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A review by bashsbooks
May the Best Man Win by Z.R. Ellor
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
WOW.
A gripe I usually have with queer fiction - especially queer YA fiction - is that the queer characters are not allowed to be messy disasters. There is a very limited amount of disaster allowed for queer characters before they have to be consumed by guilt and apologies.
That is not a problem here! These guys - the two main characters, Jeremy and Lukas - are selfish and angry and hurting and think that ruling a high school via Homecoming Court can fix that. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that it obviously can't. There are some truly painful moments in here, but I loved that. I loved that they did awful things that I totally would've also done if I'd been in their scared and miserable positions when I was seventeen. This is not making excuses for them, though - they are completely in the wrong most of the time- just, it makes their character growth wayyy more satisfying than usual.
This author clearly has a very nuanced understanding of queerness, and he approached how transitioning goes from a number of angles, including an important one that I don't usually see - that trans people themselves need to grow into their genders and resist toxic behaviors for the sake of validity.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the autistic representation in Lukas, which I wasn't aware of before I started reading this. I appreciate that a trans gay guy and an autistic got to be assholes and not use their identities as an excuse, but that those identities were integral to how they process the world. That's a fine line to balance, and I think Ellor did a great job.
A gripe I usually have with queer fiction - especially queer YA fiction - is that the queer characters are not allowed to be messy disasters. There is a very limited amount of disaster allowed for queer characters before they have to be consumed by guilt and apologies.
That is not a problem here! These guys - the two main characters, Jeremy and Lukas - are selfish and angry and hurting and think that ruling a high school via Homecoming Court can fix that. I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that it obviously can't. There are some truly painful moments in here, but I loved that. I loved that they did awful things that I totally would've also done if I'd been in their scared and miserable positions when I was seventeen. This is not making excuses for them, though - they are completely in the wrong most of the time- just, it makes their character growth wayyy more satisfying than usual.
This author clearly has a very nuanced understanding of queerness, and he approached how transitioning goes from a number of angles, including an important one that I don't usually see - that trans people themselves need to grow into their genders and resist toxic behaviors for the sake of validity.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the autistic representation in Lukas, which I wasn't aware of before I started reading this. I appreciate that a trans gay guy and an autistic got to be assholes and not use their identities as an excuse, but that those identities were integral to how they process the world. That's a fine line to balance, and I think Ellor did a great job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deadnaming, Ableism, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, Death, Transphobia, Hate crime, Violence, Dysphoria, Toxic relationship, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Drug use, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Car accident, and Misogyny
Minor: Classism and Racism
-F-slur used a few times