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Summary: GREAT GAY TEEN NOVEL!
Review: "I was deep behind enemy lines, in the very heart of the enemy camp." So begins the story of Russel, the teenage protagonist of the new novel, Geography Club. This is no spy novel, and Russel isn't talking about espionage, but he is in a situation that's almost as dangerous: he's gay and naked in the locker room after high school P.E.At age sixteen, Russel has finally had it with lurking around in the periphery of life. Desperate to make contact with other gay kids, he hooks up with an online gay chat buddy--who turns out to be none other than baseball jock Kevin Land. Before long, Russel and Kevin ferret out other local gay kids as well, including Russel's friend Min, who reveals she's bisexual, and Min's soccer-playing girlfriend, Terese.
Problem is, they're not yet ready to tell the rest of the school they're gay. So how do kids this diverse spend time together without calling attention to themselves? Russel's--and Hartinger's--answer is as ingenious as it is witty: they form an after-school club that sounds so boring no one else would ever think to join--the Geography Club. But, of course, this being high school, things are never as simple as they seem. Soon Russel and his friends are learning plenty about geography after all--specifically, the clique-conscious landscape of a typical American high school.
This novel comes as a welcome relief from the overwrought, humorless gay teen novels of the past. The book is funny, especially when Russel tries to avoid the charms of an overly persistent female admirer ("Her tongue was like a raw oyster with a mind of its own!").
But this is also a novel with heart, particularly when the gay kids eventually clash over the question of whether or not to reach out to the school outcast who is rumored to be gay. And I defy anyone not to be moved by the heart-pounding romance that builds between Russel and Kevin.
The quality of gay books with teenager protagonists is spotty. That said, Geography Club is EASILY one of the best gay teen book ever!
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Summary: Geography Club
Review: "What was the purpose of the Geography Club?" sixteen-year-old narrator Russel Middlebrook asks himself near the climax of Brent Hartinger's debut novel, a quick-paced chronicle of the founding of a secret gay students' club at Goodkind High School.
That's a good question in regard to the book, as well as the club.
While there remains a need for young adult fiction that shows exaggeratedly positive gay role models, Hartinger has done something more daring with GEOGRAPHY CLUB: he shows both gay and straight teenagers being upstanding and understanding; he also shows them being selfish, cliquish and, well, jerkish. This is a good thing.
As all adults --- and most adolescents --- realize, the American teenager is a moody, capricious creature, occasionally subject to self-esteem shortages, peer pressure and all-purpose insecurity. And if Russel and his pals can put a check next to all of the above, well, readers will know it's a reality check.
In an effort to write wonderfully realistic characters, Hartinger knows they must sometimes do things that are terribly realistic. So, despite knowing it's wrong, Russel, who's gay, at one point refuses to stand up for Brian, the tormented school spaz. Kevin, Russel's closeted jock boyfriend, joins his teammates in taunting Russel with homophobic remarks. Kevin's best friend Gunnar pushes Kevin into dating girls, despite the fact that he recognizes he's gay. There are scenes in GEOGRAPHY CLUB that will make your stomach knot, because you'll find characters you're fond of doing things they shouldn't do. It's a heck of a lot like high school.
The purpose of the Geography Club at Goodkind High isn't immediately recognized by any of the gay, lesbian and bisexual characters who make up the club. Once Russel discovers --- via an online chat room (in another sharp bit of realism, he readily acknowledges an attraction to online porn) --- that there are other gay kids in his school, they start an official after-school group so they can socialize and talk about their concerns. They call it the Geography Club, trying to sound boring and nerdy so that they won't be found out: "No high school student in their right minds would ever join that," thinks Russel. Clearly, there's a vein of shame here, a need to feel hidden and secretive about one's identity. While gay kids surely serve as a good example of this sort of thinking, it's hardly their private domain. What high school student doesn't at some point feel that she is hiding her 'real self' in order to fit in with her social environment. And what high school student (or adult) doesn't eventually feel the need to 'come out' from an inaccurate public persona.
