visibility | The three main adults in the novel, including the protagonist, are either gay or queer. Gender is mildly played with as for example one of the girl characters has a beard.
reader health | List of elements the author discusses well: body image, fat positivity, trauma responses, child abuse, systemic isms, ignorance and prejudice, adolescent masturbation, social change.
education | It has a well known moral about “not judging books by covers”.
characters | To say the kids in this book were lovable would be putting it almost offensively and not just lightly. They are bright beautiful little stars and do a great job of warming our hearts. I loved everyone single primary character.
writing style, plot, & entertainment/pleasure | I struggled very much with getting into it, for about the first 3 chapters, because there wasn’t a sense of where the story was taking us. This changed, thank goodness, in chapter 4. The narrative voice is mildly sarcastic, akin to comedy like The Hitchhiker’s Guide, which is a parody-adjacent voice I very much enjoy. After chapter 4, I was completely pulled in and could not put it down. It is truly worth the hype and I’m glad I listened to everyone who recommended it to me.
etc. | I rated it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐; add to tbr?
wish fulfillment 