Bill KonigsbergReseñas

Summary
Two teens, Tilly and Aaron, with 4 possible outcomes: He jumps, she jumps, they both jump, neither jumps. What would the world be like with choices? What choice do you make? This book is written in 4 perspectives and show what the the outcome would be with each of their decisions.

Reflection
The way that Konigsberg allows the reader to reflect in each situation is quite powerful. As the reader you are able to see how the world would change with one decision. The story really shows the realities for the people left behind. How although as the person you are making a decision for your needs and mental health, it is important to reflect on the impact of the ones left behind. How one choice can effect so many people. This book definitely is a conversation starter. I absolutely loved it. I have recommended it to friends since reading it. It would definitely be a high school book.

Loved this. Such excellent character building--while both main characters had friends that were at times two dimensional and mirrored each other too much, our heroes were absolutely delightful in their differences and quirks. Handled some tough topics in a really sensitive but readable way, which was very well done, and demonstrated some varied family dynamics. Definitely putting my ears out for Konigsberg's next books.

This is a powerful book about a world of what if‘s. What if one does some thing and the other doesn’t. What happens when you do do some thing, how does it affect others. It was an interesting writing style, told first from the boys point of view, then the girl‘s point of view. Then it switches to the family‘s point of view, and Then back to the original POVs. This is definitely a book that any teenager who is contemplating suicide should read, along with friends and families that may be those who are left behind when a loved one commits suicide. The many different perspectives of what happens if someone follows through or if they choose not to follow through with suicide comes across the page. Very strong writing, one that I’ll definitely recommend.

I'm very impressed with this story, though I'm well outside the demographic for it, being neither young nor gay. We are all human, with human triumphs and mistakes, and we're surrounded by other humans whose mistakes can affect us in life-changing ways. For these two boys, it is a summer of growth, and for readers, the joy is in how they handle what happens.

It's a really GOOD story, no matter your age, sexual orientation, race, or gender. If you have empathy, you'll enjoy it. My library had it in ebook, yours probably does, too!

Thoughts on the book at http://zebookdiaries.blogspot.fi/2014/08/openly-straight-bill-konigsberg.html

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audio teen fiction (9+ hours) - #2 in series, but works as a standalone, also works as a Heartstopper readalike

Introverted baseball captain (and scholarship student) Ben Carver at an all-boys' prep school doesn't think he's gay (which his stern, disapproving dad would definitely not support), but he does still have strong feelings for his best friend Rafe (who is gay and makes no secret about harboring romantic feelings for Ben). Ben is also really attracted to Hannah, and finds himself trying to choose between his best friend and his girlfriend. Side plots include cheating on tests, dealing with misogynist/homophobic locker room talk, a friend coming out as gender-fluid.

Excellent narration with lots of funny parts (the pranks! I'm glad I don't go to an all-boys' school, but these kids are hilarious), an enjoyable book with a queer/questioning romance (including incidentally genderfluid and asexual supporting characters). This book was longer and more complicated than you might expect of a teen queer romance, but I appreciated and enjoyed how the author took the time to let the various storylines develop and resolve themselves, and also gave Ben's feelings (about not believing himself to be gay or bisexual despite being in love with Rafe) a chance to be heard -- everyone's coming out story is different and it was nice to see his be more complicated than you usually see in a teen novel (he will likely join a PFLAG or GSA when he returns to school after the break and hopefully he'll find a label that suits his feelings better).

FROM SYNC: Dan Bittner’s narration develops the unique personality of 17-year-old Ben, a secondary character in Konigsberg’s earlier book OPENLY STRAIGHT. At the end of that story, Ben has pushed away Rafe, his best friend with whom he had a brief lover relationship. In this follow-up, Bittner quickly reveals Ben’s intelligence and introspection. His delivery continually contrasts Ben’s sensitivity with the insensitivity of others—his gruff and domineering father, his macho baseball teammates, and his elite classmates at the boarding school to which he’s earned a scholarship. In a complex portrait, Bittner captures Ben’s confused central conflict—is he gay, or straight, or is he only “gay-for-Rafe”?