It turns out that the purpose of the Goodkind High Geography Club is a temporary one --- a short, important first step in Russel and company's longer journey toward accepting themselves. Throughout the novel, one senses that if these gay kids and their straight schoolmates were more comfortable with themselves, they would be less cruel to each other. When, in the novel's final chapter, the Geography kids officially rename their club The Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance, they begin a critical second step, not just in the coming out process, but in the growing up process as well.
--- Reviewed by Jim Gladstone
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Summary: Geography Club blazes a new trail
Review: A theme of discovery runs through Brent Hartinger's Geography Club, just like explorers discovering a new land. So the book and the club that five high school students start at their high school is appropriately named, too. And even though the Geography Club doesn't have anything to do with geography, since the gay and lesbian students who started it didn't want others to join, it has everything to do with a kind of map to understanding what it's like to be a gay kid in a typical high school, or an outcast. Hartinger brilliantly captures the voice of his teen age protagonist and story teller. He also captures the heart and mind of the reader. You don't have to be gay to learn something from this book; what that is, I will leave to each reader. I think it has a lot to do with who you are and the geography of your own mind. --Ronald L. Donaghe...
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Summary: Good YA novel
Review: As an adult, I found this a swell read. I am glad that there are more and more books like this available that don't focus on sex as much as they do self-awareness and coming to power. The characters are all interesting, though a few are a bit underdeveloped. I think terese and Ike got short shifted, and I would have liked to know more about them and what they were thinking. My only real problem with the story is that at the end of the book, the narrator takes too high of a road. I found it inconsistent that a character who was just coming out and had all the normal anxieties and hormones of a young guy would make such adult decisions about his relationship, etc. It does not ring true, and seems to have been in there to give him some noble bearing. It's a bit unnecessary as there was no real reason for the choice he makes. I think it was a poor one. This was a good reading experience and it took me back to high school and made me think, "If .." This book is an enoyable read for people of all stripes.
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Summary: thoughtful & exciting real-life Teen Read
Review: Brent Hartinger has something to say, & does it well. Teens, both gay & straight, will find GEOGRAPHY CLUB intriguing & familiar territory. It is fast paced, funny, & a telling portrait of contemporary teenagers as they maneuver through the treacherous social terrain of a typical American high school & the even more rocky landscape of the human heart.
These young adults, testing their maturity, are all likable & flawed, like everyone, & totally believable.
Rebeccasreads highly recommends GEOGRAPHY CLUB as a "can't put it down" read. Who do you think should be in the movie?
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Summary: Good story, but lacking something...
Review: Brent Hartinger's 'Geography Club' is an affectionately wrought novel about a boy named Russel and some of his friends who are all trying to cope with their sexuality. The book is told well with Russel as the main character in first person point of view, and it is easy to sympathize with him as his character develops throughout the story. As a gay teen myself, I can appreciate Russel's feelings and thoughts and can tell that Hartinger is heartfelt in his writing. However, the book left something to be desired. Throughout the story we share all of Russel's thoughts as he responds to the words and actions of his friends and peer group. But I found myself really wondering how Russel felt at certain points, when the action seemed to overtake and overshadow what I felt were important developments in Russel's mindset. In all the 240 pages, it was only a few times that I felt I understood exactly what he was going through emotionally. I also felt that some of his reactions to different events, and some of the actions that he took, were unrealistic, as were some of the basic elements of high school and high school friendships. I am a modern day gay teen who lives through the modern day drama that is high school, and if this novel was supposed to remind me of my own experiences then it missed its mark completely. I gave it a three star rating because even though it has its faults and I couldn't really connect with it all that much, I found the overall story still held my attention and kept me turning the pages. This novel might be better suited for those among us who don't really know what it means to be a gay high-schooler, and those who would prefer a shorter read over a little more depth and character development.
