TCH 236-What it Means to Be a Boy-More Happy than Not, by Adam Silvera

This past week, my book club read the novel, More Happy Than Not , By Adam Silvera. This is a realistic fiction novel, and I would say it gaged for audiences 7th grade and up, but I think that this is definitely a book that high schoolers would also really enjoy and really be able to relate to, as the main character in the novel is a high schooler.

A sample section of the book that I think would be really enjoyable to read to middle schoolers to get them enticed about this book would be a quote that I think everyone from all ages can really find relatable. The quote reads, “Memories: some can be sucker punching, others carry you forward; some stay with you forever, others you forget on your own. You can't really know which ones you'll survive if you don't stay on the battlefield, bad times shooting at you like bullets. But if you're lucky, you'll have plenty of good times to shield you,”-More Happy Than Not, by Adam Silvera. It allows for reflection on our memories, and how some can be positive, and some can be negative, but all memories teach you something valuable. This is a great lesson for young adolescents to learn about, and this quote captures a lot of the type of tone, and intensity of this novel.

In a short summary, the book follows main character, Aaron, as he deals with discovering his true identity of being a homosexual, despite his friends and family forcing and conditioning to think otherwise. HIs family even goes to such lengths to have Aaron sent to an institute where he undergoes therapy and brain procedures that cause him to obtain retrograde amnesia and forget who he really is. His father kills himself due to his son being a homosexual, and this causes Aaron to carry a lot of guilt he should have never had to carry around in the first place. WIth all of this deeper, emotional, conflict occurring, Aaron also has to deal with societal pressures and ideas of what it ‘means to be a boy’ and deal with the discomfort of how he feels when he feels as though he does not fit in.

Some themes that really stuck out to me, were the themes of ‘Coming of Age’ and the ‘Search for Identity’. Throughout the novel, Aaron is tasked with dealing with the suicide of his dad, as well as trying to find himself, all the while, attending high school and dealing with the societal pressures that come along with trying to stay afloat in high school. These are themes that every middle schooler, high schooler, and others, can all relate to, and I find these themes to be of the utmost importance for young adolescents to read about. This book does a really good job of explaining realistic troubles and conflict that young adolescents may be facing, or may face one day, in a way that allows them to relate to a character, and perhaps feel as though they are not alone in what they may be going through.

One of the most prominent literary elements to be used within More Happy Than Not is the use of juxtaposition. When things are juxtaposed within a novel, they are put together and used to show contrasting views. In this novel, the life that Aaron’s family and friends want him to live, versus the life that Aaron wants to live himself are completely different and contrasting, and illustrate very well what the character is feeling, and helps to present the main conflicts in the novel.

I think that a book that would pair very nicely with More Happy Than Not, would be the novel Perks of Being a Wallflower. Much like Aaron, main character Charlie in Perks of Being a Wallflower deals with societal pressures to define who he is, and struggles to fit in with his peers in high school. This would be a really nice, classic, novel that would allow for students to make connections between very different novels, written at very different times. Both main characters struggle with the same conflicts, and present the same themes across both. Both novels contain themes of ‘Coming of Age’, as well as ‘Search for Identity. This particular text-to-text connection would be something I could definitely see myself using within my own classroom.

In my own opinion, I really, really, enjoyed this book and think it would be so valuable for young adolescents to pick up and read. It is an easy read, yet holds so many important lessons in it that are so prevalent to society today, and would really be a great read for any middle school classroom. Some topics may hold a lot of weight in this novel, but they are oh so important to read and expose young adolescents to and cannot be ignored any longer.

Pertaining to the book itself when answering the question of, “What it Means to be a Boy”, I think that this novel does so in such a clear way in perspective of this story, and in perspective of the characters that are in the novel. Throughout the novel, it answers the question by showing how there are concrete societal ‘norms’ that seem to run people’s judgement of how a boy should ask and what a boy should be like, and throughout the book, Aaron struggles with not conforming to a lot of these societal norms. For example, Aaron tries to force himself to have a relationship with a girl he really has no desire to be in a longship with, when he really longs to have a closer relationship with a male friend. According to pressures set by his family and friends, Aaron is troubled and pushed away from expressing his feelings for who he really is and who he really loves, because of how the storyline and plot explains what it means to be a boy. #GreatRead #YALiterature