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horrorbutch 's review for:
The Other Five Percent
by Quinn Anderson
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of this book on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I have to mention one good thing about this book right in the beginning. While the title might sound biphobic it thankfully isn't (or at least it isn't as much as it could be). In the end, the main character realizes that he is, in fact, bisexual and that the percent way that he used to say he was actually straight, but there were hot guys out there, was a wrong way of thinking.
Despite this, there is still more than enough stuff in this book that I didn't like at all. There's a lot of unchecked biphobia in this book. Some of it comes from the main character, who simply spews all the biphobic stereotypes he internalized. For example, one time he says that bi women only ever make out at frat parties to entice straight guys. This is not really criticized and I absolutely hated this scene. Being bisexual means being confused, it means to experiment, it is a phase. In the end, the character embraces his bisexuality, but it is absolutely not enough to make up for the rest of this mess, which stretches through most of the book. Writing about a character discovering themselves is not a bad thing in itself, but the way it was portrayed here was just... really, really hard for me to finish.
Another thing that bothered me was Ellis. At first, he pestered Logan constantly to admit that he was actually bisexual (it was nice that he did offer the word to Logan though) - called him closeted in a gay bar, flirted with him constantly, talked about what they had - but when Logan accepts it and wants to kiss him (in the same chapter too! the same evening!), he freaks out? Because Logan is definitely actually straight and just wants to break his heart (again)? It made absolutely no sense and seemed to only be written in the novel for some drama and it annoyed me hugely.
And then Logan, oh my god, Logan was such a terrible, terrible character. He mocks consent when Ellis asks him if he can kiss him, bc pfff stupid people thinking asking before you kiss something is an okay thing to do, lmao, stuuuupid. That scene was once more really disgusting. That, plus his unchecked biphobia, his general unpleasantness, the fact that he was a gigantic asshole to Ellis etc, made him very, very unlikeable.
All in all, I have to say that this book definitely wasn't for me. While I liked that part where it was talked about how even accepting parents can make it hard for their children to come out to the ever-present heteronormativity that surrounds us all the time, pretty much everything else was bad and annoyed me.
I have to mention one good thing about this book right in the beginning. While the title might sound biphobic it thankfully isn't (or at least it isn't as much as it could be). In the end, the main character realizes that he is, in fact, bisexual and that the percent way that he used to say he was actually straight, but there were hot guys out there, was a wrong way of thinking.
Despite this, there is still more than enough stuff in this book that I didn't like at all. There's a lot of unchecked biphobia in this book. Some of it comes from the main character, who simply spews all the biphobic stereotypes he internalized. For example, one time he says that bi women only ever make out at frat parties to entice straight guys. This is not really criticized and I absolutely hated this scene. Being bisexual means being confused, it means to experiment, it is a phase. In the end, the character embraces his bisexuality, but it is absolutely not enough to make up for the rest of this mess, which stretches through most of the book. Writing about a character discovering themselves is not a bad thing in itself, but the way it was portrayed here was just... really, really hard for me to finish.
Another thing that bothered me was Ellis. At first, he pestered Logan constantly to admit that he was actually bisexual (it was nice that he did offer the word to Logan though) - called him closeted in a gay bar, flirted with him constantly, talked about what they had - but when Logan accepts it and wants to kiss him (in the same chapter too! the same evening!), he freaks out? Because Logan is definitely actually straight and just wants to break his heart (again)? It made absolutely no sense and seemed to only be written in the novel for some drama and it annoyed me hugely.
And then Logan, oh my god, Logan was such a terrible, terrible character. He mocks consent when Ellis asks him if he can kiss him, bc pfff stupid people thinking asking before you kiss something is an okay thing to do, lmao, stuuuupid. That scene was once more really disgusting. That, plus his unchecked biphobia, his general unpleasantness, the fact that he was a gigantic asshole to Ellis etc, made him very, very unlikeable.
All in all, I have to say that this book definitely wasn't for me. While I liked that part where it was talked about how even accepting parents can make it hard for their children to come out to the ever-present heteronormativity that surrounds us all the time, pretty much everything else was bad and annoyed me.