Autoboyography ~ Christina Lauren

★★★★☆

But this is your life, and it will stretch out before you, and you are the only person who can make it whatever you want it to be.

I went into this book expecting to hate it. I even put it on my dreaded "all-aboard-the-nope-train" shelf where only the books I have no intention of ever reading go, but a challenge in a group challenged me to read a book I thought I wouldn't like, and this one came immediately to mind.

Now, let me explain my reasons for finding this book's mere concept--nay, mere existence--originally unsavory: I am a Mormon, as most people call us; a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as we prefer to be called. We have a rather sordid history in media representation; we're either the vile, cultish villains (practically twirling our moustaches and sacrificing babies to the devil in our sinister temples) when in media made by non-members, or quirky, unintentionally bad actors in media made by members that pander and are only ever viewed by other members. There are very few exceptions.

This made me terrified to read this because the premise practically promised that my religious and cultural group were yet again the bad guys, that my existence is viewed by the world as fiendish and cruel and racist and homophobic and all those things solely because of the church I was born into and chose to stay in, even though the religious texts themselves don't condone such inhumane behavior.

And yet, I was pleasantly surprised.

Here's why:

The authors did more research than most (which is hilarious because we're a proselyting religion, which means we actively and enthusiastically go out of our way to tell you everything we can about us and what it all means to us. Honestly, there are very few if any secrets we keep from the "outside world") and it really showed! I was laughing at all the "gosh darn it all to heck" moments because IT'S SO TRUE!! We're all that way! We get so creative with our fake swears, there's an entire song about it. Listen to it here (it's...really bad, so be forewarned, but it's also really funny): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0-WQ...

But, seriously, there were so few incorrect things! (Only one of them actually affected the plot.) I was very happy with the level of research these authors actually did to represent a culture they are not apart of. (A reference to the spaceship/cupcake temple would have been nice though. Or even better, how there are so many Mormons in Provo that there are two temples in the city, and a church building for every few blocks, which is what most of northern Utah and southern Idaho are like tbh.)

One thing I wish they had done was to show how the culture of the church is different in different places, even if just a little. Most people in Utah, in general, are Republican and very conservative, but for the most part, they greatly dislike Donald Trump and his views. Most people in non-member areas like where I live are also Republican but many aren't BYU-worshipping (I for one am not at all), and some are Democrats like me, especially in the youth. The society surrounding the church does greatly influence the people of the church. I've known many people who are gay and Mormon who still have many friends in the church. "Utah Mormons" are a known stereotype within church culture, known for being self-righteous, socially and politically unaware (often decades behind in fashion), and small-town-minded. That, the authors represented pretty well. But the so-called "cool" Mormons, the more open ones, they're the anomaly. Well, where I'm from, they're often the norm.

Sebastian was such a wonderful person. He's so kind and the only character I've ever been able to relate to on the literal spiritual level. I didn't see his reliance on prayer and religion as denial, because it's the way I've dealt with every hard thing life's ever thrown at me, and it's worked for me every time. It really helps to know that there's a God out there who loves you even if you're a total screw-up and you ruin everything. I've never had a character that believes the same things I do before so finally finding one was so amazing, you don't even know.

You are an exceptional human, with depth and heart. Don't let anyone—or anything—dim that light inside you.

The issues I had with the book were that it was too formulaic and predictable (only really unique in premise; execution was pretty standard contemporary romance), and Tanner does a lot of crappy stuff with very few consequences, which was unrealistic and annoyed me. I liked his character, but he deserves some comeuppance.

Also, there is such a thing as "the Seminar" at Provo High but it's just a class to prep you for taking future AP classes. It isn't anything special. The one in the book is just a glorified creative writing class. There is such a thing as Seminary, but it's a churchwide class high schoolers take that teaches more in-depth doctrine, and given that the book takes place in Provo, it definitely would be a class taught at the school that only members would take. Where I live, it's a class before school (and yes, it sucked to wake up early and yes, that's why I failed it). It's one of the ways you get into BYU so obviously Sebastian would have taken it and passed and yet it isn't mentioned. Also, Sebastian is not a youth anymore, he's a young adult and would go to a young adult singles ward (the one hinted at in the book; he wouldn't have to talk to a girl about moving his records though, he'd just talk to the clerk, who's likely an old dude, but possibly a young dude) and therefore wouldn't be attending youth activities, he'd be attending young adult activities and go to church on BYU campus. There are a few people where I live that decide to stay in the family ward between their graduation and their mission, but only if they aren't going to school yet. Most decide to go to the singles ward because otherwise, family wards get awkward because 1) you're too old to be a youth and everyone makes that clear by asking you why you aren't in the singles ward, and 2) you're too young to be comfortable with all the married couples in priesthood and relief society because everyone's asking you why you're not in the singles ward. So...why wasn't Sebastian going to the singles ward and why were the young men's leaders still letting him go to activities with 12-year-olds?

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