Leave Myself Behind in Queereaders

Nov 20, 2018 Thomas rated it liked it

Shelves: realistic-fiction, young-adult, lgbtq, romance

First published in 2004, Leave Myself Behind may have appealed to me if I had grown up in a time with fewer queer books. It features a mostly functional gay relationship that I imagine in 2004 would have been groundbreaking in a lot of ways. So, I want to honor how this book’s representation of gay teenagers may have very well helped many gay teens upon its initial publication over a decade ago, when things for queer youth were even worse than they are now. I also appreciated the consistent them First published in 2004, Leave Myself Behind may have appealed to me if I had grown up in a time with fewer queer books. It features a mostly functional gay relationship that I imagine in 2004 would have been groundbreaking in a lot of ways. So, I want to honor how this book’s representation of gay teenagers may have very well helped many gay teens upon its initial publication over a decade ago, when things for queer youth were even worse than they are now. I also appreciated the consistent theme of how our parents affect us, as well as how our parents are affected by events that can so often escape our awareness.

I feel like Leave Myself Behind took on a few too many topics though. There’s the recognition of gayness within the two male love interests, their coming out, an assault motivated by homophobia, our main character’s father recently died, our main character’s mother is obsessed with tearing down the house she and her son live in, our main character’s boyfriend’s mother has a bunch of drama going on, and more. I felt that instead of addressing a few of these topics in-depth, Bart Yates touched on each of them to keep the plot moving instead of providing more thorough exploration of these events and their emotional impact. The many different forces at play in this novel gave it the potential for lots of poignant nuance, yet the overload of topics itself prevented the book from reaching that full potential.

I also really did not like Noah, our main character. Yes, I support unlikable main characters, though I tend to support unlikable main characters when their unlikability is rooted in how we may unfairly judge them for traits that activate our stereotypes (e.g., an outspoken female character who is perceived as cold or annoying). However, with Noah, I sensed that he lacked much depth. Walking away from the book, I felt like I did not know much about him, other than that he likes art and occasionally makes fatphobic and sexist comments. Perhaps providing more internal reflection on his part that focused on his emotional reactions to all the events going on around him would have deepened his character. While he had some interesting philosophical musings, they sometimes would veer into problematic territories (e.g., when he thinks that the potential drawbacks of consensual sex are roughly equivalent to the potential drawbacks of sexual assault).

Overall, an okay book if you want a more retro queer YA read. However, I would much rather recommend Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe , The Miseducation of Cameron Post , More Happy Than Not , or What They Always Tell Us . Still searching for my next fab queer YA read! ...more

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Aug 23, 2017 Brian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Part drama, part mystery, part LGBT fiction, Leave Myself Behind is one of those books that really wants to be read in one day. As a reader, though, I wanted to savor it a bit longer, so I paced myself enough to take a couple more days to enjoy it.

And while Noah York, the main character and narrator of the novel, is brash, disrespectful, and incredibly snarky, I found myself liking him a lot and enjoying his commentary.

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May 18, 2008 Amy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, lgbtq, 2008

If I thought his other book was excellent, this one was amazing! And it was his first book.

First person POV, and the narrator is just sarcastic enough to keep things interesting between the interesting parts. And it was a fast read.

The plot was very interesting, and there was always something going on, from problems with Noah's Mom, or the new guy down the street.

Warnings: Homophobia, past rape, past dead baby (mentioned because sometimes it is a bad trigger)

Better review coming up on my LJ in a ...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Djrmel rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, contemporary, lgbt

Noah, the 17 year old boy that is the protagonist of this story, is sometimes funny, sometimes cruel, sometimes selfish, sometimes romantic, sometimes wise far beyond his years. It's that last trait that frequently took me out of what is otherwise a great story of secrets of the past and secrets of the present coming together, ripping apart one family and making another one stronger. ...more

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Jul 01, 2008 Dolphe rated it really liked it

Shelves: alternative

The exquisite narration by the main character is what truly sells this coming-of-age tale of poetry, love and drama. Some of the drama may honestly seem to be a bit over the top, but I'm far old enough to know that is often the nature of human drama. I've read of comparisons to "Catcher in the Rye" -- perhaps that's valid, but there are equal parts "Romeo and Juliet" (if Juliet were a dude) and even some "Twilight Zone" craftfully weaved throughout. It's a fine piece of writing which I've enjoye ...more

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