Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – review

‘I finally discovered my contemporary kryptonite, and am happy to state that you don’t always need dragons or magic to make a book awesome’

I really don’t like contemporary novels. Just pointing it out there. This review is coming to you from the fingertips of a fantasy-loving girl, one who rarely ventures out of her vast selection of novels often containing kingdoms made to be mapped out and brooding guys with scary powers. It takes a wonder of a contemporary book to make me not think ‘where are the dragons?’, or ‘what am I reading? I’m bored’. I thought I would never find this book in my lifetime, but I finally discovered my contemporary kryptonite, and am happy to state that you don’t always need dragons or magic to make a book awesome. Becky Albertalli please come and accept your prize.

I’ve wanted to read this book ever since the cover was released, and finally relented a few weeks ago. The synopsis was unique and intriguing, and I was desperate to read something cute but substantial. Cuteness is good, but too much of it is not real, and isn’t contemporary supposed to be the most ‘real’ genre out there? The wonderful thing about Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda is that it’s quirky and endearing, but to the point where it still feels real. I’m going to be using the R word a lot in this review, but if I was to pick one word to describe the book on a whole, that would be the one.

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