Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

I'm not generally a YA reader but I decided to give this a go in no small part because of [a:Michael Crouch 838493 Michael Crouch https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-82093808bca726cb3249a493fbd3bd0f.png] and unsurprisingly he delivers a swoon worthy narration. Of course this would not be possible without a pretty excellent book by [a:Becky Albertalli 7579036 Becky Albertalli https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1392414949p2/7579036.jpg]. This is perhaps a commonplace story of coming of age in a modern America with all its complexities and trivialities. What I enjoyed the most was that in spite of or because of the attention to all of the modern details and specificity in Simon's story his voice as a character resonates with anyone who had a “normal” teenage life: the first crush, the defining of one's sexuality, the familial relationships, the heaven and hell of school etc. I loved all of it. The book is populated by non-cookie cutter characters and that was a breath of fresh air, the characters who in other stories might just be antagonists or villains i.e. Martin or Taylor are well rounded and evolving young human beings with faults but also heart. I liked that unlike in every other YA book or teen movie the parents are not clueless uninvolved buffoons.Extra icing on the cake for me was that this was essentially an epistolary novel and I have a weak spot for those and I was pretty much surprised by the identity of Simon's correspondent. Sweet.