So, this book.
This book is an interesting one, actually. (Also I wonder
how many reviews I start with the line so,
this book…but that’s another story entirely.)
This book.
I think it’s going to do well. I actually really do. I think it’s going to tick a lot of boxes and
I think a lot of young people are going to be reaching out for it and praising
its very existence because it’s the kind of book they want to read; the kind of
book that’s about their life. It’s relatable in so many ways and it’s brave an
unflinching and it doesn’t shy away from the fact that its demographic may well
be having sex. I don’t think there’s another book out there like this and I
think it’s a good thing that soon this one will exist.
Let’s tell you a bit about what it’s about.
It’s set in high school – America and I really need to get
me some more UK set YA, actually but that’s another gripe for another day – and
it’s primarily about Jack.
Jack is out, and he’s proud and confident and he does his
own thing and he likes sex but not relationships and he’s comfortable enough in
his own skin to have no strings sex without bothering really what the gossips
are saying – in fact he takes a certain amount of pleasure out of listening
into people talking about him and hearing how ridiculous the rumours are. His
best friend asks him to write an advice column on her website, which he does,
and it seems to be a hit. But then he starts getting these anonymous letters in
his locker which at first seem pretty innocuous but actually ARE NOT because
the letter writer turns out to be a super creepy stalker.
So that’s it, in a nutshell.
And there’s a lot I liked about it.
I liked how bold it is, and I liked how unflinching it is in
making its point and I loved how sex positive it is, and I love how its kind of
saying, look, these kids are probably having sex and so lets let them know that
as long as they’re safe and they’re consenting that’s ok. Sex is not bad.
Sex actually can amazing.
I also like how it realises that there are questions
teenagers have that they don’t know how to ask and how it takes (some of) those
questions and in the shape of Jack’s column, answers them in a thoughtful,
intelligent not at all preachy manner. I liked that a lot. Although honestly,
less shock value might’ve been nice. Anyhow. It talks about losing your
virginity and navigating relationships and it talks about blow jobs and what to
do if you don’t think you’re interested in sex at all and I LOVED how boldly it
tackled it all – although did it sometimes go too far the other way? I’m
undecided. I liked the dialogue too,
mostly. Really, for the most part I liked how these teenagers talked like
teenagers which will be what gives this book its appeal I think – it feels like
it’s written by someone who gets it, by a peer.
What didn’t I like. The overuse of the word fuck. Or rather, perhaps not so much
that – I don’t take offense at the word itself, it’s probably one of the most
used words in the English language, and sometimes no other word will do, but I
do perhaps object of the overuse of the word fuck to describe sex here in this book. And I know that actually
that’s what the word is, it is a verb to describe having sex but – and wow
perhaps I’m just massively naïve here, and perhaps I live in a bubble and perhaps
it’s one of those Across the Pond, things - but I’m not sure it’s used in that
context to the extent it is here? Jack uses the word fuck or talks about fucking a
lot, a lot a lot, to the point I was really aware of it and it really drew away
from the story for me. I’m not saying we have to be all sensitive and treat
readers like delicate flowers and talk about making sweet sweet love, I just
don’t think it was realistic; have sex
with, sex, shag, sleep with, hook up with, screw, there’s probably a million
other words that could be used not in place of but alongside fuck that would have made me feel a
little bit less like somebody was trying to show off a little bit. It was too
much. Which is how I felt about some points of the story if I’m honest – the
fourway that Jack did-or-didn’t have, the drinking til you pass out, some of it
was a bit too much, a bit try hard and whilst I get and I LOVE what this book
is trying to do, I did roll my eyes a
little sometimes because it felt like LOOK HOW I CAN SAY FUCK AND TALK
GRAPHICALLY ABOUT SEX AND GETTING OFF YOUR FACE DRUNK I’M SO COOL AND SEX
POSITIVE WHICH MEANS IT’S OK TO DESCRIBE SOMEONE’S FIRST TIME AS ‘RAPEY’ AND
GLOSS OVER IT and it at times I did feel uncomfortable. But then, I’m old. But
still, it made me feel weird and kind of a little bit like it was undermining
its own excellent messages.
Then there’s the end. OH MY GOODNESS. I hate when I am all invested in a story only for the end to feel
like it’s laughing in my face and that’s what happened here. Basically, there’s
this big reveal about the stalker which CAME FROM NOWHERE and then wasn’t
properly resolved. The whole build up of this storyline is so good and so
suspenseful and the whole way through you want to know who it is and it’s
just….such a let down and I don’t like how that happened or how the story went
from there and it wasn’t handled well at all and I was so grumpy because that, the whole stalker thing was so much more
important than anything else that happened in the book and it could have been
addressed in a much better way than it was and I was waiting and waiting for nothing and actually I am laughing at
myself because I thought I’d quite enjoyed this book until I started writing
this review and now it seems it actually rather annoyed me.
I think it’ll do well though, and I think books like this
need to exist, I just think this one didn’t quite
reach it’s potential. It makes me sad when things don’t reach their
potential.
