I wanna be a toaster streudel!

[captlebubbles]

So I read A Boy Like Me the other day, and I enjoyed it very much! It was a good book and I'll probably give it a reread at some later date when I've forgotten most of the details. Because I enjoy things by complaining about them, here some things that really frustrated me reading, mostly in a "very immersed in the story and invested in the

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

Tara was so obnoxious. Like she got some things right really quickly, and then seemed to just not consider other factors, or get why he would want to be

The therapist thing totally worked for me, because I've known a lot of people in small towns and/or on limited income who try therapy, it doesn't work out, and they don't try again, because all other options are expensive and/or far away.

Peyton is a character type I'm cheap for even when they make me cry - the person who's doing so much for other people and never feels good enough, and from the outside, it's so obvious that he's not only good enough, he's doing way too much, and if he could see himself the way others saw him, he'd suddenly get how much more niceness he deserves. But he doesn't see it, because his standards are all skewed, so he's constantly scrambling to be good enough and never feeling like he achieved it. (See also Mr. Nutt from Unseen Academicals.)

[captlebubbles]

It was like... remember the point in the hospital when she's (surprise surprise) mad at Peyton over the accident? And he's like "it's like you don't give a shit about me at all", like I honestly thought that was going to be one of those turning-points where the character has a realization moment and is like "well shit" and decides to do better but no, still obnoxious. And at the end if felt like the entire story and Peyton's transition was so that he could get to the point where he could save Tara, which cheapened his big moment of outright declaring himself a man for me somewhat.

I have to admit a certain fondness for them myself (*coughDoylecough*). Lately it's starting to seem like Steven, from Steven Universe, is turning in that direction for his character arc and I'm just all over that. Like yes give me the boy fighting to save the world and then having a mental breakdown because of people who wouldn't let him save them. Give me all of it, I eat it up like candy.

[wolfy_writing]

I can see the frustration. Like I read the thing with Tara as the opposite - her story being there to nudge him into a position where he felt like he could declare himself a man (because he did way too much looking after other people first, and "It's okay to declare myself a man for myself" would be hard, especially with his mom's guilt-trips, but having someone he could point to and go "I am helping her!" made it easier for him), but I can see how it would come off the other way.

So cheap for the type! Pushing themselves to bits!

[captlebubbles]

I can see that. It's probably because I wasn't looking at it from the same lens? Like for me him pushing himself for other people would have made him finally saying "I am embracing my identity for myself!" more poignant- him finally giving himself permission to be selfish- whereas the way it was it felt more like one more thing he was doing because he felt like someone else needed him to.

You should watch Steven Universe. I feel like you'd probably enjoy it? It's got that beautiful balance of humor and darkness and silliness and psychological torment that we always joked would result if we were to team up. (Perhaps if you fuse a Bubbles and a Wolfy, you get a Sugar? That's a Steven Universe joke, sorry.)