Mundie Moms

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli / Audiobook Review #simonvshomosapien #fiercereads




Narrated by: Michael Crouch
Published by: Balzer + Bray
Audiobook by: Harper Audio
Released on: June 7, 2016
Purchase from: Harper Collins | amazon B&N | Book Depository |audible
Add it to goodreads
Rating: 5 stars
Source: Purchased

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.
 



I am a big fan of  novels that use letters to help tell the story.  Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda uses emails as part of the story and I completely loved that because you can never be quite sure who is telling the story and if they are reliable in how they present themselves. In Simon's case these emails are a huge part of the reason he begins to come out to first, his friends and then his family. Like it says in the synopsis, there's a risk that he takes every time he replies back to Blue. The tension that this builds is seamless. You get to know both boys and Simon's friends as well as his family through the reactions of both Simon and Blue. 

And you get to try and figure out just who is this mysterious Blue? I have to admit that I was completely wrong in my initial guess and that I didn't figure it out until the very, very end. The best storytellers seem to do that so sneakily. Becky is just that -- sneaky. Her characters sneak up on you in the loveliest of ways, and you end up cheering for them like you knew them personally. 

Simon is, simply put, a darling. I adored him and his unsure, sometimes clumsy ways. I loved his family, too. I completely understood the awkwardness of both being a teen and being a parent of a teen maybe because I find myself in that position every single day as a Mom to two teens. They are growing and becoming so very independent, and yet, they still need advice and heed at least, some of the worry that I readily share with them. 

One of the characters that surprised me the most was Simon's friend, Leah. I adored her, and I am so glad that Becky's writing a companion novel, which will cover Leah's story. 

Because I am reviewing the audiobook, I must mention that Michael Crouch, the narrator, completely delivered the Simon I imagined. He was unabashedly sweet, concerned, completely and utterly awkward when he needed to be and absolutely the perfect voice for Simon. I will definitely look for more books that are narrated by him. You guys know how very picky I am with narrators (some of you may have seen my tweets regarding The Raven Boys -- I couldn't stand the slurred way the narrator pronounced Gansey's name, so I stopped listening). Michael is the exact opposite. I could listen to him narrate pretty much anything. 

This story is so perfectly told that I immediately downloaded Becky's newest release, The Upside of Unrequited because I just wanted more of her stories and those voices she creates so beautifully. Now forgive me, because I need to hunt down a few Oreos to go with my coffee.

Be sure to follow Becky's twitter for updates on the upcoming 2018 movie adaptation. This one looks perfectly cast!
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