Okay, I'll start.
I found this book enjoyable. Somewhat. To a point. Kinda.
I found the premise pretty interesting. A gay guy who thinks he's all alone. A group of pretty likeable gay/bisexual high schoolers who want a support group. The dynamics of high school (and you couldn't pay me to go back there).
But the book was just trying too hard for me. I don't mind that Russel is telling us the story—although truthfully I find that a little tired—but there were things that just seemed to be forced. "That's the principal, in case you don't remember." etc etc. He was too cutesy, too geeky but hip-geek, too cheeky with the reader, too I-don't-know-but-it-started-to-bug.
Things happened a little too quickly, without me as the reader seeing enough of the build-up or background. Russel's relationship with Kevin—I had no idea if they had met just that one night at the stinky picnic gazebo or every single night for weeks. I knew that Russel really liked Kevin, but I wasn't sure what was between them and how intimate—emotionally, physically—they had gotten. I wasn't too sure about Kevin in general. What was he really like? He seemed too stereotypical in the two faces he had—sweet when he was alone, a jerk when he was with "the guys." Also, when Russel admits to Brian Bund that he really is gay, I thought Russel was a little too comfortable with that. I didn't get the feeling that he was ready to be out, even if only to one person who was a social outcast.
I was also bothered how the book went to so much trouble to "foreshadow" the bad things that were going to happen. We were hit on the head with it, with the "and I didn't know how bad it would get" kind of idea. It's like we were set up for the fall, and then it happened in small annoying increments (the first time it was the article in the school newspaper, which didn't seem that bad). But the drama in the narrative was too much for me. And if that was because it was Russel saying it, then it's a little too stereotypical (gay drama queen) for me.
I liked that Hartinger picked geography for the club, given what he said about that on his website (the landscape of social groups in high school, all the different "lands"). But I did get a little sick of how everything fit so neatly. All the talk about the "Borderlands of Respectability" and the "Land of the Popular" and so on. I get it. Don't spell it out for me too much.
I picked up volume three of Michael Cart's Rush Hour (called Faces), and Hartinger has a story in there (I think it might be an excerpt, not a short story). I wasn't able to finish it, but it seemed very different from this narrative voice. Wasn't trying as hard. Has anyone read that or anything else by Hartinger?
So I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. Yeah, it's a good idea, and we need more literature out there addressing gay teens, but I just didn't think it was terribly well written. A fine effort, especially for a first novel, but I wasn't bowled over.
Thoughts?
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3 comments:
Eunice, you are so right. And Russ cried too much.
Russel had a clear, humorous voice, but one that was a little too heavy-handed on the narration. A good intrusive narrator does not distract from the story and certainly does not assume the reader has short-term memory problems. "Russel," I wanted to say, "I'm not stupid!"
Some parts were too easy/quick and others were too spelled-out. I am glad he didn't end up with Kevin; that would be too perfect.
The book was overall enjoyable but...cold? Too measured? Extremely predictable, that's for sure -- if a secret club is formed, you KNOW it will be found out. And there's no way a teacher would give a club their own key to a classroom.
What was with all the Jesus references? Page 188 (hardcover) about Peter denying Jesus and then on 216 he refers to Christ's sacrifice on the crucifix. Does that have anything to do with poking at Christians who are against homosexuality?
Do you think this should get more credit for being a YA book about a gay teen? As a YA book I thought it was your pretty standard problem novel.
I liked the sequel (The Order of the Poison Oak) better. Not so faulty as Geography Club, though Russ still cries too easily.
Yeah, you guys nailed it. I actually liked the characters and, to a certain extent, the plot/situation -- but damn, was everything telegraphed a mile away. It was like a book written by a very bright middle-schooler who's been taught a list of characteristic structural elements of novels, and then used them all.
I agree. It was too predictable, probably because everything fit too neatly together. I kept waiting for Russel to get some balls and actually come out to the whole school. Or at least to Trish. Could it really have been that much worse?
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