Simon vs. Simon!

Okay, so I have been away for a while and it wasn’t supposed to be for so long but ya know - life. However, after this weird and unplanned hiatus, my book/film nerd soul could not sit in the shadows anymore, it needs to spill out and just cover you guys in all it’s nerdiness - did that sound creepy? I think I managed to write it not-creepy, yeah? Yeah.

Of course as a return to Book Vs Film I need to talk about one of the biggest YA adaptations since….The Fault in Our Stars? Very much like the film I just mentioned, many of us are still crying for this new one - for happier reasons than TFIOS I think. That movie is of course; Love, Simon!

For those of you that don’t know Love, Simon is an adaptation of Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. The story is about Simon Spier, a teenage boy with friends, school work and one massive secret; he is gay. When someone who calls himself Blue, posts on the school blog site about how he is gay, everything changes for Simon; what soon starts is an email relationship between these boys who can both relate to and inspire one another. Then one day, Simon and Blue’s emails fall into the wrong hands and Simon is blackmailed with them - everything becomes way more complicated and Simon is put on the ropes between coming out, Blue and trying to figure out whether his whole world is turning upside down or the right way up.

When Simon vs. The Homosapiens Agenda was published; it took praise from the book community from pretty much day one and continues to find new loves now. What is great about this book, aside form the writing and fitting nicely within the genre, is that it raised the famous Simon question of ‘Why is straight be the default?’ and making the point of how ‘Straight people should have to come out too.’ It is a wondrous book of relatable teenag-ing as well as falling in love with anyone for the first time.

The film definitely had big shoes to fill and a crowd to please, but this is one of the rare instances where people were already calming down about it and letting their guard down before even seeing the film, purely because of the casting. You have 13 Reasons Why’sssss Katherine Langford and Miles Heizer in the roles of Leah and Cal. Logan Miller, who I myself am a fan of because of Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse - NO SHAME. He was also in the Netflix adaptation of Before I Fall. Then of course, we have Nick Robinson, who is no stranger to YA adaptations having roles in The 5th Wave and melting our hearts as Olly in Everything, Everything. I, like many people, agree with this casting 110% it is one of the only castings where the image in my head fits the physical almost to the exact outline. My point here is these guys gave the audience of readers a lot of faith.

Okay, so how did I actually feel about the film itself? Simplification - I loved it, but let me explain. I loved it, because it is a film that deserves to be loved, but in it’s own way. Like; cry melted sweets kind of love. Please note that I do not want to diminish any of the importance and great style away from the film; I feel like it is coming-of-age, YA royalty, just in a different castle to say Perks of Being A Wallflower. This is a film where you feel exactly how Simon feels and by the end you’re happy because Simon is. Although I had read the book before hand, it successfully made me react to the reveal of Blue like I had no idea; perhaps I was on the edge of my seat because at any moment a film can have it’s own new moment, so maybe it was a case of being like; ‘I know who Blue is, but do you movie cinema projection screen? Hmmm?!’ I cried. I did. I have seen the film twice. It was very sweet and nice and super good for rewatching.

The ONLY negative criticism I have for this movie is something very simple and it is this; during a scene where they are having lunch Bram points out he is having a Halloween party on FRIDAY, the word Friday is said many times as Garrett then runs around pointing at people saying there is a party on FRIDAY. In a later scene Simon says to Martin ‘Do you want to come to a party with me and my friends on SATURDAY’. SATURDAY. I do not know if this is one of the little things that slips past in editing of maybe there's a deleted scene that explains Bram has rescheduled, but I actually had a moment where I was thinking Simon was tricking Martin so he wouldn’t be there, but of course Simon wouldn’t do that, I thought to myself. And he didn’t. He said Saturday, because. I’m sorry I sound super picky, or pretentious or whatever, but when you notice it, you can’t unnotice it, so as thank you for reading this ramblicious piece, you’re now in this painful continuity hellfire with me. 😋

The book is super easy to read and there are a lot of heart pulling moments; you have the different structure of normal novel and the emails between Blue and Simon, which makes their conversations very quick and clear to read and I think it adds to the immediacy and the mystery of who Blue is. It’s a fresh perspective of not just homosexual teens but teens in general, if I had found this at 17 it would of definitely felt like finding a new friend to geek out with and eat ice cream with and cry and laugh at the same time with.

Becky is very well known for her work, I think she’s great at the genre and relationships she does and as lucky readers we are now also getting Leah on the Offbeat; a new book about Leah from the Simon universe (The dudes BFF to be exact) and her struggles as she is coming into her final year, thinking about college and discovering her own sexually. This comes out 4th May, so tomorrow! (At which point I write this ANNNND hopefully upload it!).

Now, for the bit that I hate doing, make a whole scene about and then have to come to terms with the fact I literally made a blog for the purpose of doing exactly this; Simon the book vs. Simon the film! Ding Ding! I would have to say, for me the film packed a bigger emotional punch, and I did read the book first. I really enjoyed the book and it made me smile, but once I was finished, it was sort of a BOOK ACCOMPLISHED moment, with the film I had to go and see it again. I think as fans of YA and Simon and Nick Robinson, there will be a lot of people hovering in the middle bit where the two circles join and that’s great. I think it’s a successful, sweet story that most people are going to find, even on their own, for many years to come.

          SIMON ON PAPER                                 SIMON ON SCREEN

😵😵😵

The rating is out of 5 dizzy faces! 😵

Images taken from:

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