Good afternoon! It is actually closer to good evening in my neck of the woods as I’m finishing this piece up, and it may actually be good night before it’s published, but we’re here, we’re sticking it to timeblindness one post at a time, and today we’re going to talk about a recent favorite book I read, so thank you for being here and coming along on a little literary jaunt with me!
Before we start, here’s a quick FAQ-anticipating preamble to this premiere “episode” of BOOK VIBES:
Q: What is (are?) BOOK VIBES, Cosmic?
A: BOOK VIBES is the name of my book review series in which I tell you a bit about a book I read a few weeks ago. I’m not choosing books with an intent to analyze or profile. My only criteria is that some aspect of the book should still be living with me 2-3 weeks later: a character, a way of describing things, a theme/thesis/motif, or perhaps the overarching experience. Then every other week or so I’ll come here and tell you about it, without spoilers, and perhaps introduce you to something you may not have chosen on your own.
Q: How often will you publish these VIBES?
A: I’m a bit of a slow reader on paper/kindle, and I absolutely must be doing something with my hands while I listen to audiobooks, so I’m not promising something new every week just yet. If I widen the net to include “books I haven’t read for years but I still think about,” then it could become a fortnightly installation. (When this occurs, be on the lookout for an especially vibey review of Ruth Ozeki’s “My Year of Meats.” It’s one of my favorites.)
Q: VIBES are super, but will you impart actual practical information about the books?
A: Absolutely! Every review comes with all the necessary stuff: title, author, publisher in print/e-book/audiobook, a picture of the book cover, the categories and keywords one might use to find the book and others like it, where to buy the book accompanied by a reminder to use and love your local library if you have one, all the usual stuff! And if you see an info category I’ve missed, or can think of one that might further scaffold the VIBES, you can direct correspondence to dingus@cosmichyatt.com (yes, this is a real email address! “Cosmic at cosmichyatt dot com” sounded kind of silly, so clearly this was a more dignified choice).
ADDITIONAL NOTE:
Let’s get this out of the way: YA is a broad umbrella and there’s room for all of us here, from actual teenagers to the mostly actual adults who write it. Even if all a person reads is YA, they will travel all over the world and into every little niche category and age group that could possibly exist. This is a pro-adults-reading-YA space. A lot of my own writing falls into the Teenage Girl Stories of Dread and Anxiety slot, so even if I weren’t naturally drawn to the category by virtue of being a Middle Aged Teenager, I’d have to read it to improve my thinking and writing processes, so. TL;DR: read anything/everything; don’t get weird about it on TikTok.
AND AWAY WE GO!
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BOOK VIBES EPISODE 1
“I know people think being queer is like, very fabulous, and full of witty repartee and all that, but sometimes it’s also crying in the bathroom of an Applebees, somewhere near Margaretville, New York, while Rihanna’s S&M plays on the speakers for the early-bird crowd. A mess, basically, and not even a hot one. Just a mess.” -page 33 / [58:34]
THE INFO:
The Honeys, by Ryan La Sala
Published by: PUSH, an imprint of Scholastic
Broad Categories & Keywords: fiction, young adult literature, horror, LGBTQIA+
Length by format:
- print and e-reader: 341 pages
- Audiobook: 10 hours, 38 minutes
Audiobook narrator: Pete Cross
Where To Find It:
- if you have one: your local library! (Please see note at end.)
- Obviously Amazon is right there, and I do not judge, but if you’d like to avoid the juggernaut here is a link to bookstore.org!
THE MAIN VIBES: surreal sun-drowned shimmery seventeenth summertime sadness… with BEES
Despite what they say about not judging a book by its cover, I was intrigued by the lighter, brighter, admittedly more-Midsommar-y vibe of the art and title style and borrowed it immediately, though I was a little intimidated by the runtime. I needn’t have worried. The writing and production brought a little world to life, one that so completely masked the drudgery of household chores that I was surprised and a little sad when I only had half an hour to go. I was charmed by the setting—among other writerly talents, La Sala has a gift for painting lush natural images—and Cross’ narration is dreamy and soothing. His voice work inhabited Mars, the beautifully and aggressively queer lead character and narrator, so fully and distinctly from other character’s voices that I could feel myself beginning to miss him as the story wound down to its conclusion.
