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A review by linda_1410
Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun by Jonny Garza Villa
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was a nice, nearly angst-free coming out story, despite it taking place in Texas. It's very much the same feel as [book:Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda|19547856], but without the blackmail plot. Or really any kind of plot.
Júlian accidentally outs himself in a drunken tweet and ... everything is ok. His friends are cool with it. His siblings are cool with it. Everyone's super supportive. He gets an online boyfriend in Mat, who lives in L.A., and he's super supportive too. Mat is out and his Vietnamese family is super okay with it and with Jules. Only Jules's dad poses a threat, but he apparently doesn't monitor his teenage son's online activities and somehow never finds out about the tweet. When the dad does eventually find out, it goes predictably but since this is mostly angst-free, Jules doesn't end up in a terrible position as a result. Jules is on the soccer team, and his teammates are all either cool with the gay or are kept in check by his best friend on the team who stands up for him.
This is a great comfort read, and I enjoyed how Mat and Jules got to know each other, even if Jules was a spaz now and again, for semi-understandable reasons. I really liked how they managed their relationship being long-distance. That was the strongest part of the story. Jules felt the distance when he needed comfort, but they deal with it as best they can and there's no melodramatic 80% breakup, which was refreshing. His friends and siblings being way too interested in his sex life was weird, as that always is, and I don't know why authors feel the need to have everyone in the MC's life be so nosy in this regard. Why? It's creepy.
The narrator, Avi Roque, did a decent job. He sounded reasonably close to seventeen, though the stereotypical Mexican accent for every single Mexican-American character was grating as hell. I'm Mexican-American. I know tons of Mexican-Americans. None of us talk like that, except maybe ironically. Please, narrators, stop using that accent. Thankfully, he didn't attempt any Vietnamese accents.
So like I said, there's minimal angst and lots of comfort, but it's not really memorable.
Júlian accidentally outs himself in a drunken tweet and ... everything is ok. His friends are cool with it. His siblings are cool with it. Everyone's super supportive. He gets an online boyfriend in Mat, who lives in L.A., and he's super supportive too. Mat is out and his Vietnamese family is super okay with it and with Jules. Only Jules's dad poses a threat, but he apparently doesn't monitor his teenage son's online activities and somehow never finds out about the tweet. When the dad does eventually find out, it goes predictably but since this is mostly angst-free, Jules doesn't end up in a terrible position as a result. Jules is on the soccer team, and his teammates are all either cool with the gay or are kept in check by his best friend on the team who stands up for him.
This is a great comfort read, and I enjoyed how Mat and Jules got to know each other, even if Jules was a spaz now and again, for semi-understandable reasons. I really liked how they managed their relationship being long-distance. That was the strongest part of the story. Jules felt the distance when he needed comfort, but they deal with it as best they can and there's no melodramatic 80% breakup, which was refreshing. His friends and siblings being way too interested in his sex life was weird, as that always is, and I don't know why authors feel the need to have everyone in the MC's life be so nosy in this regard. Why? It's creepy.
The narrator, Avi Roque, did a decent job. He sounded reasonably close to seventeen, though the stereotypical Mexican accent for every single Mexican-American character was grating as hell. I'm Mexican-American. I know tons of Mexican-Americans. None of us talk like that, except maybe ironically. Please, narrators, stop using that accent. Thankfully, he didn't attempt any Vietnamese accents.
So like I said, there's minimal angst and lots of comfort, but it's not really memorable.