Autoboyography--"Oh honey, this will not end well"

Title: Autoboyography

Author:  Christina Lauren

What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Tanner is bisexual, and he was out and proud when he lived in California, but now that he and his family have moved to Utah, Tanner is back in the closet.  When Tanner joins a writing seminar class at school, he and the cute TA, Sebastian, fall for each other. But Sebastian is a strict Mormon whose whole life revolves around church and family, and if he admits he is gay, he will lose everything.


What I think (in 250 words or fewer): Autoboyography was kind of a tough book for me to read.  I enjoyed the story but reading it gave me a nervous stomachache.  All I wanted to do is sympathetically say to Tanner Oh honey, this will not end well.  Sebastian is going to break your heart.  Tanner's parents agreed with me and also warned him.

For the writing seminar, each student has to write a book, and Sebastian, who took the class the year before, is working as a TA because his book is getting published.  Tanner begins writing the story of Sebastian and him, but I didn't even realize this was a book-within-a-book until the point-of-view abruptly changes near the end of the book, which really annoyed me--I dislike sudden POV changes.

Sebastian's struggle made me feel very sad, and I was scared that he was going to become one of the Mormon Lost Boys (even though he didn't belong to a fundamentalist group).  Tanner does a monumentally stupid thing while he is upset about Sebastian, but he owns up to it and apologizes, which is a lot more than many seventeen-year-old boys would do.

The book's ending is slightly unrealistic, but I don't care because it makes my stomach hurt less.

This is an excellent book, but religious struggle stories make me feel so sad, but also angry:  angry that these types of stories STILL happen in real life. Religions should be loving and accepting FULL STOP.  Love is love.


This book is on the 2018 Rainbow Book List.


My final takeaway (75 words or fewer):  Autoboyography is very good and definitely worth reading, but as I said earlier, it gave me a nervous stomachache because I felt so bad for Sebastian. 

Dear Christina Lauren: write a sequel from Sebastian's POV please and make everything all good for him.


My favorite quotes:

• "'I went to a movie by myself and ate an entire box of Red Vines.' He leans in, his eyes full of that teasing shine.  'I had a Coke'" (e-book, ch. 6).
    
• "The smiles look real, too.  My family is as happy as they come, but during our most recent photo session, my mom threatened Hailey with a closet full of colorful sundresses from the Gap if she didn't stop sulking" (ch. 8).
     
• "'I want to be kind, and generous, and Christlike.'
  'But what does that have to do with my question?  You're already that person.  You're also good, and thoughtful, and loyal.  All those qualities that make you the person I love.  You are him already.  Being gay won't change that'" (ch. 17).
     
• "Mom pulls up, hugs me, and then wordlessly takes Sebastian in her arms--he gets the longer hug, the one with the soft Mom words spoken into his ear--and something breaks loose in me because it makes me cry harder. Maybe she's just saying things like. 'You're amazing.  Don't ever let anyone make you feel worthless.' Maybe she tells him she understands what he's going through and that it will get better. Maybe she's promising him weekly deliveries of bumper stickers. Whatever it is, it's exactly what he needs because the tears eventually stop and he nods down at her" (ch. 19).

Other reviews: Hypable and Scandalicious


This book is available in the Greensboro Public Library.