Openly Straight

By: Bill Konigsberg

Narrated by: Pete Cross

Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Rafe is a normal teenager from Colorado. He's been out since 8th grade, accepted by his peers & championed by his progressive parents. And while that's important, all Rafe really wants is to be a regular guy. To have his sexuality be a part of who he is, but not the headline, every single time. So when Rafe transfers to an all-boys' boarding school in New England, he decides to keep his sexuality a secret - not so much going back in the closet as starting over with a clean slate. But then he sees a classmate breaking down and realizes his own labels aren't well-concealed. And most of all, he falls in love with Ben...who doesn't even know that love is possible.

©2015 Bill Konigsberg (P)2017 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Critic reviews

"From the first, Pete Cross's narration describes the high spirits of Rafe and his family.... The humor continues outwardly throughout the book, but Cross undercuts it with Rafe's uncomfortable inner feelings.... Cross's delivery reflects how Rafe wrestles with honesty, hides truths in a romantic relationship, and finally faces the painful path to becoming his real self." ( AudioFile)

Dissapointing

Don't buy this if you want a good story, much less a romantic story.

This book is little more than a vehicle for the author to express his opinions on how gay people should behave and feel about their own sexuality.

It's essentially the "if you're not flaming gay, you're really just repressed or self hating" argument stretched over way too many pages.

I felt betrayed when I realized this, having already become attached to the plot and characters, who were never really done justice as they were clearly playing second fiddle to the author's "message."

Only positive thing I can say is the narration was decent (but I don't want that to factor into my overall rating, lest I understate the disappointment this novel proved to me.)

A Novel Worth 'Celebrating.'

Any additional comments?

Though I was a bit apprehensive about this novel's premise at first, I ended up falling in love with its narrative. It does take a little while to warm up to Rafe, but he ends up revealing an authentic, sympathetic side with which readers/listeners can genuinely connect. With an entertaining cast of characters and a heartwarming story about growth--a realization that others should not only be tolerated, or accepted, but celebrated--Konigsberg's 'Openly Straight' is a surprising delight. I cannot wait to dive into its companion novel, 'Honestly Ben'!

Beautiful story

Where was this book when I was 17!? This helped heal very real and deep wounds I didn’t even know where there. Funny, gut wrenching, heart ache and triumphs are all in this wonderful journey our young protagonist starts.

Love, from a foot tapper.

Not a romance novel

I grabbed this with my monthly credits as 1) a romance novel, 2) a queer romance novel and came out of the experience pretty disappointed. After thinking about it, my disappointment is because this is not even slightly trying to be a romance novel and shouldn't have been marketed as such because this is a story about how Rafe comes to terms with both being gay and how people and the world change to respond to that fact. I came into being pansexual as a straight-presenting cis man in my later twenties so perhaps I am not the target audience for a coming-of-age story of a teenager who only fancies men, so if that is you, I hope this rings much more true for you, but definitely don't go into this expecting a gay romance

Toby, Alby, and Ben are all great characters that we don't get to see enough of. The only sexual experience with Ben gets yada yada'd "I mentioned the bisque", which, aside from two kisses, is the only physical romance we get. The relationship with Ben and where it leads is totally unresolved as is the potential for conflict and growth with the school's homophobic atmosphere and jocks. Bryce is brought up as a very interesting character who suffers from depression and is one of the few black students in a mostly-white school, yet he exeunts stage left very early and both his race and character are largely irrelevant to the remaining story aside from 2 short scenes which leaves a lot of room for narration, introspection, and conversation unfulfilled in my opinion. It's just odd that we spent the entire book talking about making space for and accepting people who don't fit into labels around cliques or sexuality so that they can feel like full human beings, but we couldn't find any space for the one black kid in junior year other than to use him as a plot device for our two white characters to forge a relationship over his exit now that his bed next to Ben is empty which gives us a chance to get closer to our love interest. It's like, we went out of our way with the Mr. Scarborough scene to point out how being the only black character in a school of whites would be isolating and contributing to his depression, but we still dumped the character unceremoniously just to give our romantic characters a chance to smooch

In the positive things I have to say, the characters are written pretty much how I might expect sixteen year olds (I had to look this up because I had no idea how old juniors were as a Canadian, it's grade 11 fyi.) to act, however, there is a use of the R slur for neuroatypical people by one of the characters that was totally unnecessary imo, as well as several uses of the F slur (not the fuck word) so prospective viewers should be forewarned. I also think the narrator did a great job with voices differentiating the main characters (toby, alby, rafe) and I only had a few small instances where I had trouble discerning who was speaking because of terse back and forth dialogue

Finally, when I came back to review this, I see this novel is part of a series but I must say that even though the book ended seemingly very abruptly I'm not interested in seeing how it progresses but I hope that Ben can find some support and found family in his journey, wherever it leads him.

