February 19, 2015

"Openly Straight" Review


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Book: Openly Straight

Author: Bill Konigsberg

Format: E-book

Page Count: 341

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books

My Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.

And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.

So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate break down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben . . . who doesn't even know that love is possible.

      I honestly do not have much to say about this book. It was a nice, short, sweet contemporary that pointed and and exploited several social issues that plague modern society. I thoroughly enjoyed the (bro)romance Ben and Rafe had, however I wish the story had taken a different direction and didn't go about as it did. The ending was a bust for me, but I still liked reading it. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a sweet contemporary with a LGBT main character.

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