"You Belong With Me" is a prime example of how a cute, sweet story can overcome the handicap of bad writing. Even with the fact that this story can only be described as YouTube fanfiction, I still enjoyed it.
What worked: I liked the main character Wes, and I enjoyed the interplay between him and his mother. The scene where his mom first meets Brad is one of the funniest scenes I've ever read. The romance between the jock and the fey boy was really endearing—not original, but still endearing.
More than the bullying storyline, what I really liked was the author getting into talk about effemiphobia and gender roles. I wish there had been more. It's really important to discuss effeminate gay men because the gay community at large acts so ashamed of its less-masculine brothers.
What didn't work: As I said, the writing was bad. A thorough editing job could have brought this story up to a 3.5 or maybe even a 4. The author kept contradicting himself from one page to the next; Wes knew nothing about baseball but then suddenly knew all the terminology, Wes had never interacted with Brad, but Brad said they were friends, Wes sucked at video games and then there was a game he was sure he could win at, etc.
As a bisexual guy, I was deeply disappointed that bisexuality was given the shaft in this story. Having Brad come out as gay, saying he had only been using the bi label as a cover, is a trope that we bis have thrown in our faces whenever people try to tell us we're just confused.
The author's obsession with sticking to the plot points of the two "You Belong With Me Videos" (the original and the gay one) was cute at first and then it started to drag the story down. A book is not a music video. The shortcuts and tools a video maker uses are different than the tools an author has. Erno should have abandoned the video script and used it as an homage, in this reviewer's opinion.
The book was a solid 3, edging towards 3.1 until the end when it went totally off the rails. The dialogue in the principal's office sounded so much like a badly-written PSA that I expected the characters to turn to the cameras and give the number for the Trevor Project.
This book also leaned a whole lot on telling rather than showing, and when I notice that, you know there's a problem.
And the epilogue was just utterly unnecessary.
Some people will argue that with the plague of bullying this country suffers from, it's important to have books that show how bad it is and challenge people to make the world better. For me, I think that the story must come first, if you're writing fiction. The characters need to stay in character and not suddenly be possessed by the personalities of TV spokespeople. I also think that makes the story more powerful.
So while I am rounding up and giving "You Belong With Me" 3 stars, it's really about a 2.7
What worked: I liked the main character Wes, and I enjoyed the interplay between him and his mother. The scene where his mom first meets Brad is one of the funniest scenes I've ever read. The romance between the jock and the fey boy was really endearing—not original, but still endearing.
More than the bullying storyline, what I really liked was the author getting into talk about effemiphobia and gender roles. I wish there had been more. It's really important to discuss effeminate gay men because the gay community at large acts so ashamed of its less-masculine brothers.
What didn't work: As I said, the writing was bad. A thorough editing job could have brought this story up to a 3.5 or maybe even a 4. The author kept contradicting himself from one page to the next; Wes knew nothing about baseball but then suddenly knew all the terminology, Wes had never interacted with Brad, but Brad said they were friends, Wes sucked at video games and then there was a game he was sure he could win at, etc.
As a bisexual guy, I was deeply disappointed that bisexuality was given the shaft in this story. Having Brad come out as gay, saying he had only been using the bi label as a cover, is a trope that we bis have thrown in our faces whenever people try to tell us we're just confused.
The author's obsession with sticking to the plot points of the two "You Belong With Me Videos" (the original and the gay one) was cute at first and then it started to drag the story down. A book is not a music video. The shortcuts and tools a video maker uses are different than the tools an author has. Erno should have abandoned the video script and used it as an homage, in this reviewer's opinion.
The book was a solid 3, edging towards 3.1 until the end when it went totally off the rails. The dialogue in the principal's office sounded so much like a badly-written PSA that I expected the characters to turn to the cameras and give the number for the Trevor Project.
This book also leaned a whole lot on telling rather than showing, and when I notice that, you know there's a problem.
And the epilogue was just utterly unnecessary.
Some people will argue that with the plague of bullying this country suffers from, it's important to have books that show how bad it is and challenge people to make the world better. For me, I think that the story must come first, if you're writing fiction. The characters need to stay in character and not suddenly be possessed by the personalities of TV spokespeople. I also think that makes the story more powerful.
So while I am rounding up and giving "You Belong With Me" 3 stars, it's really about a 2.7