Book Review: Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg

Hey guys! Katie C. here with my last book review for this TBF season. This week: Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg

Bobby Framingham is the star quarterback at Durango High School and one of the most talented high school football players in California. He's waiting on scholarship offers from big schools and hopes he'll go pro after college. On the field, his teammates are like his brothers. But off the field, he knows he's different -Bobby is gay.

Can he still be one of the guys and be honest about who he is? And even more, if people knew, could he still get that scholarship? Bobby's not sure. After all, there are no openly gay male athletes in any of the major college or pro sports. Can he help change that? He doesn't want to be a hero or a poster boy for gay rights - he just wants to play football - but how he handles his situation will send a big message. 

Just like in football, once Bobby's forced out of the pocket he'll have to make a play. He'll have to deal with the changing dynamics of the team and his changing relationships with his friends and family, and accept that his path to success might be more difficult, and more public, than he'd hoped.

As soon as I heard Bill Konigsberg was gonna be at TBF, I jumped at the chance to read one of  his books. I'm not much of a sports fan myself (unless track counts), but despite that, this book hooked me from page one all the way to the very end!

One of the greatest things about this book is how well written the characters are. Bobby, and almost everyone else around him, weren't perfect and yet were still understandable. In this book, characters did some things that made me want to dance around my room, and some things that made me want to throw a chair. But in the end, no matter how they made me feel, no character was under written or didn't seem like someone I could stumble into walking though high school. And that's why I think this story is so important: because in the end, its capturing a piece of everyday life, everyday people, and spinning it into a something that's a bit more than your average football book that you'll find in the sports section of your local library.

Overall, this was more than just a football story and a gay story. Yes, the main focus was on bobby coming to terms with his homosexuality, but this book was also about family issues, friendship issues, and dealing with life when it turns completely upside down. Above all else, it was just an honest book about a kid going though the twists and turns of his life in high school. And that's a story almost all of us can relate to.

I think everyone in one way or another should read this book. If you're part of the LGBT community like I am, I 110% recommend it! But even if you're straight, it's a good story about life and might even make you see the world a bit differently once you've turned that last page. At least that's what it did for me.

That's all for today. make sure to say hi to Bill Konigsberg at TBF 2018 this year! this is Katie C., signing off!