FROM AMAZON: In this companion to Openly Straight, Ben confronts pressure at school, repression at home, and his passion for two very different people in figuring out what it takes to be Honestly Ben.

Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.

Except...there's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else...and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.

Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green, Honestly Ben is a smart, laugh-out-loud novel that will speak to anyone who's struggled to be "honestly ____" in some part of their lives.

This is a different take on the narrative of a gay teenager who goes away from home to a Private Boys Boarding School. Rafe, a high school junior from Boulder, Colorado, has been out and proud since he was in the eighth grade as the novel relates his journey. He's fortunate in that he comes from a loving family and lives in an accepting town, so he's never had to deal with slurs or bullying because of his sexuality. However, he's recently begun to believe that many around him just view him as just a gay person, rather than as a unique individual with many other facets to his character. As a result, when he transfers from a public high school in Boulder to a private boarding school in Massachusetts — an all-boys school, no less – he decides to keep his sexuality hidden from his new peers.

Rafe's plan, predictably, does not turn out as he had hoped. While he realizes that separating himself from his gay identity opens up a new social world for him, he also discovers that repressing such a vital part of himself comes at a cost. In the end, he'll have to navigate the turbulent waters of honesty, truth, desire, and self-awareness – a journey made more difficult by his growing attraction to Ben, one of his classmates.

The characters are lively and current, offering realistic depictions of adolescent relationships, a few truly romantic moments, serious consideration of adolescent issues, and a healthy dose of humor. A unique aspect of the story that I found fascinating was the interaction between Rafe and his writing teacher presented through writing exercises interpolated throughout the narrative. These provided additional details about Rafe's background and his personality; however the highlight of the novel was the reversal by the main character of his role as an out gay and the repercussions for both himself and others that result from his actions. That this was handled in a believable way was what I found to be the best aspect of what might have been just an average story.

Openly Straight, with its convoluted narrative and a complicated finish, is a gripping and profoundly truthful work that you won't want to put down. This is the kind of well-written book that spoils me as a reader. I have less patience with books that do not meet the standard set by this one with its engaging story about coming of age as a gay boy.

Not one of the better books I've read this year. Definitely thought Rafe was a brat and an ungrateful one at that, as his mother, a little too gently, points out. It's not that I don't get what he was trying to do; who wouldn't like to live a different life, try on a different pair of shoes, a different suit of clothes for a while? Yet, by the same token, by doing these things Rafe suppresses a real part of himself and ends up hurting someone (actually several people) he really cares about in the process.

And what is with the notion of "label free"? Why is it such a big deal these days? Everyone has more than one label and those shift and change as you grow up. "Living label free" is a joke that maybe should be pushed out of the common parlance. Get over it and move on, this topic lost its interesting aspects soon after it appeared.

Mr. Scarborough and his quote should have been deep-sixed in the editing process, along with the journal entries, which did little to add to the otherwise overlong story. By the end, I was tempted to start skimming - something not really easy to do when listening to an audio book.

Another thing that kind of slid under the radar, since Rafe hears and reports it, but doesn't react to it: at the end, when he comes out to Stephen (a fellow soccer teammate) about being gay and Stephen makes this weird remark about making different showering arrangements. My reaction was WTF? Rafe's? Nada, zip, zero. Really Rafe? Underreact much?

RE: drinking. Rafe, at one point, says he doesn't like alcohol and doesn't really drink that much, if ever, yet here he quaffs it like water (especially the vodka - mixed with Gatorade. Bleh). He also mentions that his parents tried to normalize alcohol at the holidays to keep him from drinking too much - didn't work very well here, now did it? And the school should be ashamed of itself for letting these kids (because it seemed everyone had access even though they were way underage) get away with all the drinking.

