Book Highlight: Obviously Imogen

Since it’s Pride Month, I figured I should priotize some LGTBQ centered book and what better start than with Becky Albertalli. I mean The Upside of Unrequited and Simon vs the Homo Sapien Agenda were great, and this new story was no exception especially as it’s one close to Albertalli’s experience.

You may have heard of the controversy where Albertalli was forced to come out as bi after aggressive discourse over straight authors profiting over queer stories. It’s more complicated than that but that’s how I’m going to sum it up, you can go search for me if you want to. But Albertalli’s coming out opened a new can of worms over being identifibly queer, being closeted, what gives one the criteria for queerness or questiioning or queerbaiting etc. Like I said complicated.

And that’s the mess Imogen gets into when she visits her best friend, Lili in college. Imogen can’t wait to get out of her comfort zone, especially at Blackwell where she’ll be attending in just five months. What she did not expect that in a burst of baby gay insecurity, Lili lied to her friends that Imogen and her dated. They’re cool exes now but Imogen is nervous that she’ll ruin the lie and nervous that Lili’s cool friends think she’s bi when everyone at home knows her as the straightest person ever. Capital A Ally but obviously straight.

So what does it mean when Imogen starts getting fluttery feelings for Tessa? That she’s addicted to texting her, making the girl smile, wanting to make her laugh in turn. She can’t actually be bi? She would have known by now, wouldn’t she? So is this a case of going method or has there been more to herself than obviously straight?

As with most of Albertalli’s characters, Imogen is a classic overthinker and as her dutiful role as token straight ally, she tries her best not to intrude on queer spaces, acknowledge her het privilege and support her friends. She’ so wholesome with literal bunny eyes, and a people pleaser but those same traits make things difficult for her to give herself some space or grace to figure out her feelings. She’s not appropriating, she hasn’t talked herself into bi-ness, she has a crush.

Yes, it’s different from what she felt for her guy crushes but all the signs are there. And so, she starts re-evaluating all her feelings and what she knew about herself. All the little signs that seem obvious in retrospect but she had dismissed because she thought she fit in the straight box that everyone expected her from her as well. But let’s face it, such investment in queerness was probably a big hint.

It’s an emotional journey for Imogen especially as it takes place over 9 days and she’s the type of person who likes rules boxes, and knowing where she stands, but now her feelings and her identity feel so out of control. Even though straight, gay, sexuality shouldn’t be a big deal (or at least not a big enough deal that people get killed for it), it is important to people in figuring out their identity. Just as she looks to her favorite movie, But I’m a Cheerleader and looks past just loving it to the why she loves it.

So it’s important to validates one journey even though it’s not the same as someone else. It’s not universal.

But not everyone can accept that like Imogen’s friend, Gretchen. Gretchen is a drop everything and help friend like do or die, and her harsh experiences has made her fiercly protective of queer spaces. But that intensity seeps over into her opinions that leave no room for nuance when it comes to other people’s queerness. She immediately makes assumptions on those who aren’t comig out or are closeted are benefitting from comphet or intruding on queer spaces. That there must be some amount of ‘suffering’ or conflict in being queer enough or visible signs.

The personal is political for her and makes Gretchen narrow-minded and dismissive of Imogen’s feelings when she tries to broach the potential that she may be bi. In fact, she sort of sees Imogen’s feelings as a joke and that she’s trying to play “pick me bi girl to gain attention.” Real nice.

Not everyone is like that, of course. Albertalli shows a diverse array of queer peeps through Lili’s friends and Tessa which Albertalli wove into a believable crush turned mega crush shared by both Imogen and Tessa. They were quite sweet together and I enjoyed the rest of Lili’s friends like Declan and the sausage 😉 It showed the hijinks of college life, adding some humor and fun to the difficult topics brought up. I also enjoyed Imogen’s close family bond with her baby sister, Edith too, and her friendship with Lili, giving her the support that Gretchen wouldn’t.

Imogen is sweet, relatable, and while she may apologize a lot, Albertalli doesn’t make it too annoyingly overboard. It’s addictively fast read especially with Albertalli’s use of texts to demonstrate the easy crush-like relationship with Imogen and Tessa. And yes, the ending is a bit cheesy especially the similies but its such a feel good book I don’t care. It’s a great book for pride month.