Now, if you don't know, the book "Simon vs the Homosapien's Agenda" is what inspired the movie "Love, Simon." Now yes, I know, it is about a gay guy (Simon), but...quite frankly I found many similarities to this and my own coming out process. After all, gay or bi, you come out. Usually.

Now, I am mainly making this post to gush about the book (not so much the movie. You'll see why.) So if you don't want to read a review of a book, I will not stop you from just moving to the next post. Now, if you are staying, beware. Spoilers. You're warned.

So right away, we know Simon has been emailing a person. A dude. And it contains emails saying he's gay. This isn't a spoiler. This is "back of the book" level stuff. Now, he is being blackmailed by a dude named Martin. Simon has two female friends, Leah (who he knew for years) and Abby (who just moved into the school, and he only knew her for a few months,) and Martin wants to get with Abby. With Martin being the way he is, he blackmails Simon, saying if Simon doesn't do what be wants, he will reveal Simon's secret. Martin also has a gay brother, but if my memory is correct, his brother didn't come out long ago, so he's still inexperienced with the dos and don'ts with this stuff. Still, blackmail isn't good. So Simon is emailing "Blue," a kid in his school, but he wants to know who "Blue" is, as "Blue" is his fake name. Blue, however, isn't quite ready to reveal himself at all. Nor is Simon for a while, using the name "Jaques" in his emails.

So, I gotta give Becky Albertalli (the author) major props. Everything she wrote was perfect. Not a single line of dialogue felt unnatural or forced, or even unfitting to the situation or the characters. And that really shines when we see Simon both struggling and happy. At his most normal/happiest, he shares stories about him, and even his love life. He even mentions to Blue in an email that he dated girls. Despite being gay. I liked it, though, as it shows how confusing sexuality is. If you're not straight, it'll take time before you can even say what you are, let alone know what you are, unless you go for the "I won't label myself" route. This is shown with Simon dating girls before fully realizing that girls aren't his thing. When he comes out, he starts with the friend he knows the least: Abby. That's how I started, and I climbed up and up until I finally came out to my family a few months back. Now, things with Abby and Martin fall through, so out of anger Martin posts Simon's secret, which he saw from Simon's emails (Simon forgot to log out of a computer at school once, I think), so he does get forced to tell people then, but it's all so accurate. It even mentions how coming out is still stressful to him, even when he knows his family would be accepting. And it was exactly what I went through. I knew nothing would happen when I came out, but still I was stressed. Coming out to family is never easy, even if you know they won't care and won't see you in a different, more negative light. My heart does go out, though, go those who did have a lesser accepting family (DMs are open if you need to vent.)

Now, the movie, "Love, Simon." How does it compare?

I like the movie. But... It is best to say it's "inspired by" the book. A lot changes. Too much for my liking. My opinion is that the book was way more in Simon's own head. It was first person, after all, so of course it was. So what does the movie do? How does it make up for the fact you can't read Simon's thoughts? Voice overs? They are in the movie.

No. Add scenes that add nothing but run time. Admittedly, some are very cute. But the book was just...better. Also Simon is much nicer in the book. Simon messes with the love lives of his friends to try and get Martin and Abby together in the movie. That never happens in the book. He doesn't want to change their lives lives in the book. It's never even brought up. They also change some scenes and stuff that remove some impact. They add scenes that remove some of that impact. They take away scenes that had that needed impact. They changed it so much where the skeleton is the same, but the meat is different entirely, and a little bit worse. But what makes it good? Well, the characters are, for the most part, really good. The meat may not be as good as the original, but it's certainly not bad. And the main soul of the book and the movie are identical: a lovely gay romance. I just prefer the book's more in-depth look into Simon's own journey, as well as his own mind. That is what made me love the book. There are other things about the movie that rubbed me the wrong way, but this post is long enough and strays much farther from why I wanted to type this.

Basically: Yes. I'm bi. Simon's gay. Either way, the adventure of coming out and realizing you aren't straight is very much the same. I recommend it for anyone, but especially to those who are in the LGBTQ community, or know someone who's gay, lesbian, bi, etc. I give this book a solid "I had a crush on Simon" out of 10.

Get the book.

Good-bi.