This is a wonderful book, rich in feeling and understanding and strong in developing empathy and compassion for the book’s characters and the struggles they face.
Konigsberg makes readers feel the pain, frustration, angst, desperation and love that main character Rafe feels and struggles to express.
Konigsberg understands that in today’s world, the small minded judgment and condemnation of homosexuality that characterized past decades has mercifully led to a new era of compassion and acceptance. He also knows, however, that quick and easy sweeping labels can be applied to people totally obliterating all of the other characteristics of the actual person.
As it would be in real life, so it is for the book’s main character, Rafe. Because he has come out as gay, he is treated differently, perceived differently and in many ways restricted from the fullness of his capacity to just be himself. Yet when he tries to hide the label, to escape its limitations, the result is disaster, as living a lie almost always is.
I have been reluctant to read either YA or LGBT books in the past and I believe I am all the poorer for that reluctance. A couple of years ago, I read a noted author who claimed that much of today’s best writing is Young Adult fiction. The snob in me shrugged and went on NOT reading YA books until I happened to read one thatI did not know was YA until I had read it. And then, another. Both lacked some of the depth I would have found in writing targeting more mature readers, yet both were quite wonderful in other ways. In fact, both did a far better job of character development than I often experienced in other books.
After making this discovery, I happened across James Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room”: tremendous in its character development, marvelous in its capacity to build empathy and sympathy from readers and wonderful in its overall portrayal of the pain and desperation of socially unapproved love. It is still among the top 10 or 15 books I have ever read. Of course, it deals with the whole realm of what being gay must be.
I later read “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” a YA book dealing with the same issue Baldwin’s novel had confronted.
After those experiences, I was hooked on YA books and far more open and even interested in reading LGBT focused materials. It is amazing what an open mind can do to improve your life.
Read this book. It’s worth it!

This was a good book While it follows the book Openly Straight, it can stand on its own, but would not be as strong as it is when seen as follow up to Openly Straight.
One of the things I find often occurring in books, movies and other portrayals of children or teenagers is that the author frequently assigns them perceptions, judgments, levels of insight and wisdom that are far beyond the ages of the characters involved. Twelve years olds, for example, simply do not and cannot sound like Freud or Aristotle. Sometimes that stretch is the characterizations of young people is so extreme as to entirely ruin the book.
In these two Konigsberg books, and especially in Honestly Ben’s last chapters, this flaw, to some extent, also occurs, but not so badly as to detract from the plot or credibility of the story. Konigsberg had a story to tell and these works do that really well.
Adolescence is a time of great confusion, insecurity and anxiety for young people: no longer children but not yet adult with bodies that really are capable of new and bewildering adult things. All of that is captured here. But in these books, Rafe and Ben have to confront the additional puzzle of having feelings for others of their same gender. Rafe has accepted those feelings, but Ben still struggles with them even as Honestly Ben comes to an end.
Konigsberg understood this. He understood the terror of leaving the familiar, of abandoning expectations and beliefs about yourself and your orientation and then accepting the new realities. Rafe accepts and even embraces these realities,but acceptance still terrorizes Ben.
How hard is this acceptance of sexuality?
Many gay people, men and women, enter into heterosexual marriages and long term relationships, even have children, while still unable to see who they really are. Like me, probably most people know someone who is in that situation, someone who is wounded and scarred by being abandoned by someone else who came to the truth about themselves too late.
These are good books. They help readers, both gay and straight, see the pain of the struggle that some people wrestle with much more devastatingly than others.
Some people think to that the only books that are really worthwhile, that really teach you things are the self-help and non-fiction books, and others think true insight is only found in fiction targeting adult readers. Books like HonestlyBen demonstrate clearly that well crafted YA books have much to teach readers of any age.

If I had been reading this for the love story, I would've been highly satisfied, even given the way it ends. But I wasn't really reading this for the love story: I was reading it for Rafe's journey of identity. And that didn't quite...arrive.

Throughout the book, Rafe's writing teacher keeps urging him to stop performing in his writing, to treat the writing as a conversation and an exploration, not a monologue. And that's kind of how I felt about Rafe's story by the end of the book. He has a nice, tidy realization about what seems to be a very complex issue. And while I know that Rafe might truly feel it's a nice, tidy issue, I was hoping for more.

