Format: ebook
Release Date: February 9th, 2021
Age: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Goodreads
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Firstly, thank you to Bloomsbury for providing me a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.
If you’re going to pick up this book, please be sure to check out the content warnings beforehand. The book deals with a variety of topics that can hit quite hard, especially around mental health and anxiety, and disordered eating. The MC also faces homophobia from his ultra-religious family, and I’m sure there’s other things covered I haven’t noted here.
This is one of those books that makes me really happy younger folks have books like this they can access nowadays – books about teens dealing with the realities of being a teen, handling disappointment at not getting The Thing that’ll put your life on track, the difficulties of teenage friendships and the layers of complexity that comes with them, the desire to impress your crush and the way pressure builds from all sides.
After a failed audition for a music summer programme, Marty heads to London anyway, pretending to his parents and aunt he has got into the academy, and will be attending with his cousin, Shane. Marty’s main goal is to make things work in London, to stay there after the summer is finished. From the moment he arrives, he’s different than the shy, closeted kid from Kentucky, and finds a place more accepting where he truly be himself. But things aren’t as easy as they seem, and although Marty gets the chance to embrace being in Europe, travelling around with his newfound friends, he soon starts to see the cracks building.
Through Marty’s eyes, we see how things impact him, and the way off-hand comments have a way of sticking. You can see the kind of path he’s on, even though he’s hiding a bit from himself, and Stamper deals with the issues Marty faces in a sensitive, understanding way, drawing empathy for Marty and a desire to at least see him have some sort of happy ever after.
Overall, As Far as You’ll Take Me is a wonderful, queer coming-of-age story, about a boy trying to find himself and take his next steps in life. It’s a lovely read, and a great book for teenage readers.
Reading Challenge
2023 Tarot Reading Challenge
Prompt: The Hierophant Reversed – a coming-of-age story
Progress: 15/164 Completed
Unwrapping Words 