The Miseducation of Cameron Post

my favorite book ever but the writing style is definitely not for everyone

IRKSOME writing style omfg.....the way she leads up to big events in the plot is deeply terrible

i've been excited to read this for years and it turned out to be the biggest disappointment.
The book could be a million times shorter, i don't need to read 3 whole pages about lightning lighting up the sky... like i get it.

Characters had no personality, book was way too slow paced and not enough stuff happened given how long the book was.

i skimmed some pages because they just ramble and ramble

you know when you're reading something so boring that your brain starts saying to you “blah blah blah blah blah blah blah” yeah.. the last quarter of this book was just that. Blah blah blah BLAH blAH blah blah blah.

the copy i own of this book has rainbow edges so that's cool i guess but not cool enough to raise it's star rating.

I enjoyed the leisurely pace of the first part of the book when Cameron was in her hometown. Danforth sets the location and people really well and takes the time to develop Cameron in depth through a series of events that lead into the second part. Some of the events added more to the story than others, but I didn't mind since they added details to the background.

Part two is Cameron at the conversion therapy camp and that is where the meat of the story starts. Plot comes more prominent and the central conflict is finally reached. Everything prior in the book, except her relationship with Coley, is almost completely forgotten about. The resolution of that relationship is heart-breaking(so great job there).

What I didn't like was that at the camp Cameron quickly falls into a very similar friendship dynamic with Jane and Adam that she had back in her hometown. I can understand that because people seek out familiar roles, but I'm struggling to see where Cameron changes much at all though her experience at the camp. She definitely gets disillusioned with the ‘wisdom of adults' who are messing with their sense of self without knowing what they are doing and are unaware of the consequences they are putting on the kids. But that is about it for resolutions in the novel except for the end scene. I was left wondering if given all the pressure did Cameron start to doubt her lesbianism? If she didn't, then that's fine but I would had liked to seen a definite defiance to their teachings instead of the ‘well I'll give it a try' attitude she adopts in the end but ultimately rejects. Cam has this low-key acceptance of her same sex attraction, which is great but I would think she would feel more internal conflict being raised in a culture where that is ostracized(and actively destroyed in the camp). I get that by the end of her stay at Promise that she has no doubts about her sexual attraction to women, unlike Erin who is still fighting it. I would had liked to see a journey of externally applied self doubt being overcome.

I'm also curious about Cam's view on religion in general since that seems like an important facet here. Does she believe any of the GOP(Gates of Praise) teachings or is it just a social thing that she is forced into? I suspect it is the latter, but it would be nice to have a more definitive statement on that. Christianity and homosexuality are not inherently incompatible, but such a union requires a rejection of the patriarchal values built into fundamentalism. It's understandable to not want to enter that rabbit hole.

The ending scene left me mystified as to the focus of the novel. Cameron reconciles her identity with the memory of her deceased parents finally allowing her to make peace with the fear she felt at their possible disappointment or rejection of her and the relief she felt at their death at having avoided that. If that was the the central internal conflict of Cameron's character, then that fear wasn't developed very much. The focus of the book was elsewhere.

Also the book ends with a bunch of loose ends. I assume everything works out for the Cameron, Jane and Adam but we are never told. I also wanted to know what happens with Ruth's health and does Cameron ever reconcile with her? I assume that Margot was coded as lesbian and it would had been nice to learn more about her friendship with Cameron's mom and did that factor into Ruth's fear for Cameron.

Overall, I enjoyed the book because of the author's ability to describe the flavor of locale and the people there. Cameron wasn't a favorite character of mine, but she was developed well. It felt like the conclusion of the book didn't get the same amount of effort as the first part.

Cameron Post thinks her life is good. But then her parents die. She thinks her life is getting better. But then she's found kissing another girl and sent to a conservative boarding school. And in there she finds friends again. She finds happiness. She finds herself.

CW/TR: Self-harm, attempted suicide, homophobia.

So like, I liked this book, really liked it, like a 4, 4.5 out of 5 (stars) – which sounds great, right? It's just the pacing was very slow – which made me drop it down to 3.5. Doesn't mean I didn't like it, I did. It was just a bit slow. It also doesn't mean it isn't worth 4 or 5 stars, it probably is. And I went back and forth, trying to figure out if I should rate it 4 stars, because I did like it, but did I enjoy reading it enough to give it 4 stars? No, I felt 3 stars while reading it.

But I'm not for slow books. I've known about this book for years but I didn't know much about it? I thought it was only about a girl in a small town (the original cover shows that) and then maybe she falls in love. I didn't expect a book like this. I liked that the story started when Cameron was young. I think it's so important to show that girls liking girls and boys liking boys and everything happens when they're young and we have to let kids know that it's okay to feel that way.

The formatting on this e-arc was off but it did make me change my kindle font to all bold – I think it's sort of easier on my eyes? Or it's just nice to look at? Well, I tried using the nicer fonts, but it got difficult to look at. This wasn't the reason why I marked it 3 stars, if you wanted to know. Just annoyed that the fonts were like this.

I loved Cameron from the start. I remember I liked Adam when we met him but Jane took a while to like. I think that's because she did put up a wall and Cameron and the reader had to learn to trust her. But then I started to love Jane!! But those adults (at the camp and Ruth) ????!!! ANNOYED ME ENDLESSLY LIKE JUST THROW THEM ALL INTO THE ABYSS WHERE THEY BELONG. Like how do you profess being a good person and wanting to look after teenagers (who really really need that because they're in that spot where they do start to question themselves AND IF you're an ass who decides to make them start hating themselves, guess what they're gonna do!!

Also, you should watch the movie because it's excellent!!

Loved this nuanced portrayal of life as a queer teen in a small, conservative town. I loved Cameron's strength in the face of huge amounts of bullshit.

I read reviews that said this feels more like an adult novel with a teen protag than a YA novel, and that could be true. Teen appeal might be limited to pretentious young lesbians? Which is a fine and noble audience. That said, as a straight adult, I definitely dug it.

This book has received a lot of critical acclaim, and while I certainly found it a good read, I don't quite see this as a modern Catcher in the Rye. I think the praise comes from the subject, a gay Montana teen sent to a homosexuality reform program, and the fact that it's well-written. All this rambling boils down to this: a good novel, great characters, but it didn't live up to the hype.