Stay Gold

Early on in this book a joke was made about Jeff Bezos being smart, and I hate Jeff so much I considered DNFing right then and there. And well, I should have listened to my gut. I wanted so badly to love Stay Gold, but it was rough. I only dip below two stars when I'm mad.Pony is a trans boy starting his senior year at a new Texan high school. His sister and mom are supportive (one more emphatically than the other), but his dad is aggressively the opposite. Pony's determined to fly under the radar by staying deep in the closet. He doesn't want the attention and harassment that being out can bring. He just wants to hang with the boys and date a cheerleader. Normal stuff.Georgia is a popular cheerleader who all the guys lust after, Pony included. Though she's perfected her image, she sometimes feels stifled by her carefully built facade. She's scared that being fully herself will ruin the life she's created for herself. How can she write for the school newspaper and cheer? How can she justifying dating the quiet new kid instead of the star quarterback?So that's the premise. I was intrigued. And the cover! Just gorgeous. The trans pride flag color scheme is so pretty. Stay Gold has a certain “Trans 101” vibe, but I don't mind that. I like to see fiction destigmatize and educate. And I want to emphasize that #ownvoices trans fiction is vitally important, maybe especially for younger audiences. Perhaps because of this, I also think those books and authors tend to be held up to disproportionate scrutiny, as though there is more at stake and thus more to lose. All that said, I really truly struggled with this. Here is a spoiler-y list of reasons why: -We've already covered this, but calling Jeff Bezos smart. I hate Jeff Bezos-The dialogue does that rapidfire witty Gilmore Girls thing that I find in a lot of YA contemporaries. Sometimes it's funny and fun to read, but other times it's unrealistic and almost tiring. Exhaustingly snarky-Sure, a lot of stories about teenagers are about not knowing where you fit, but who even is Georgia? Does she like cheerleading? Does she like her friends? Why is Mia her best friend but also consistently awful to everyone she interacts with, including Georgia? What is going on?-In that vein, why is Georgia always saying Lauren needs to learn how to stand up for herself instead of focusing on how Mia pushes all of her friends around with no regard for their feelings and opinions? It's good to know how to advocate for yourself, but why is Mia someone people need to learn how to stand up to? -Pony ambushing Georgia outside her house late at night after she explicitly said she was not ready to talk as though that's not 1) a flagrant violation of boundaries and 2) terrifying-Unironically using the term friend zone in 2020-Max demanding Pony be a vocal advocate for trans rights when it is *his choice* to remain closeted while existing in unsupportive home and school environments, putting forth a bewildering ultimatum whereby Pony has to either share a petition on Facebook or lose a close friend who is one of his few ties to queer safe spaces?-When Georgia said she couldn't rag on the guy her friend was dating because Pony is trans???????-That trope where an old person is shoehorned into the plot to teach the protagonist a poignant life lesson then promptly dies-The half-assed redemption arc for Pony's absolute nincompoop of a father who is volatile, dangerous, and openly despises both of his children-Surprising Pony by driving him back to where a hate crime literally just happened to him then Georgia saying he had to see it through because “all these people showed up for you”-Just have Kelly and Taylor be homecoming queens, what's the problem?-The ending in general was...a mess. What a chaotic, slapdash, intensely upsetting culmination of events. And then all these characters actually sprinting in at the last second to be like “REMEMBER ME? I'M HERE TOO AND NOW THERE IS CLOSURE”-McSmith is in no way to blame for this one, but Stay Gold somehow manages to namedrop both Chadwick Boseman and RBG, and that was kind of painful and unexpected right about nowI am willing to grant that this might just not be a good fit for me. I would say give it a chance if you like [b:Tweet Cute 45045129 Tweet Cute Emma Lord https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558456354l/45045129.SY75.jpg 66924806], [b:Autoboyography 28919058 Autoboyography Christina Lauren https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490425916l/28919058.SY75.jpg 49135502], [b:A Very Large Expanse of Sea 38720939 A Very Large Expanse of Sea Tahereh Mafi https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558453377l/38720939.SY75.jpg 60301626], [b:I Wish You All the Best 41473872 I Wish You All the Best Mason Deaver https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1538483349l/41473872.SY75.jpg 61277384], or Jeff Bezos.