A+++

A wonderful, memorable experience. I felt it accurately portrayed the plight of the modern gay kid while maintaining a light hearted tone. Very very good.

Perspective

Great writing and eye opening perspective. Although sometimes painful, this story seems so valuable for sharing a view that is impossible to get from the straight side. I also appreciated that the character is in high school and how being gay affects his view of the world.

Good book

Narration took some getting used to but really enjoyed the book as a whole. Would definitely choose the book again and will look for more from this author.

I love this book

This book is wonderful. I was just thinking about the fact that I haven’t heard a book in awhile where I actually care what happens to the characters. I love these beautiful kids. I want them to be real. I think think they are real. I chose this story because it was the Audible Pick if the Day. I know I wouldn’t have tried it otherwise; I wouldn’t have waisted my credit on it because I normally read thrillers. This story tugged at my heart strings and made me laugh out loud. It’s beautiful.

Hated to have it end.

What did you love best about Openly Straight?

Mr. Konigsberg has a great style that make an audio book really easy to listen to. The story grabbed me right away to see if Rafe's experiment would work.

What other book might you compare Openly Straight to and why?

I love Haley Walsh's books. But really hard to make any kind of comparison.

Have you listened to any of Pete Cross’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The is the first I've heard from Peter Cross. I found it well paced and he did a great job with voices for each of the characters.

Any additional comments?

I had hoped for a happier ending for Rafe and Ben. It kind of wrapped up quickly. I hope Mr. Konigsberg's next one take me where i'd like it to go. I'm hooked, though..

so much more than a coming out novel

I was not prepared for the questions this brought up. outstanding and unique perspective.

Extraordinarily frustrating and tedious.

This books becomes a privileged gay guy in an all boys school lying to everyone around him because he doesn't enjoy people bringing up his sexuality all the time. That as a premise isn't all that bad but 16 chapters in and still nothing of note has happened (other than him hugging a guy he clearly likes yet continues to lie to). Words cannot describe just how irritating the main character continues to be, its exhausting. Constantly moaning about having a supportive family and pretending that he isn't looking for a boyfriend before entirely abandoning that theory to say the only reason he ever came out was to get one. WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS BOOK THE FIRST 16 CHAPTERS ARE SO TEDIOUS. I genuinely feel like I am trapped in a mildly boring and frustrating dream where I zone out and suddenly come back in to focus to only think "huh he is still lying and the story hasn't progressed. Boy I sure am glad i'm still listening to this!". I have enjoyed other Konigsberg books, but god he really dropped the ball on this one.

Warning. Listening in public made lead to being LookedAt!

This isn’t every modern gay experience by a long shot, but it doesn’t claim to be and thankfully there is now a lot more LGBT*Q+ stories and characters to offer more nuance.
However, this is clever, funny, sad and eventually authentic.
I laughed out loud several times while listening, and had to wipe away a tear or two too.
Great dialogue, worth your time.

Anticlimactic

Beautifully written but the story is lacking in fulfilment it leaves you hopeful that the characters will find the happy ever after/conclusion, there are many beautiful open ended stories I just don’t feel this one belongs in that category, I have this book in hardback and audible and to be honest it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Loved this. Better than I had hoped for....

Loved this. Better than I had hoped for. The narrator does a great job, too.

Yazzzz

Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yazzzzz Yesssss Yesssss Yezzzzz Yeeeeet Yasssss Yusssss Yisssss

Enjoyed it

Here are my 15 words. Why can’t we just rate without having to explain? :-D

I need a hug...

Amazing story. As a bisexual guy who has had issues with labels in the past I really resonated with Rafe. I began the story completely understanding why he decided with “stand in the doorway” but as the story moved on and the narrative was flushed out I began to see the flaws in the logic.

Finally, when Rafe was actively lying to Ben in order to maintain this persona I finally realised how bad of a decision it was. The ending was the worse case scenario for there relationship and it was a lesson in not shutting out who you really are as it may just blow up in your face.

I may have needed a hug after this book, but that doesn’t mean it’s not amazing!

Amazing book, read in a very nice manner

I just finished this audiobook and I as blown away by it. The story is great, the buildup is very good and I really like how there's a kind of 'meta'-level with Rafe's writing assignments. I 'binge-listened' this book, it was really addictive. Highly recommended.

stunningly good

One of those books that you feel immensely grateful to have come across, whatever your age. I'm truly envious that modern youth have access to such a rich and expanding genre of which this book is a leading example. The audio performance was outstanding.

Spectacular

There was parts to laugh at and parts to cry at. An emotional, charming but most of all relatable story. Highly recommended!