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Book Review: Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Synopsis: 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.

I love this book so much! I can’t even put into words how much I love these characters and this story. Simon was hilarious and I love how he handled all the curveballs (understatement!!!) that got thrown his way. I think it’s such a refreshing and realistic young adult voice. The teenagers look, sound, and act like teenagers. The parents are actually present and accounted for, and they hold their kids accountable for their actions.

I love that it’s set in Georgia and the author addresses that things are different for us (by us I mean not only non-heterosexual but also Black people) here in the south. I love that Abby is Black and it’s a big deal, but it’s also not a big deal. I love that these kids just do what they love and they don’t fall into these awful stereotypes and tropes.

I love Blue.

I was having mixed feelings about how I felt about how they handled the main conflict (i.e. what Martin did) but realistically, what can you do in that situation?

My only complaint in this whole book was the exorbitant amount of pop culture references. Honestly, I couldn’t even get some of them and I live in this time period! This is such a great story, but I feel it’ll be too dated in just a few years.

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2 Comments

  1. I totally get what you mean about the Martin thing, but overall Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda was probably my favorite YA contemporary read of 2015. Hmm, that’s such an interesting point about how this book will probably be dated in a few years. I hadn’t thought about that but you’re so right!

  2. I’m really excited to read this book, hopefully it’ll make the cut before the end of the year. I enjoy pop culture references – when I actually get them – but it does make me sad to know how quickly the book will be outdated and unenjoyable. I found that was also the case when I was reading Mindy Kaling’s book “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?”