Geography Club by Brent Hartinger

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Geography Club
by Brent Hartinger

It's not really fair for me to review this book. It's a wonderful book, but I was disappointed by it because I've seen the movie three times and I'm so used to the movie version. So the significant changes from it were strange and wrong to me. That being said, I really liked the book.

This story is about Russel, a kid who knows he's gay and thinks he's the only one in his town, let alone his high school. Then he finds out the big school jock on the baseball team is gay. And he finds out his friend, Min, is bi and dating a girl. And all four of them get together at a restaurant with another boy they find out is gay and it's strange and awkward and weird and uncomfortable... but suddenly wonderful because, for the first time, they recognize each other for something they share and are seen by others for what they are. That's liberating. Finally they have eachother to talk to about being gay and closeted at school and home. But they realize they can't do this out in public... so begins a club--the Geography Club (so named because of its boringness; no one will want to join).

Russell has to deal with a lot more than this--his crush on Kevin, his best friend wanting him to double-date with a girl so he can get laid (and the girl really liking him), his sudden spot on the baseball team (to hang out with Kevin), and the school loser who gets picked on and Russell doesn't want that to happen to him.

The book and movie shared a lot of characters and scenes, but the meanings behind them changed a lot. In the movie, Russell does not help to start the club; he's invited to it when he's found out, for example. Some of the differences worked a lot better, but for others I preferred the movie version which pushes things along in a different way/at a different pace. But the thing I really loved in the book was how the school loser who always gets picked on lets Russell sit at his table after Russell is outed (same as in the movie, though in the movie they're already friends), but in the book the kid completely takes the credit for something neither of them did so that people stop thinking it's Russell, thereby saving Russell's butt and reputation. It's selfless and sweet and beautiful and the sort of thing that doesn't happen every day, even in fiction. I loved that moment.

This book felt very true-to-life, with its cliques and social fears and relationships. I love where the story ended up. And I loved Russell. I just wanted to hug him the whole darn time.

I think I still like the movie better, but I tend to prefer whatever I see first (and I'd seen this so many times. And I only just found out there is possibly a sequel out there, so I must track that book down immediately!