Here the Whole Time

by Vitor Martins

[lessthelonely]

So, since Scandal got in the mix and this week I started Season 4 just because - I'm going to episode 3 sometime soon, I hope, can't say -, I entered what people could call a reading slump. I've been a bit uncomfortable with doing anything at all, extremely bored, but at the same time, I wanted to do something that at least contributed to something nice. Obviously, watching a TV show counts because I'm not looking to do something that will change the course of human life, just something that made me feel less than depressed. Reading a book counts too.

Yesterday I tried three different books until I landed on this one - I'm not going to disclose the others. I'm going to try and finish the second one I tried because even though it didn't grab me like I wanted it to, it still wasn't bad and maybe I just need to give it another fair shot. Either way! Here The Whole Time is a Brasilian published book in the Queer lit genre, which, as someone whose mother language is (European) Portuguese, is a good thing because I got to read the book in Portuguese. I'm not going to be addressing the book by its Portuguese title, Quinze Dias, which just means 15 Days, though I would say that the English title, though it's something that sticks with you, I don't see it fitting the book itself. But then again, many YA English books sometimes go for the good-sounding title instead of the meaningful one.

This book is a light read. A very, very light read. We're talking Buzzfeed kind of light - there isn't a plot, just one simple premise. Felipe is a teenager in what I believe is either High School or Middle School (since the Brasilian term for the age range Felipe is in is Ensino Médio (Middle School), I'd say he's in the latter. In European Portuguese, Ensino Médio is probably Segundo ou Terceiro Ciclo (Second or Third Cycle). But education systems aside, Felipe's whole deal is that he's fat and he has very low self-esteem from ears being mistreated and bullied in school, which, fair enough!

The fat jokes are left and right in this book - very prevalent -, and used as comic relief. Though I felt uncomfortable with some of them, not because they weren't "good" (in the sense of badly written), more because it went into that area of self-deprecation where laughing at the joke isn't the point, it's the goal. They don't want you to laugh with them, just because of them. At their expense. So that was uncomfortable but I wouldn't say it's tactless at all, though, at first glance, I did think it was. Going a bit more into the book, I understood that this was the point, it was uncomfortable because it was supposed to be uncomfortable. You're lured in by the first few minor jokes but at some point, the exaggeration comes and you don't realize that it's not funny anymore, no, you realize it's never been funny.

On the other hand, this book is 100% devoid of plot. That's OK, I'd compare this to Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda because what makes this book is the feel-good intention and pop culture references. I remember reading Simon and loving it because it was the first-ever book that was unabashedly queer that I could get my hands on (the first one that was queer in any way was Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan - stay away from it). Simon had Oreos and other references - I believe Harry Potter was there somewhere -, this one has a bit of Twitter, Lord of The Rings, and a lot of gay culture that I, as a gay can recognize, but it doesn't make up for the fact that this book didn't have any real character development.

There were some moments I laughed, I'll give that to Mister Vitor Martins. Some banter between Felipe and his mom, Rita, was very good. The inclusion of a therapist was also amazing, but the sort of values this book tries to push are very much giving Disney Channel Original Movie. The turning point of Felipe is at a festa junina (the Brazilian equivalent of what in Portugal are called Santos Populares - these parties centered around Saints): two of his bullies decide to, well, bully him, and he stands up and tells them to fuck themselves. Literally, that's it. I don't know how the English translation put it, but in Portuguese it was Vão-se foder, and that means Fuck you. 

So it's very I used to not do anything because I'm not courageous but I said a swear word and stood up for myself and my problems disappeared. The book does make a point to show that the bullies will continue bullying Felipe in school, but it still frames this as a giant win. Here's the thing, though, this would be better if I was 12 and believed this shit. This book has a very clear target audience and that's OK, but I do still have a need to call this sort of how to deal with bullies technique problematic because I'm sure we all know that if some people want to ruin our day, they'll do it to the bitter end no matter what swearwords we throw at them. I do consider, however, this book to be harmless for kids more on the older side (15 and up, I'd say).

Outside of that, the romance - I'm usually not one to enjoy romances where the crush is settled from the very first page, but this one was OK. It understood the assignment that if you want to make a crush sell you're going to have to roll in a good dose of romantic pining. Felipe likes Caio and you begin to understand why, while at the same time understanding why he's so terrified of interacting with him, so those parts are fun.

On another hand, the Mom is probably the second-best part of this book after the little romance. She's a basic human mom with a little bit of personality. Perfect for this kind of book. If you want to try a bit of translated queer lit, this can be it!