More perspectives, more struggle, more depth. More conversations, more compassion, more common ground. I'm doubtless looking in the wrong place; this is a YA novel, after all. But fiction has such power when it comes to exploring others' points of view, and I was hoping this book would offer an opportunity to see loneliness and defining oneself from an angle I hadn't explored before.

I wanted to recognize my own journey to self and self-confidence in Rafe's, but I couldn't. And that wasn't because he's gay and I'm not; it's because mine still continues today, and Rafe already appears to have his sorted out. And the fact that he seems completely unaware of all the labels he sticks on other people, pre-determined as Good and Bad irrespective of the individual (e.g., only nuns in Boulder could be so accepting of gay people), just left me feeling even more alienated from his experience.

The humility and honesty and uncertainty with which Rafe's love story concludes is much more what I'd hoped to find in his journey of identity.

Loved this sequel to "Openly Straight" even more than the first book. Ben is such an interesting character, and it was so great to get a novel from his perspective where his family relationships could be explored. As much as I loved Rafe and the original drama between the two of them, the developments here were even more interesting to read as now things have been taken to a whole new level and Ben has to decide what it is he really wants.

This sequel raised some great questions about language and privilege and how things we say and take for granted that we may not be aware of can be hurtful. My favorite parts were of course all the Rafe/Ben, but I also loved the parts with Toby and co.

Really loved this author's voice and storytelling style. Rafe has been out of the closet and comfortable with his sexuality for years, but is sick of being "the gay kid" at school, so he goes to boarding school across the country and neglects to mention that one part of who he is. Then he meets Ben, who turns into an amazing friend and maybe something more?

I loved the way this examined all sorts of friendships, the relationships you can have with your parents (for good and bad) and the different experience coming out and coming to terms with who you really are is for each individual. I really loved watching Rafe experiencing that firsthand from the perspective of someone who grew up completely comfortable and safe in the knowledge he was loved and would be accepted, and is now thrust into an environment that isn't quite as rosy. An awesome read and now I'm on to the next! 5/5 stars.

Konigsberg best work yet. Albeit a little predictable it tackles some pretty heavy issues (rape, bipolarism, xenophobia and homophobia even when everyone around you is supposedly "woke") in a serious, un-sugarcoated, gray resolutions way most YA hasn't done. Even the "falling in love" wasn't hokey, but rather a "fall in like" first and gravitation to those we subconsciously know will heal us.

Carson and his mom live in New York City, but they have returned to Billings, Montana for the summer. Carson’s dad, an alcoholic who chose alcohol over his family, is dying. Carson’s mom feels an obligation to help care for him, and she wants Carson to have a relationship with his estranged dad.
Aisha is the most beautiful girl Carson has ever seen. Soon after meeting Carson, she confides in him that her father, a pastor, kicked her out of the house when he discovered she was a lesbian. Aisha has been living in a secluded area of the zoo. Carson invites Aisha back to his dad’s house so that she has a safe place to stay.

When Carson comes across some letters that hint that his grandfather, who left many years ago, may still be alive, Carson wants to find him. Soon Carson and Aisha head out on a road trip to find Carson’s grandfather. Along the way they discuss religion and if there even is a God. The two of them tackle the reality of being “walking wounded” and attempt to help each other through the pain and challenges they have both been facing. What Carson discovers will change the lives of all those he loves.
The conversations about religion echo many conversations that I have had with others about religion. Is there a God? Why are Christians so awful to others? What is the purpose of religion? The conversations and experiences that Carson and Aisha have on their road trip add to their questions. There might also be some answers. Their ideas and thoughts about religion do change. This is an excellent book about pain, healing, God, identity, friendship, and family.

Listen to an interview with the author. https://azpbs.org/books/2015/07/the-porcupine-of-truth-by-bill-konigsberg/

Two teens. The George Washington Bridge, Four stories, four possible outcomes.

Story A: She, Tillie, jumps. He, Aaron does not.
Story B: He jumps. She does not.
Story C: Both jump.
Story D: Neither jumps.

