[Livro] Openly Straight, de Bill Konigsberg

 Ler em Português      Read in English

Título em Português: --
Série: Openly Straight #1
Autor(a): Bill Konigsberg
Editora: Arthur A. Levine Books
Páginas: 320
Data de Publicação: 28 de Maio de 2013

Sinopse:

The award-winning novel about being out, being proud, and being ready for something else . . . now in paperback.

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.

And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.

So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate break down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben . . . who doesn't even know that love is possible.

This witty, smart, coming-out-again story will appeal to gay and straight kids alike as they watch Rafe navigate feeling different, fitting in, and what it means to be himself.

Opinião:
Definitivamente Young Adult (e todos os seus subgéneros) passou a ser o meu género literário favorito. Ninguém é demasiado velho para ler YA! Openly Straight estava na minha TBR há já algum tempo, tal como tantos outros do género – subordinados ao tema LGBT, e não só. O título era sugestivo e até mesmo a sinopse me parecia bastante apelativa. No entanto, não sei o que estava exactamente à espera de Openly Straight.

A escrita de Bill Konigsberg é fluída, simples (sem estupidificar o leitor) e adequada ao género deste livro. Rafe é um jovem openly gay que está farto de ser o rapaz gay da cidade. Por isso, decide ir estudar para longe de cada e não fazer referência à sua orientação sexual e ser um rapaz normal. Ele não volta para o armário e idealmente ele nunca iria negar ou confirmar que era gay, até que a certa altura tudo se confunde e, mesmo sem dizer nada, todos partem do princípio que Rafe é hétero e ele acaba por entrar na onda. O problema está quando se apaixona pelo melhor amigo.

Pronto, em termos de enredo não vou fazer mais nenhuma referência, e mesmo assim já revelei bastante. Eu consigo compreender a perspectiva de Rafe. Para as outras pessoas, ser gay passou a ser a característica mais importante de Rafe. Ele apenas queria ser tratado normalmente. Sim, era gay, mas era um jovem como qualquer outro, mas na cidade dele ele era sempre o “rapaz gay”, a quem iam sempre fazer perguntas “gay” – se é que me entendem. Só que Rafe entende que ele não pode por de parte algo que, de facto, o define. Ele é gay, como a melhor amiga dele era hétero, mas isso não implica que tenha que ser trato de forma diferente. Ser gay, hétero, bi ou ace (ou qualquer uma das variantes intermédias) é tão natural como ser loiro, moreno ou ter olhos azuis ou castanhos.

Concluindo, eu gostei imenso deste livro. É leve (apesar de tocar em algumas aspectos que poderiam ser mais complicados de lidar); é divertido; de certa forma, tem uma mensagem a passar; e está bem escrito. E decididamente irei ler o livro seguinte, porque gostei imenso de Ben e quero ler mais sobre ele.

Title: Openly Straight
Serie: Openly Straight #1
Author: Bill Konigsberg
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Pages: 320
Publication Date: May 28th 2013

Synopsis:

The award-winning novel about being out, being proud, and being ready for something else . . . now in paperback.

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.

And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.

So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate break down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben . . . who doesn't even know that love is possible.

This witty, smart, coming-out-again story will appeal to gay and straight kids alike as they watch Rafe navigate feeling different, fitting in, and what it means to be himself.

Review:
Definitely, Young Adult (and all its subgenre) is my favourite literary genre. No one is too old for YA! Openly Straight was on my TBR pile for a while, as so many others from the same genre – mainly LGBT themed, but not only. The title was suggestive, and even the synopsis were appealing; although, I don’t know what I was expecting from this book.

Bill Konigsberg’s writing is fluid, simple (without stupefying the reader), and adequate for this book. Rafe is an openly gay young man who is tired of being the town’s “the gay boy”. For that reason, he decided to go study far away from home without saying a thing about his sexual orientation, and be a normal boy. He doesn’t go back to the closet, and ideally he was not going to confirm or denied the fact he was gay, but everything gets confused, and, even without saying a word, everyone assumes he is straight. The problem is when he falls in love with his new best friend.

I’ll not write anything else about the plot, even though I already said a lot. I can understand why Rafe did what he did. For all those people, the fact of being gay is the major characteristic about him. He just wants to be treated like any other boy. Yes, he is gay, nonetheless just like any other boy, but for the town, he was always the “gay kid”, to whom they were always “gay questions” – if you know what I mean. But Rafe understands that he can put something so fundamental about him on hold. He is gay as much his best friend from childhood is straight, but that doesn’t mean to be treated in a different way. Being gay, straight, ace (and all the grey areas in between) is as normal as being blond or having blue or brown eyes.

To conclude, I liked this book a lot. It’s light (even touching some sensitive matters); it’s fun; and in a way has an interesting message; and it’s well written. I’ll definitely read the next book, because I liked Ben and I want to read more about him.