The History of Us
Eighteen-year-old Bradley Collins came out a year ago and hasn't looked back since. Who cares if he doesn't know any other gay people? Bradley has friends and basketball -- that's all he needs. Even if that means always sitting on the sidelines when the guys go out looking for girls. When cute film-boy TJ tries to flirt with Bradley while his friends are doing their thing, he freaks. Yeah, he's gay, but he's never had the opportunity to go out with a boy before. He's never had to worry about how his friends will react to seeing him with a guy. Bradley accompanies TJ on a road trip to film TJ's senior project documentary. In each city they visit, they meet with people from different walks of life, and Bradley learns there's a whole lot more to being honest about himself than just coming out. He still has to figure out who he really is and learn to be okay with what he discovers.
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3.25 stars. I think if I were a teen reading this book I would find it very helpful and validating to discover along with Bradley that coming out as gay is only the first step in a process. As an adult it was a little slow and at times didactic, with characters literally quoting stats about the percent of homeless youth who are LGBTQ+ and the percent of trans people killed who are black women (not that the numbers aren't horrifying, it's just that they're presented in an awkward way). The interview subjects for TJ's documentary are mostly there to teach Bradley important Life Lessons about love and acceptance, which again could be impactful for a younger reader but not quite as engaging for me. The romance between Bradley and TJ is a sweet, slow burn as Bradley becomes more and more comfortable with his identity along their road trip, and the relationship between Bradley and his three basketball bros feels appropriate for a bunch of teenage boys. Nothing really wrong with the book, just didn't strike any sparks with me.
