Openly Straight
Everyone wears labels, we pick them out ourselves and wear them proudly or others slap them on us, grouping us together to make their world more comfortable. There’s labels based on everything imaginable and the list gets longer as our society gets more diverse: race, sex, hobbies, culture, and physical characteristic, I could go on but it’s just a fact that everyone has multiple labels that they wear or identify themselves with. Rafe came out in eighth grade. This label, Rafe is proud of but it’s also smothering him, it’s all people see. They don’t see the boy behind the label, they just see gay. He feels like he’s in the spotlight, singled out because of his uniqueness and he just wants to lead a normal life. Rafe decides to spend his last two years of high school in Massachusetts where no one knows his sexual preference. It’s not like he’s undoing his gayness, he’s just not telling. The minute he hits the campus of this all-boy school, he’s enjoying himself. Playing football, scanner pong and hanging out with the guys, he’s almost enjoying himself too much. He’s like a bird, finally set free. As all this freedom makes its way into Rafe’s world, he’s becomes undone. He’s lying to himself and others, it’s a front and these people are buying it. Rafe likes his new identity but he knows the truth will come out eventually and then who will be hurt? It was when some of his relationships start to get emotional that I start to worry about how they will end. Rafe’s covering up the truth, he’s an actor to these guys and I have a feeling that some of them won’t take the truth lightly. I treaded lightly reading the chapters as Rafe dealt with his sexuality, it was a huge moment for someone who was escaping his previous life. Rafe’s roommate was perfect for him too. From their initial meeting, to their police scanner days, to their deep conversations that they had, you couldn’t have found a better roomie than Albie. It’s an important subject and the author did an excellent job with straightforward characters– great book. “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
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