Leah on the Offbeat, by Becky Albertalli, is just about as close as you can get to the perfect book. It really was a page-turner for me while I was reading it. Our protagonist is Leah, which you could probably guess from the title. She’s in high school, and she’s got an odd group of friends. Also, her lifestyle doesn’t exactly fall into the same category as most other teens.
Leah has a hard time making decisions about certain things. One of the biggest examples is that she is bisexual, but doesn’t feel comfortable telling her friends that yet. On the other hand, she feels uncomfortable not telling them, because her friend Simon is gay and totally open about it. My theory is that Leah is jealous of the way Simon is always so true to himself and doesn’t care what others think. She probably just wants to be like him, because she thinks that if she isn’t, he’ll look down on her. I also think that the way Becky Albertalli incorporates this quandary into the storyline is amazing, because she makes us feel as if we are Leah, who’s trying to make this complicated decision.
The genre of this book is realistic fiction. It’s so realistic that I could even imagine going to her school and living the life she lives. Leah on the Offbeat is a sequel to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which is also extremely good and tells about how her friend Simon came to be so open about being gay.
I would recommend this book to almost every single person I know. Yes, that’s how good it was. I especially recommend it to those who might be going through a similar situation, because it’s a very uplifting book in the end. If I had to rate it, I would give it 5/5 stars. I hope anyone who reads it enjoys it!