This book has reduced me to a rambling wreck. The first thing I have to say is that I absolutely love it and I want you to go read it right now. This was soooo close to being a perfect read for me. It was 5 stars literally until the last few pages and I was so disappointed by how it ended that I had to knock half a star off just for that. Having said that, this is one of the most important and well-crafted books I have ever read and I literally think every teenager should at least try to read it, if not every person.
Let me backtrack a little. This is the story of two best friends, Coop and Jupiter. At the start of the book, Coop is crushing hard on Jupiter who is quite vocally and insistently a lesbian. They have a very intense and intimate friendship which confuses a lot of people. Then through Rae into the mix. She initially identifies as a straight girl but as she is welcomed into this intense friendship group, finds herself crushing on Coop and Jupiter. And they're both crushing on her.
The way this book handles the queer elements is beyond my highest expectations. At the start, I was worried Coop would be unlikable and problematic. Not the case at all thanks to fantastic writing and characterisation. Similarly, Jupiter does some pretty shocking things at various points but she remains so understandable and three-dimensional that I couldn't help but like her. This is honestly one of the best portrayals of queer teenage characters that I have found anywhere. I stress 'teenage' because they do act like teenagers and so their actions must be viewed through this lens. I can see some people detesting Jupiter and that might be fair enough, but for me she rang so true of the way a lot of queer teenagers might worry and think about things. Rae was just super likable and also raises some good points about how someone can be questioning and the guilt and complexities surrounding that. Her section rang particularly true to me as I have recently identified myself as demisexual and am experiencing attraction to women for the first time. I have many queer friends and for the longest time, I was afraid to say anything in case they thought I wasn't 'queer enough' or just jumping on the bandwagon.
The ending...I won't spoil it but I had a perfect ending in mind and alas, it didn't end that way. Normally I wouldn't mark a book down for that alone but because it did such a good job handing some complex queer questions and issues, I really wanted it to tackle one particular thing. HIGHLIGHT FOR SPOILERS The book seemed perfectly set up to have all three protagonists enter a polyamorous relationship with each other. Instead, Rae gets shafted and pushed to one side in my eyes. Things end positively but I don't understand why polyamory wasn't considered given that all three are attracted to each other and have such a strong bond. Polyamory isn't for everyone but it really was an ideal solution in this case and it's a missed opportunity in my eyes.
Despite this, I still very much love this book. Nic Stone is swiftly becoming one of my favourite authors and I love how she is able to cover something like this so intelligently and with so much life woven into the characters. I cannot recommend it more and I hope you will give it a try.
Overall Rating:
.5
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