discovering that he no longer knows who he really is—but if Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he?"

Benjamin Alire Saenz has a way of putting feelings into words in a way unlike any other author I've read. Even with simple, every day moments, I find myself chugging along, reading, and then bam...so many emotions. How does he do that?! Sal's friendships with Sam and and Fito are so lovely, pure, and supportive, and his relationship with his dad and his grandma are heart-stoppingly beautiful. This book was sad and sweet and happy and a million emotions in between. No one can simultaneously break your heart and make you feel like you're overflowing with happiness the way Saenz can. 

Bonus: All the tamale talk during Christmas. Christmas 2017 introduced me to tamales for the first time, and ever since I can't get enough. 

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Saenz

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be."

I've been meaning to read this forever, and now I finally have. Worth the wait! Such a beautiful book, and as an added bonus, the audiobook is read by Lin Manuel Miranda, who is incredible. Loved every minute of it. I don't know if such a thing actually exists, but if it does...this might be the perfect book. The last sentence legitimately gives me chills every time I read it.