Let’s back up for an overview. Though I alluded to Midsommar (2018), and there are nonspoilery commonalities between the two (tragic death, bright summer setting, the hint of potential cult activity), The Honeys takes place primarily at an old-money summer camp in the Catskills of upstate New York, and the action is seen from the first person perspective of Mars Matthias, a genderfluid 17 year old and the child of a senator, navigating life after the sudden death of his twin sister, Caroline. He steers this grief by taking up her place at Aspen Summer Academy, hoping that he might solve the mystery of her violent passing and, by getting to know her friends—a group known collectively as The Honeys—lay to rest the guilt of having grown apart since they were children. This heaviness is contrasted with the more relatable experiences of difficulty fitting into an unfamiliar social scene and the joyous potential of being swept up in crush feelings. These aspects are encompassed by an unseen but overwhelming supernatural crackle, a sense of things not being right—but not being all wrong, either.
I’m trying not to overuse the word “dreamy,” but if I had to pick one single vibe to add to the general keywords, that would be it. There is an unease and unreality in the atmosphere, but it’s not always unpleasant. Mars has experiences and perceives the world through a deepening connection to the Honeys (so named for their special occupation as Aspen’s beekeepers) that demonstrates the ambiguity of truth and reality. In a way this is standard adolescent stuff—the removal of the veil of childhood perception, the recognition of the “real” world, and how surreal it can feel to notice the difference—but La Sala does it with skillful, loving description and some truly inventive, chilling horror concepts. And with a couple of exceptions, there is no way to easily discern between “good” and “bad” characters or to definitively label any of them as such. Humans are ambiguous, nebulous, messy creatures that celebrate their triumphs and change as they learn about themselves, and this narrative and crew of characters honors this truth.
Other big vibes: queer, queer, queer. Unapologetically, unequivocally, gorgeously, defiantly queer. I fucking love it and I’m here for it 1000%. Growing up as I did in the 1980s and ‘90s, we had perhaps a handful of queer characters strewn through TV and movies—mostly outcast afterthoughts, unrealized outlines with no personality than The Other, brought in for one Very Special Episode to be beaten unconscious so the main cast could learn a Very Important Lesson. Whether that lesson was “aw, c’mon gang, let’s be nice to the gays” or “stay the fuck in the closet” depends, I suppose, on the viewer. I didn’t read a book with a queer character until I was almost out of my teens, and it was of the “bury your gays” variety. Given the scary social pivot occurring at this moment in time, one that sees us heading back to that only very slightly enlightened era, it can sometimes feel scary and discouraging out here, as though we ought just pack it in and be quiet. Mars—especially in an utterly delicious moment following a fencing duel—refuses to be quiet, to capitulate to gender roles/norms/expectations, to shut down the parts of himself that are fluid and capacious. Mars waves a banner for queer readers regardless of their particulars or their age demographic, or of how out or “brave” they are, and shares with us all some moments of discovery and victory that may feel out of reach in our real life queer experiences.
A note on the audiobook production: before this title, I hadn’t listened to anything with music or sound effects, so this aspect was a little jarring at first. These enhancements aren’t 100% through the book and mostly add to the atmosphere when they do appear, except for one instance of a radio left on in an empty cabin where the generic rock riffs and Simlish-sounding DJ talk got in the way of the narration, but it was for less than half a minute. I do love some nighttime crickets and drowsy daytime bees, though.
I don’t do “ratings,” but for the VIBES, let’s give this five very gay bees out of five.
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*If a book is not carried by your library in either print or digital form, but you’d like it to be, ask any of the librarians how to request a book. I’ll be real with you, I don’t actually know how it works and how quickly a library may be able to acquire a book, but the lovely folks at your local library really can answer all of those questions. If you do not have a local library, I am sorry, and you can disregard all of that.
Cosmic’s Read-o-Rama 