9 Reasons Why You Should Read Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

1. It discusses the love/hate for Chick-fil-A...

“I haven’t been to Chick-fil-A for a while. My sister heard they donate money to screw over gay people, and i guess it started to feel weird eating there. Even if their Oreo milk shakes are giant vessels of frothy deliciousness.”

I laughed out loud when I first read this because it’s true. If you think all LGBT people hate Chick-fil-A you are wrong. I went through the exact same situation after coming out to myself. I do go to Chick-fil-A but maybe once a year because I can’t help myself. Does that stop me from making my straight friends feel bad for going there? No. 

2. There are inside jokes for gay people...

This is actually incredible because the author is not gay. I applaud her for doing her research and reaching out to the younger LGBT community. If you are gay you will most likely laugh throughout the entire book because there are little pockets of jokes and truths.

3. It doesn’t romanticize coming out…

When I started coming out to people I thought it would be like what TV and movies told me. It’s probably going to be anticlimactic. At the end of the day if the person loves you and cares about you it won’t be a big deal. It’s probably going to be somewhat awkward and that’s okay. It’s something you want them to know but it’s also not necessary, if that makes sense. I love that the first person Simon came out to wasn’t ‘special’. No one was sobbing and freaking out which was nice. 

4. It also discusses the fears of coming out…

There is no right way to be ‘gay’ and there are multitudes of stories. One thing that I loved about this book is that it’s not overly dramatic. It talks about the fears of coming out, dealing with family and friends, the future realistically and honestly. 

“...Like, you read about these gay kids with really churchy catholic parents, and the parents end up doing PFLAG and Pride Parades and everything. And then you hear about parents who are totally fine with homosexuality, but can’t handle it when their own kids comes out. You just never know.”

5. The movie looks different from the book...

I held my breath when I saw the trailer for the movie. This was even before I read the book. Now that I’ve read the book and rewatched the trailer I see the differences. I have no doubts that it will be a good movie but I don’t know how faithful it will be to the book. Unfortunately, that’s the risk you take when you let a book become a movie. Hollywood is unpredictable.

6.  You fall in love with Simon...

Simon seems like the type of person that anyone can be friends with. He’s witty, funny, romantic and behaves like a normal teenager. 

7. It will give you an excuse to buy Oreos...

A lot of the characters have a slight obsession with Oreos. They’ll talk about Oreos so much that you have to have some.

8. It’s the not the typical ‘gay’ story...

This book doesn’t have a Brokeback Mountain ending which is nice. It’s hard for me to discuss without giving away any spoilers. You will leave this book knowing that things are going to be okay eventually. Not one gay person dies or gets diagnosed with AIDS which unfortunately is the centerpiece of many movies with gay protagonists. 

9. It’s adorable...

In the book, Simon keeps emailing a guy anonymously named ‘Blue’. We don’t know much about him other than the fact they met on Tumblr and go to the same school. Over the course of the book we get to see emails that are sent back in forth and it is the most wonderfully adorable thing ever. It’s also one of my favorite parts of the book.

DFTBA

-AB