We pick up the story as Rafe transfers to an all-boys school
in New England, where he decides that he will be “openly straight”. He doesn’t
see it as going back in the closet, but rather an opportunity to just be Rafe.
On his first day, he makes friends with the school jocks, something he had only
be able to wonder about doing back in Boulder.
Rafe feels that he is finally being accepted for himself, not his sexual
orientation. But being openly straight becomes more complicated as Rafe is forced
to lie to his new friends and the person he cares about most, Ben. Openly
Straight is thought-provoking, while maintaining a level of humor and
cheekiness that kept me laughing and eagerly turning the next page.
Bill Konigsberg is the winner of the 2008 Lambda Literary Award in the
LGBT Children’s/Young Adult category for Out of the Pocket, his debut novel,
and is a fellow Arizonan, living in Chandler, AZ with his partner, Chuck and
their Australian Labradoodle, Mabel.