A Very, Very Bad Thing
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
From the author of Drag Teen, a startling novel about the complexities of idenity -- and of truth.Marley is one of the only gay kids in his North Carolina town -- and he feels like he might as well be one of the only gay kids in the universe. Or at least that's true until Christopher shows up in the halls of his high school. Christopher's great to talk to, great to look at, great to be with-and he seems to feel the same way about Marley. It's almost too good to be true.There's a hitch (of course): Christopher's parents are super conservative, and super not okay with him being gay. That doesn't stop Marley and Christopher from falling in love. Marley is determined to be with Christopher through ups and downs-until an insurmountable down is thrown their way. Suddenly, Marley finds himself lying in order to get to the truth-and seeing the suffocating consequences this can bring. In A Very, Very Bad Thing, Jeffery Self unforgettably shows how love can make us do all the wrong things for all the right reasons-especially if we see them as the only way to make love survive.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A love story turns tragic, and a gay teen's relationship catapults him to fame he may not deserve. "I'm a nobody who wanted to be a somebody," claims Marley as he prepares to receive a major LGBTQ community award, after months of talk shows and interviews. In flashbacks, he reveals how he, "just another snarky gay kid from Winston-Salem, North Carolina," meets out and proud Christopher Anderson, a new transfer student and the son of a famously anti-gay televangelist. Their initial flirting turns into a whirlwind romance, complete with subterfuge to fool Chris's family, "like one of those bad nineties gay movies we never watch on Netflix." When Chris dies, Marley, as the only witness, must decide what to tell the world, in order to make Chris's memory and his own loss mean something. Self (Drag Teen) offers a thought-provoking tale of narrow-minded parents, media circuses, and stories that spin out of control, though it can also be overwrought and shallow at times, despite the intensity of the situation. However, the emotions are genuine, the characters are relatable, and the story feels sadly of the moment. Ages 14 up.
