LGBTQ+ Representation: The book takes place at conversion camp, so all of the LGBTQ+ letters are represented, pretty much. The main character is gay.
Content Warnings: Violence, massive homophobia. Conversion therapy. Suicide/murder.
What it’s about: When Connor comes out to to his mother, he is kidnapped and finds himself at a place called "Nightlight Ministries," a conversion therapy camp where he must stay until he is "cured" of being gay. At first, Connor decides to play along so he could be sent home quickly. But then he discovers that the friendly town Reverend and other staff members are hiding sinister secrets. Will the campers be able to escape alive?
What I think: The following blog post is based on actual conversations I was having with my 11- and 13-year-olds while trying to write. I combined both children into one child, whom I will call C. I swear any arguing and teasing is completely (well, mostly) good-natured. Children may vary and my experiences are not to be considered normal or average. Any similarities to other children are entirely coincidental.
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Scene: Dining room table, Friday evening.
Me (typing away merrily):
Reading this book immediately after reading Camp and writing about Boy Erased was a TRIP. I--
Child: What are you doing? I need to use the computer.
Me: What? You have your own computer. Why do you need mine?
C: I need to look at your laptop so I can look at the plans to build a house in Roblox. You wouldn't understand.
C: I need to look at your laptop so I can look at the plans to build a house in Roblox. You wouldn't understand.
Me: You can open up another tab on your computer and look at the--
C: NO. I knew you wouldn't understand!!
Me: Well, I'm writing a blog post. See the title? It's the longest title I've ever written. Isn't it awesome? I am gonna be such an English teacher nerd because I am going to--
C: So he copied?
Me: WHAT?
C: He copied off all those books. See? You wrote it right ther--
Me: NO I didn't! He did NOT copy!
C: You just WROTE that he copied.
Me: No!! I am just going to write a literary analysis comparing his story to some of these other stories; if you would do your HOMEWORK you would understand what a literary analysis is.
C: Is it copying? Because I know what copying is.
Me: Do you know what COMPARING is? Okay, fine, I will tweet the author right now and tell him I don't think he copied. Will that make you feel better?
C: I am not the one who thinks he copied!
Me: I DON'T THINK HE COPIED. I will tweet him RIGHT NOW and tell him that.
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| Tweet: Dear @TheAdamSass, I promise I do NOT think you copied. Sincerely, Jen P.S. I also promise this tweet will make sense after I publish my blog post about your book. |
C: Well now he probably thinks you're a weirdo.
Me: He probably already thinks that. Besides, YOU'RE the weirdo.
C: YOUR FACE is the weirdo.
Me: Your MOM is the--wait a minute! I am going to write; go away (resumes typing merrily):
I literally had just put down Camp when I picked this book up, and my mind was filled with happy memories of Girl Scout Camp and extremely warm fuzzies from the ending of that book. The trauma of the kidnaping in Surrender Your Sons did not stop me from immediately picturing the dining hall at MY camp, but THEN: they sing the Johnny Appleseed grace, which is considered the bad luck grace at Camp Na-Wa-Kwa (it causes rain).
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| Tweet: I'm on pg 126 and my former camp counselor self just said "No! The Johnny Appleseed grace is BAD LUCK. Now it's gonna RAIN." But that makes sense with the plot so far. Also, I'm pretty sure it was only bad luck at the camp where I worked. It's weird what things you remember. |
Anyway, the evil rain grace reminded me that I was not reading Camp; I was closer to reading Boy Erased again, and the combination of the fun tropical camp setting juxtaposed with the convers--
C: What's that big j-word mean?
Me: (recovering from mild heart attack) You scared me! It means put next to each other or maybe mixed together.
C: Can I have your computer now?
Me: No, I'm not done.
--juxtaposed with the conversion therapy
C: I don't even think that's a real word. Jux-ta-pose. Who SAYS that?
Me: Go away.
--is really disturbing. Thankfully for me (and my unresolved Boy Erased trauma), there are not a lot actual conversion therapy scenes in the book, which is completely okay me. However, at the same time, I think it would have taken Connor a bit longer to figure out all the mysteries he manages to solve in just a weekend. However again, if Connor would have had to be there for months and I would have had to read MONTHS of conversion therapy . . . yeah, I wouldn't have liked that. So you know what? I'm glad Connor figures out what he does so quickly.Here is where I wanted to start comparing the book to other stories I've read. When I taught high school, one of my favorite stories to teach was "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. You should read it or listen to it, but if you--
C: I don't think I want to listen to it.
Me: Are you reading over my shoulder? Anyway, you should listen to "The Most Dangerous Game;" it's a great story, very Twilight Zone-esque. This great hunter ends up on an island, where instead of hunting, he BECOMES the prey. Therefore, he's playing a most dangerous GAME and he himself is also dangerous GAME because he can find back and obviously a lion or moose or whatever can't fight back. We English teachers LOVE us some violence and a bonus play-on-words! Plus, there's a short cheesy movie that takes exactly one class period to show.
Me: Are you reading over my shoulder? Anyway, you should listen to "The Most Dangerous Game;" it's a great story, very Twilight Zone-esque. This great hunter ends up on an island, where instead of hunting, he BECOMES the prey. Therefore, he's playing a most dangerous GAME and he himself is also dangerous GAME because he can find back and obviously a lion or moose or whatever can't fight back. We English teachers LOVE us some violence and a bonus play-on-words! Plus, there's a short cheesy movie that takes exactly one class period to show.
