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notvibing 's review for:
Autoboyography
by Christina Lauren
What a book. I'm still a bit confused about what exactly I didn't like about this story (because I certainly know what I like - a lot!) but here we go.
This is the story of Tanner, who is bi but closeted since he moved to Utah with his family (who are the only ones he's out to). He meets this guy Sebastian at school when he's helping Tanner and his classmates to write a novel and boom, love. Well, it's not that simple, obviously. Sebastian is a Mormon and Narnia-deep in the closet so his and Tanner's relationship progresses slowly and there are a lot of complications.
Autoboyography reminded me a lot of Love, Simon with how intensely it made me feel for these two adorable boys. I cheered at every touch or kiss or confessions and I was moved and hurt by all the setbacks and Sebastian's internalised homophobia (and the actual open homophobia he experiences from his church and his family).
I don't know much about Mormons, I basically was only aware that they exist, have temples and are very anti-gay. This book does a great job at explaining this religion and it doesn't do it by demonising religion (or Mormons) in general. I feel like I learned a lot and as someone who isn't religious at all and has relatively negative feelings towards religions, this was quite... enlightening?
Sebastian is such a poor boy and has so many hard choices to make and I'm glad Tanner is there to help him, I just wish Sebastian's family was just a bit more supportive. But this is something many children struggle with and it's an important story to tell. On the other side, you have Tanner's family of open-minded people that try to support him as best as they can. I do think they made some bad choices (like, why would you move to a homophobic place with your openly bisexual child??? that's not supporting him??? also, that one conversation with his dad really irked me) but I'm glad Christina Lauren show that some families can be really great.
I'm also so happy to read another story about a bisexual kid. There aren't that many out there and I think Tanner does a great job talking about his sexuality and that it's not about making a choice etc.
One thing I found super annoying: how perfect and privileged so many characters are, especially Tanner's family. He is super smart and apparently attractive and tall and his parents are so good and smart and kinda rich and it just doesn't make him seem down to earth at all. And he's kind of arrogant with how little he cared about school and such. Speaking of school, I sometimes felt like I didn't really know what they were even doing - no one talked about any classes apart from the book writing one and does anyone even have hobbies? It's a bit weird.
This was a great read and apart from a few annoying or irritating things I really love the story and I think it's an important read.
This is the story of Tanner, who is bi but closeted since he moved to Utah with his family (who are the only ones he's out to). He meets this guy Sebastian at school when he's helping Tanner and his classmates to write a novel and boom, love. Well, it's not that simple, obviously. Sebastian is a Mormon and Narnia-deep in the closet so his and Tanner's relationship progresses slowly and there are a lot of complications.
Autoboyography reminded me a lot of Love, Simon with how intensely it made me feel for these two adorable boys. I cheered at every touch or kiss or confessions and I was moved and hurt by all the setbacks and Sebastian's internalised homophobia (and the actual open homophobia he experiences from his church and his family).
I don't know much about Mormons, I basically was only aware that they exist, have temples and are very anti-gay. This book does a great job at explaining this religion and it doesn't do it by demonising religion (or Mormons) in general. I feel like I learned a lot and as someone who isn't religious at all and has relatively negative feelings towards religions, this was quite... enlightening?
Sebastian is such a poor boy and has so many hard choices to make and I'm glad Tanner is there to help him, I just wish Sebastian's family was just a bit more supportive. But this is something many children struggle with and it's an important story to tell. On the other side, you have Tanner's family of open-minded people that try to support him as best as they can. I do think they made some bad choices (like, why would you move to a homophobic place with your openly bisexual child??? that's not supporting him??? also, that one conversation with his dad really irked me) but I'm glad Christina Lauren show that some families can be really great.
I'm also so happy to read another story about a bisexual kid. There aren't that many out there and I think Tanner does a great job talking about his sexuality and that it's not about making a choice etc.
One thing I found super annoying: how perfect and privileged so many characters are, especially Tanner's family. He is super smart and apparently attractive and tall and his parents are so good and smart and kinda rich and it just doesn't make him seem down to earth at all. And he's kind of arrogant with how little he cared about school and such. Speaking of school, I sometimes felt like I didn't really know what they were even doing - no one talked about any classes apart from the book writing one and does anyone even have hobbies? It's a bit weird.
This was a great read and apart from a few annoying or irritating things I really love the story and I think it's an important read.