Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | This Book is Basically Just About Oreos {Review}

Title: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Author: Becky Albertalli

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, #diversebooks

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.

A lot of books exist. A lot of types of books exist. You’ve got your magical, adventurous, heart-racing reads; there are those subtle, slithering, toe-curling novels. But Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda? Definitely a we’re-just-gonna-have-a-chat-and-be-best-buddies kind of book.
MMMKAY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE OREOS. JUst. There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book about ALL THE OREOS while ACTUALLY EATING OREOS. Basically just read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda if you need an excuse to eat Oreos. (holy heckers how many times have I just said Oreos???)

The characters are so swirly and delicious! They’re ACTUALLY FLAWED. LIKE REAL HUMAN BEINGS IN REAL LIFE!!! WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT!!! But not annoyingly flawed. Cute little jelly bean that I like flawed. It’s all good.
Simon’s voice is so cayooooot (even if he’s desperately clueless). The writing is so casual and chatty. It’s just: Hi! Hello! What’s up! We are friends now! Congrats!
This read includes all the things all the bookworms hold dear. And by all the things all the bookworms hold dear I mean Harry Potter. Duh.

“What’s a dementor?”
I mean, I can’t even. “Nora, you are no longer my sister.”
“So it’s some Harry Potter thing,” she says.

THE TITLE MAKES SENSE. After you flip through the pages, you will understand the title! This is my bookish quirk. I know not why it makes me so splendorously happy!! It feels a bit like having an inside joke with the book, like you’ve developed this true friendship. *sighs dreamily*
Despite its delightfully fluffy and fun mood and flair, this book deals with real things and real issues. Honesty about homophobia. Honesty about racism. Which leaves you with the empowering: now let’s fix it 😉
DOG ALERT. DOG ALERT. DOG ALERT. (because let’s talk about the characters we actually care about) There is a dog. His name is Bieber. This is good because no story is good unless there is a dog. This is a fact.

There just wasn’t—enough. The book felt more of a dream than a story. MORE DETAILS, PRETTY PINKY PLEASE. The lack of details in Simon’s life (aka hardly any details on his friends, his sisters, even his own history and present) left a shadowy cast on me rather than a yes-I-am-full-consumed-in-this-story delight.

All you need to know is that this book is basically just about Oreos. Because if that’s not enough to convince you to read it then I don’t trust you and you don’t deserve to read SImon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

KIDDING ;D

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