C: Teachers are weird.
Me: YOU'RE weird. The kids in this story become the hunted because when they figure out there's a bad guy among them, they realize that this lady who looks like a Stepford Wife is a gun-toting MANIAC and--
C: Are you going to add The Stepford Wives to the copy-list?
Me: There is NO COPY LIST. Sheesh. So the kids become the hunted and for a while I was afraid that it would be a Lord of the Flies situation, where the kids would completely take over the island and perhaps another kid would--
C: Are you going to put SPOILERS in this review? Maybe don't say what you think will happen with another kid.
Me: Okay, you have a point. It's really not all that Lord of the Flies, but since the kids ultimately take over the camp, I am going to keep it in there. But rest assured, there is no Piggy character.
C: Why, what happens to Piggy?
Me: Never mind, I'll let you be traumatized by that when you're in high school. Now the setting! It's so much like The Blue Lagoon, which is a cheesy 80's movie that I am embarrassed that I like and that I am never going to show you, but the scenery is SUPER beautiful, and is what I pictured when Connor and Marcos when they found the Love Cave. THE LOOOOVE CAVE, soon we'll be making another run--
C: Should I know the old-person song you're singing?
Me: Hush, child. The Love Cave is very cutesy and romantic.
C: EW IS THERE SEX IN THIS BOOK? Did you put that in the content warning?
Me: Um, NO; I mean, YES there is sex, but no it's not something I thought needed a warning.
C: EW.
Me: (sings in my best Jack Jones way) THE LOOOOVE CAAAAAVE! Ooh there's a disco version of The Love Boat theme.
C: STAHP! OMG turn that off PLEASE.
Me: (sings until child runs out of the room and then begins typing)
The romance is fast even for a camp romance, but I don't care because I like Connor and Marcos so much. I had a bad feeling about Connor's clueless boyfriend at the beginning of the book, and, well, I was right to have that feeling.Now I am going to talk about the movie Clue. Hey, this book is a whodunit, sort of, and it is very important to talk about Clue whenever possible. Plus, check out this tweet wherein the author shows off a custom-made Clue board based on Surrender Your Sons!
C: (appearing out of nowhere) The movie Clue is homophobic.
Me: Stop saying that. Yes, how "scared" they are and how they avoid Mr. Green because he's supposedly gay and the joke is that he's not and we're supposed to be relieved, okay yes, that is homophobic and outdated, but the rest of the movie is comedy BRILLIANCE and you should appreciate it because it is one of my FAVORITES EVER--
C: Nope. It's for old people.
Me: I didn't do it!
C: Are you quoting lines--
Me: Casualties are inevitable. You can not make an omelet without breaking eggs, every cook will tell you that--
C: --from Clue AGAIN?
Me: But look what happened to the cook!
C: Why--
Me: Monkey's brains, though popular in Cantonese cuisine--
C: Are you--
Me: It's what we call "overkill"
C: --the way you are?
Me: I am your singing telegram!
C: (sighs)
Me: I LOVE YOU.
C: I love you too, I guess. You aren't going to put all this in your blog, are you?
Me: I said "no" meaning "yes."
This book is too new to be on a Rainbow List--watch this space!
My final takeaway: I really liked the suspense of Surrender Your Sons, even though I kind of figured out who the "bad guy" was, many of the details took me by surprise. And some of the events were truly horrifying, so much so that I am putting this book on the scary stories display I made at work. I liked the use of Broadway playbills as clues, but now every time I think of South Pacific, I am going to think of horror movies. Wash that man right out of your hair indeed. 💀
My final takeaway: I really liked the suspense of Surrender Your Sons, even though I kind of figured out who the "bad guy" was, many of the details took me by surprise. And some of the events were truly horrifying, so much so that I am putting this book on the scary stories display I made at work. I liked the use of Broadway playbills as clues, but now every time I think of South Pacific, I am going to think of horror movies. Wash that man right out of your hair indeed. 💀
Even though I was sad when Connor went back home and [spoiler deleted], I appreciated (even as I was upset) the realistic portrayal of his town. It's important, I think, for teenagers to know that sometimes coming out will cause more problems and is not always safe for everyone to do. But the very end of the book made me happy, and I would like Sass to write a cute date night story: Connor and Marcos NEED it after their trauma!
Memorable quotes/passages from the book:
Memorable quotes/passages from the book:
- "I shouldn't be freaking out so much about coming out. My sexuality isn't gay--it's milkshake" (46). Editor's note: SAME.
- "'It's kind of you to visit me in my loneliness.' It's my 'aloha.' I say it whenever I meet a new camper or say goodbye to one going home. The Wicked Witch says it it to Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. . . Don't tell Reverend I quoted Wizard of Oz. We're not allowed" (pg. 95).
- "I wasn't the first person to solve the riddle of the fog. They were" (pg. 210).
- "Am I even the same Connor from yesterday? No. That Connor died the moment my mom told Briggs to be careful with me as he lugged me away to this terrible place" (pg. 308).
Other reviews: The Queer Review and DopeyRunr
If you liked this book, you should read Camp, Boy Erased, Ziggy, Stardust & Me, and Saving Alex.
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| This book is available here: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/ |
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| Learn more about the Rainbow Book List here: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt |
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