Review: Geography Club

You don’t come across good books like these nowadays. This actually has a feel of being there, which I can relate to. The story is about a kid named Russel, who is completely normal on the outside. He is in the middle of the caste system, not too popular and not to ‘weird’. On the inside, however, he is as lonely and sad as you can get. He is gay.

If the kids ever found out he was gay, he would be beyond ‘weird’. He would be a complete outcast from his peers. And not only his peers, but his town. Nobody, not even his parents know. And no one to comfort him. So he lives his life, trying not to be discovered.

One day, he goes to a Gay Chat Site. There, he is surprised to find someone, a gay guy, who goes to the same school as him. They even have the same classes, so they decide to meet the next day after school. When they actually do meet, it turns out to be a popular baseball jock. After talking, they leave and decide to keep in touch.

This is too much for Russel. He has a popular, gay friend. He has to tell someone, but who? So he decides to go to his best friend, Min, to talk to. When he does, he finds out that she’s a bisexual, and has a lesbian girlfriend. They decide to meet up and talk. Soon after, they form a club so that they can stay with each other. And to keep anyone from finding out that it’s a gay club, they call it the Geography Club. After all, who wants to study geography?

This is a story that sings out the truth. I am in middle school at the time, and Hartinger has the different school popularity levels right. He has the jocks, the computer nerds, the cheerleaders, the preps, and the one kid that everyone picks on. There is also the language of this story. When you read most stories about school, you get it censored. Something like, “Hey, you broke my ruler.”. In this book, it tells it like it would be, such as, “ You f****** b@$tArd, you broke my godd@mn ruler.”.

It also has lifelike scenarios. At one point, Russel is pressured to have sex with a girl, or chew tobacco. When people begin to believe he is gay, everyone calls him a f@g. There might very well be kids at my school that are homosexual but are too scared to show it. Before I read this book, I had no idea why they did this. Afterwards, I began to notice how discriminated against they are. This has to be one of the finest books I have ever read, and I have read quite a few.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Melissa's 7th grade students

Book Review: Geography Club

Reviewed by Matthew Ervin