Simon vs. the Homo Sapien Agenda Review

by Becky Albertalli

Rating: 5/5

Source: Amazon

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

Another book that I read as a part of my 24 hour Readathon. First impressions weren't great, the cover for this book isn't one of my favourites and I only really appreciate the title of the book now that I've read the book. Obviously, I know the homosexual agenda is like a running joke, mostly made by my gay friends who appreciate it's the most hilariously ridiculous thing to come out of a straight politician’s mouth. The homo sapiens agenda is Simon and Blue's little inside joke/play on words that makes for a great book title -once you know what's going on.

Simon is probably one of my favourite narrators I've read for a long time. He's so comfortable in his own head even if he isn't ready to come out at school or at home, Simon is perfectly at peace with his sexuality when it's just him and Blue exchanging emails. He's also just so silly, and his dog is called Bieber, that's important for this quote.

"I take a sip of my beer, and it’s - I mean, it’s just astonishingly disgusting. I don’t think I was expecting it to taste like ice cream, but holy fucking hell. People lie and get fake IDs and sneak into bars, and for this? I honestly think I’d rather make out with Bieber. The dog. Or Justin." 

A lot of Simon's inner monologue goes this way, he's enthusiastic, sarcastic, has perfect grammar and curses up a storm, basically he's everything you need to be immersed in a story about high-schoolers. You'll never be bored with Simon.

Simon's friends and family are an interesting bunch of people too. I especially liked the relationship between Simon and his sisters, even if they didn't say the words all of the time, they seemed to silently support each other. Simon's friends and family were supportive of his coming out, I've read too many books about the negative reactions of parents and very few supportive ones -whereas I know that my friends irl had very positive experiences, so I know it isn't all bad and it was nice to see positivity represented here too.

There is homophobia in this book, don't get me wrong. High school kids can be awful and Becky doesn't shy away from showing us exactly that.

Just before we go I'm going to talk about Blue. I did guess/work out who he was right away, I haven't read enough reviews of this book to know if everyone works it out? It seemed obvious to me even if it didn't to Simon, but if you like surprises stop reading between the lines and looking for clues like I did and wait for the big reveal towards the end of the book.

I'm a bit late to the party but if there is anyone out there left who hasn't read this book, then please pick it up. YA fans/LGBTQIA fans and just Homo sapiens in general. Read. Now. If you do read then I suggest you grab a pack of Oreos because YOU WILL be craving them before too long.