I loved this book. It's the story of Bobby, a 17-year old quarterback who realizes he's gay and has to make the decision whether or not to come out and be accepted for who he is in his senior high school year. Or whether to stay in hiding, "play it safe", and not "mess up" his chances of becoming a pro football player (as he sees no openly gay role models in any of the four major American sports).

The book brings out all the issues a highschool senior fights with in the context of him being gay as well. I recommend this book to anyone who has wondered what it's like to be gay, what it feels like to be different. How some people react to you differently when they find out something they didn't know before - and how some can stay the same. How others sometimes need time to adapt to those differences when they've known you for a long time.

This book says as much about the other people in Bobby's life as it does about Bobby himself.
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Wow. As super readable as "Openly Straight", as a whole, it has an excess of football for my tastes and it´s not quite as tight as Konigsberg´s second novel. As a YA it´s original in its protagonist, a gay quarterback sounds quite "contradictory" to the general public (sports in general are so homophobic that this continues to be shocking.)


BIT of a general SPOILER.
I would have appreciated a little more development in the romance, if it had to be there, since otherwise I would have kept it focused on Bobby and his existing relationships (it seemed a bit like a tacked-on happy ending).

Overall, a good coming out story. ( )

"Star quarterback Bobby Framingham, one of the most talented high school football players in California, knows he's different from his teammates. They're like brothers, but they don't know one essential thing: Bobby is gay. Can he still be one of the guys and be honest about who he is? When he's outed against his will by a student reporter, Bobby must find a way to earn back his teammates' trust and accept that his path to success might be more public, and more difficult, than he'd hoped. An affecting novel about identity that also delivers great sportswriting."- Amazon/GoodReads review. My take: Well written, realistic teen dialogue, complex and varied characters, and even the developing "first boyfriend" relationship of Bobby's is presented without sex scenes or overheated dialogue, so tenative teens-never read a book about the coming out of a gay teen- should be able to empathize with the protagonist, from beginning to end. I find this title appropriate for most high school readers, but especially for those who love football: the play by play game descriptions are filled with authentic jargon, and Bobby's demanding role as quarterback of a league-leading team, and his chances for college recruitment, are given as much weight as his other personal concerns. 2008 book -winner of the Lambda Literary Award. ( )

Wow. As super readable as "Openly Straight", as a whole, it has an excess of football for my tastes and it´s not quite as tight as Konigsberg´s second novel. As a YA it´s original in its protagonist, a gay quarterback sounds quite "contradictory" to the general public (sports in general are so homophobic that this continues to be shocking.)


BIT of a general SPOILER.
I would have appreciated a little more development in the romance, if it had to be there, since otherwise I would have kept it focused on Bobby and his existing relationships (it seemed a bit like a tacked-on happy ending).

Overall, a good coming out story. ( )

This is a wonderful book for boys questioning their sexuality. It explores a great deal of the psychology behind coming out, without delving too much into smut (why must people must automatically equate sexuality with sex? I'm heterosexual, but sex does not drive who I am; why do we automatically assume it is different with homosexuals?).
My favorite part of this book is that it deals with a "typical" boy dealing with his sexuality; he's not the stereotypical "twink", nor is he an overcompensating jackass.

Another plus for this book? You can read it in public without anyone making assumptions since the cover is so misleading. A wonderful advantage for self-conscious teenagers. (Too many LGBT books advertise their subject matter making it awkward for questioning teens to make the grab for them). ( )