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catsandcamera 's review for:
Jay's Gay Agenda
by Jason June
This was a light, summery read.
We follow Jay, who lives in the middle of nowhere in a small town.
His best friend is loved up and making him feel like a third wheel, while he has yet to even met another gay guy. So instead he makes lists and day dreams about what he would like to do when he does finally get the chance.
That chance comes in the shape of a promotion for his mother which means moving to Seattle for his final year at school.
There he meets a whole host of queer kids, and starts crossing off items on his 'gay agenda'.
Like i said at the beginning, this was a fun enough, light summer read. It's not super memorable or ground-breaking in any way, but it's not a bad book either.
One of the most refreshing parts is that there's no homophobia throughout the book. Even in the small rural town, with a population made up of mostly religious folk he is open about his sexuality with no backlash or bullying at school. Then of course when he moves to a school with an actual queer club and numerous out lgbt+ students, the 'jocks' are more likely to be in his fashion design class than to be rude or standoffish.
I liked the main love interest, Albert was really sweet and i thought the discussions about harmful stereotypes was woven into the story well. I must admit that when i saw that the nerdy guy holding a robot he made who liked video games was Asian i may have rolled my eyes slightly. But later in the book Albert and Jay connect over the stereotypes that they are perceived to be (nerdy Asian and feminine gay guy respectively) and how they should be allowed to be whoever they want to be, without feeling like they are perpetuating a negative stereotype just by existing.
On the flip side, one of the main things i didn't like is that Jay seemed to surround himself with the same type of toxic personality. Lu, Jay's best friend from home and Max, his new friend at school were both quick to anger, bullheaded, hypocritical and mean to their so called besties. I'm sure I'm meant to like Lu, but the way she over reacted then ignored Jay for doing something she had already done previously was irritating and irrational. And Max had done the exact same thing to some of his friends. I don't know why anyone would want to be around someone who will just drop you and ignore you for the most mundane reasons. I mean, Jay himself wasn't the best person in the world, but i feel like the other two were worse.
I also found the constant referring back to the list, or 'gay agenda' to be repetitive and unnecessary. We didn't need to see the full list written out every time a new point was added, just show the newest addition (I did read an arc so this may not be how the final book is written) I also found it extremely odd that this near 18 year old would have this list written in the same notebook he takes to school where anyone could see it.
Speaking of age, i thought sometimes the tone of the book felt odd. There was a weird juxtaposition between Jay sounding quite young and childish in some places, then like an actual 18 year old. For example, in the same chapter was the line 'my...ahem (you know what I mean)' and a page or two later the full run down of anal sex. Like, how are you going to say penis every time the gay agenda list is shown but also act coy and giggly like a kid? It just sometimes didn't mesh.
That being said though, i do think this book is worth a read if you want something that isn't too heavy or hard hitting, that has some cute moments and that steers away from any sort of homophobia as an easy plot device.
Review copy.
We follow Jay, who lives in the middle of nowhere in a small town.
His best friend is loved up and making him feel like a third wheel, while he has yet to even met another gay guy. So instead he makes lists and day dreams about what he would like to do when he does finally get the chance.
That chance comes in the shape of a promotion for his mother which means moving to Seattle for his final year at school.
There he meets a whole host of queer kids, and starts crossing off items on his 'gay agenda'.
Like i said at the beginning, this was a fun enough, light summer read. It's not super memorable or ground-breaking in any way, but it's not a bad book either.
One of the most refreshing parts is that there's no homophobia throughout the book. Even in the small rural town, with a population made up of mostly religious folk he is open about his sexuality with no backlash or bullying at school. Then of course when he moves to a school with an actual queer club and numerous out lgbt+ students, the 'jocks' are more likely to be in his fashion design class than to be rude or standoffish.
I liked the main love interest, Albert was really sweet and i thought the discussions about harmful stereotypes was woven into the story well. I must admit that when i saw that the nerdy guy holding a robot he made who liked video games was Asian i may have rolled my eyes slightly. But later in the book Albert and Jay connect over the stereotypes that they are perceived to be (nerdy Asian and feminine gay guy respectively) and how they should be allowed to be whoever they want to be, without feeling like they are perpetuating a negative stereotype just by existing.
On the flip side, one of the main things i didn't like is that Jay seemed to surround himself with the same type of toxic personality. Lu, Jay's best friend from home and Max, his new friend at school were both quick to anger, bullheaded, hypocritical and mean to their so called besties. I'm sure I'm meant to like Lu, but the way she over reacted then ignored Jay for doing something she had already done previously was irritating and irrational. And Max had done the exact same thing to some of his friends. I don't know why anyone would want to be around someone who will just drop you and ignore you for the most mundane reasons. I mean, Jay himself wasn't the best person in the world, but i feel like the other two were worse.
I also found the constant referring back to the list, or 'gay agenda' to be repetitive and unnecessary. We didn't need to see the full list written out every time a new point was added, just show the newest addition (I did read an arc so this may not be how the final book is written) I also found it extremely odd that this near 18 year old would have this list written in the same notebook he takes to school where anyone could see it.
Speaking of age, i thought sometimes the tone of the book felt odd. There was a weird juxtaposition between Jay sounding quite young and childish in some places, then like an actual 18 year old. For example, in the same chapter was the line 'my...ahem (you know what I mean)' and a page or two later the full run down of anal sex. Like, how are you going to say penis every time the gay agenda list is shown but also act coy and giggly like a kid? It just sometimes didn't mesh.
That being said though, i do think this book is worth a read if you want something that isn't too heavy or hard hitting, that has some cute moments and that steers away from any sort of homophobia as an easy plot device.
Review copy.