Openly Straight

by Bill Konigsberg

[nannah]

DNF @28%

Content warnings:
consent issues and rape
homophobic slurs
(maybe more, but I didn't read on)

I really tried to like this and get into it. But I just Could Not Stand the gay protagonist, Rafe, who says he wants to shed all labels when he gets into this all-dude boarding school.

And then he proceeds to judge and label literally Everyone around him (especially the women...). --> "will this help my status because I hang with the 'dorks'"?; "he seems like THIS kind of person so I'll hang with him."; "she wears so much makeup, all that false eyelashes and caked-on foundation, she's so fake, a fake girl, etc."

He treats people terribly, including his best friend. There's just so much I could take before this book became unreadable.

And then I found out (from reviews here) that he emotionally manipulates the main love interest (?), and that there's some Very Nasty consent issues - including one where (rape warning) Rafe takes advantage of the love interest when he's drunk. And it's treated as romantic.

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. I'm not going to finish this.