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Summary: Well Within the Borderlands of Respectability
Review: Brent's debut novel is a welcome addition to the world of gay fiction. This particular tale is oriented toward high-schoolers, yet can easily be enjoyed by any age group. It focuses mainly on a group of gay and bi kids at Goodkind High (I noticed the absence of any parental presence in the novel). The story is a very fast read and is told from first person POV. Perhaps Brent interviewed some teens for this story because I felt I was reading about real teens that might be living on my block, although the ones in the story are distinctly more mature than most teens I know. I particularly enjoyed watching 16 y.o. Russel be out to himself without having any trouble with it. I enjoyed watching him come out to his friends. I enjoyed watching the club form and change. Pages 122-125 were incredibly romantic (I'm not gonna tell you what it says--you have to buy the book). There is a distinct turning point toward the end of the story that reminds us that Russel is not a typical kid. He is well on his way to adulthood with a completely intact sense of self and a healthy ethical outlook. You can be sure this book will be in school libraries. Brent has many more novels on the way. In fact, I understand that a sequel to this one is fast approaching publication, too. You can be sure I'll be reading it!
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Summary: Geography of the Heart
Review: Even with PFLAG and gay-straight alliances, how do you handle being a gay teen, which, if the locker room crowd finds out, makes you lower than lunchbox-toting Brian Bund in the hierarchy of high school? How far do you go to prove you're straight? And what happens when the straightest butch hunk o nthe football team starts making out with you in the parking lot?
I could say "Be true to yourself, don't forget your real friends," but Brent Hartinger says it more eloquently than ever in this first-love journey into the geography of that strange alien place known as high school.
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Summary: Another Spark of Hope for Gay and Lesbian Adolescents
Review: Geography Club is a wonderful, hopeful and non-offensive book for all kids and their families. It's the story of a group of very lonely kids in one school who decide to form a support group for gay and lesbian kids. Rather than label the group for what it is out of fear, the kids decided to call it The Geography Club. After all, what kid is going to have much interest in an after-school club supposedly studying maps of the world? There, in the privacy of a what they imagined would be considered a nerd club, the kids create a safe haven to discuss their identities. Brent Hartinger does a laudable job of developing a story rich in unique an individual character. He does an excellent job in endeavoring to stress the importance of the individual student as opposed to the tried and less than true stereotypes that many hold of gay and lesbian people. The characters are quite delightful in their interactions and the scenarios that play out are quite believable. Ultimately, Hartinger has developed a tremendously interesting social picture of all of the kids of groups that segment the average American high school. Geography Club is a wonderful addition to the growing list of very hopeful books that have been emerging in support of gay and lesbian adolescents. Kids who have different needs in schools often present the greatest challenge to our "one size fits all" model of education. Sadly, we have many kids with all kinds of different needs falling by the waysides of American Education. As we appropriately stress the achievement of high academic standards in schools today, we cannot do so without also addressing the very human needs of many of the 'misfits" who don't feel very welcome in the very schools that expect them to demonstrate high academic achievement. I believe it's reasonable to assume we need to make kids safe and wanted before we can expect their best achievement. I hope that books like Hartinger's helps at least one kid feel a little more acceptable and understood. High recommended. Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota. U.S.A.
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Summary: Funny, irreverent, lovable and real
Review: Geography Club is funny (I actually laughed out loud), smart, and engaging. The characters are believably human--naturally imperfect, but also sometimes noble. I'll admit that high school was a long time ago for me. Still, I could so relate to Russel's (our protagonist's) struggle to figure out how to be honest (or how honest to be) and how to do the right thing in an unpredictable, sometimes unfriendly world. Along the way, he experiences the power that friends have to make life worth living, even when everything seems to be going wrong. Hartinger also presents straight folks (like myself) an opportunity to relive our awkward teenage moments from a gay perspective. Having to be naked (or half naked) in public (ie: the locker room) was horrific for me as a chubby & nerdy kid. . . but just how much worse it could have been! Imagine if one (or a few) of those other naked people were also extremely arousing. . . . .embarrasing, excruciating. . . and, the way Hartinger tells it, also extremely funny. His gay teenagers are not angst filled, intense & depressed, as in so much other gay fiction. They are funny, irreverent, lovable and real. Geography Club is a fun read (I've already read it twice) even for a grown-up, but it is definitely also a good book to share with kids. Hopefully, it will inspire them to keep true to themselves, and to keep laughing and loving.
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