It's quite a good way to talk about the problem of teen suicide by working through the outcomes. Some reviewers have said it might trigger vulnerable teens who read it. I think not, if they read it. In all of the stories, it shows a world that is not better off without them, that their passing did affect both those who loved them and those who didn't even know them personally.

The only criticism I have is of Story C. We see the immediate aftermath of the double suicide on the immediate families. But then Konigsberg goes on to show the effect on people who never knew the teens, and that's where I feel it was less effective. Maybe he is talking about himself, the author who never got to write the YA novel about suicide. OK. That part just had me scratching my head.

I like that he placed Story D, where neither jumps, at the end, because that is by the far the best way to end the book. Nothing is perfect, but there is hope.

P.S. The song lyrics and diary entries are illegible in the print version. Was that intentional?

Everyone in Rafe’s life is comfortable with his homosexuality, almost too comfortable. When he arrives at boarding school and establishes a new identity, he must grapple with the unintended consequences of hiding a major piece of himself.

Drawing from his own experiences with depression and attempted suicide, Konigsberg writes the story of two NYC teens, who cross paths on the George Washington Bridge where each intends to commit suicide. Aaron is a scholarship student at the Fieldston School and Tilllie is a wealthy student at the Spence School. Each has a number of problems, with parents and a lack of friends, leading to this momentous moment. There are four separate stories: one where Tillie jumps, one where Aaron jumps, one where they both jump, and one where neither jumps. Personally, I liked the versions in which Aaron survives better. The issues, with which both teenagers have to deal: rejection, bullying, sexual identities, self image are very real and adeptly handled by Konigsberg. Aaron is more of a loner, and finds that people think more of him than he does of himself. Tillie has more emotional baggage, but a poor self image aggravated by being dumped by a boyfriend. Konigsberg deals with psychology, medication, therapy and other tools in the battle to save lives. Read his afterword and resources for depression/suicide prevention. Special mention to Scholastic for publishing this book. 4.5 stars.

diverse teen fiction for mature teens (Mexican-American athletic boy meets light-skinned poet boy; they run a food truck together; Max deals with trauma from date rape and eventually opens up to his friends to talk seriously; Jordan's mother might be manic-depressive with a gambling addiction).

there's so much happening in this story between the two gay teens, but the characters tackle their multiple issues realistically and come through the other side, more or less.

Konigsberg has given us a story that includes all the elements of an intricate time travel story, including diverging timelines, without a time machine in sight. In a way, depression is a time machine. It holds us down in a single moment and forces us to live within that moment; it expands in one’s mind and fills every aspect of your being until you are forced to expel it from your body in one way or another. For those with suicidal ideation, that moment can be your last, and the act is the way that the moment leaves your body. Konigsberg’s The Bridge, focuses this moment on a particular place, the George Washington Bridge in New York City, making it real and tangible for the reader. This book expands and illuminates all the facets and faces in which depression expresses itself in the mind, the highs and lows, the effects on both the sufferer and their loved ones. A diverse and human cast of characters is introduced backwards, firstly by their effect on the world around them before we are introduced to the person themself. It is a profound and new way to tell a particularly important story. For those who suffer from depression, you can commiserate with Tillie and Aaron. For those that do not, this is a peek into the lives of those who do. Konigsberg has written a coming of age story that will resonate with young people for generations in a common struggle against an invisible enemy. If you have ever felt lost and alone, this book is for you.

This book made me ugly cry at 1am

A free book from the summer program. This one is LGBTQ book and it includes swearing and some sexual content. It is a romance and a coming of age story. I don't like romance and wasn't too excited about this one either.½

Rafe is a normal teenager from Boulder, Colorado. He plays soccer. He's won skiing prizes. He likes to write.

And, oh yeah, he's gay. He's been out since 8th grade, and he isn't teased, and he goes to other high schools and talks about tolerance and stuff. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to just be a regular guy. Not that GAY guy. To have it be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time.

So when he transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret -- not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down. He meets a teacher who challenges him to write his story. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben... who doesn't even know that love is possible.½