Ben’s roommate leaves the school for reasons that were somewhat related to being the only black kid at this private all boys school and I remember liking the conversations that happen around it. I feel like it is talked about a bit in the first book.

One thing that I’m glad was really highlighted in this book was privilege. Seeing his emotional journey was compelling. Through all this Ben is able to deliver a narrative with some great humor and some other beautiful moments. Ben has several bad habits he picks up because of his father that are a result of all of this. Ben is so reserved and pretty bad at sticking up for himself at times and I quickly saw it’s because he believes and follows the things his father has told him completely. Ben has several bad habits he picks up because of his father that are a result of all of this.Įverything in Ben’s life is framed by what his father has told him. Everything in Ben’s life is framed by what his father has told him.

Carver’s aren’t vulnerable.Carver’s don’t talk about their feelings. Don’t get a big head or you aren’t allowed to show that you are happy about things you’ve accomplished.Carver’s can’t afford this. Don’t think they will win but top three right now.īe Happy just not too happy. They are in the running for the worse YA parents on the year award in my superlatives later this year. A father that puts really toxic ideas in his head and a mother who lets it happen for years. You could see that a bit in openly Straight but don’t really understand it until you read more on Ben. He has to money to just go to this pretty expensive private school and pretend to be someone different than he is.īen deals with so much pressure. He’s really privileged in being able to just switch schools so easily when he wants to change how people sees him. I think with Openly Straight I enjoyed the story and the discussion it brought up but had some issues with Rafe.

That feels blasphemous to say but I don’t even remember why I liked Rafe’s so much. I had a strong feeling that would turn around in this book because it happens in things like this.īen’s narration is better than Rafe’s. I didn’t want Ben to run back to him.Ben’s reaction at the end of Openly Straight is so warranted in my opinion and I loved that we didn’t get that happily ever after. Rafe has his reasons for doing everything he does but that does not make it right at all. I thought the ending was perfect because it was realistic. I need to refer to the end right now to explain why I didn’t want a sequel to Openly Straight. If you haven’t read Openly Straight there could be some spoilers ahead.

Honestly ben book