Monday, June 1, 2009

My Invented Life

Lauren Bjorkman, October 2009. "I wish my coming out had been real so I could write about it online!" exclaims high school junior Roz after reading some stories about the newly uncloseted. Roz has a lot going on: her sister Eva, who used to be her best friend, is ignoring her....and she thinks Eva might be gay. Eva does have a boyfriend, Bryan, but he keeps flirting with Roz. Roz, in turn, flirts with Jonathan, who turns out to be actually gay. Then there's Carmen, bitchy genius and surprisingly good theatrical director, and Nico, whom no one can quite figure out. Eyeliner Andie, who describes herself as "no-sexual," rounds out the ensemble of teens putting on a production of As You Like It. The book tells the story of their complicated-to-the-point-of-farcical love lives as Roz pretends to be gay in order to find out if Eva is, and then has to figure out how to get a boyfriend despite pretending to like girls, and then has to deal with the possibility that she does indeed like girls. This is complicated by her role as Rosalind in the school play, for which she has to dress as a woman dressing like a man. Roz is not only the narrator, but the stereotypical fool who is the last one to figure out what's going on. She's always wailing, "But I don't understand!" as the other characters roll their eyes knowingly. This use of the protagonist serves both as an effective plot device and a smart parody of same.

Imagine if Paula Danziger had written a Basic Eight/Twelfth Night fanfic with help from the writers of Three's Company; that will give you an idea of the red herrings, misunderstandings, gender-bending, secret-keeping, and unreliable narration that make this book the intriguing chaos that it is. My favorite gay YA read of the year. Highly recommended.

5 comments:

Becky said...

So you know you want to let me borrow your ARC... C'mon! I can't possibly wait until September.

Daisy Porter said...

Of course, if you can deal with my marginialia.

Becky said...

Yay! Dinner Friday? Or you could route it to me, I guess.

Angie Manfredi said...

Hi Daisy! Love the blog, of course. And this book sounds intriguing, especially the set up within the world of Shakespeare's cross-dressing. However, I have to admit all the "pretending to be gay" and "wish my coming out had been real, it sounds so fun!" stuff kinda makes my skin crawl. I dunno, I suppose I am particularly sensitive of this? I guess it also deals with my much lower appreciation for "gaytopia" books (as you know!) BUT I will reserve judgment until I get my actual hands on this, as I trust your opinion.

How are you?! I hope we will run into each other again soon: are you thinking of applying for the 2010 YA Lit symposium? :)

Daisy Porter said...

Hey, Angie! I hear you about the "pretending to be gay" thing. But I think this book really does rise above the "bisexuality is k00l bc my boyfriend thinks it's hott" mentality. The gender/sexuality play works, and it also says something pretty cool that pretending to be gay was a move that didn't doom Roz forever at school. But that gets into the gaytopia thing, which I know is less your scene than mine. I'll be curious to know what you think - do all the twists work, or don't they?

I am thinking of applying to present at the next symposium, and hope to attend either way...