As You Walk On By

“You can have both, Theo. No one's gonna question your loyalty. Friendships shouldn't have limitations. The only rule is don't be a dick to people you care about.” - Darren, Ch. 20, pg 269

It was a cute kinda quick read.

I'm surprised at the social commentary that this book had from being black queer boy to pressure and expectations from adults pushing their dreams on you.

I really like the group he meets and the inclusion of a non binary character.

Problems I can say I had with the book was the exposition. There was a lot of it. A person would mention someone if or something and there would be paragraph of the whole history with that thing. I think it slows down over the course of the book and in the beginning it's very noticeable. The other one was phones. I don't know if this is the impression of teenagers these days but every time something happens someone right there recording it with their phone. Like no lie, every single time. It's bothers me a bit even with some truth to it.

So this book's not my favorite or anything but I didn't hate it. It had lots of queer & diverse characters and good social commentary, even it doesn't really go deep, deep into these things. It was a cute read that kept me entertained and managed to finish reading in a few days.