Imogen, Obviously by Becky Albertalli
CW: Swearing, Mentions of Sex, Underage Drinking, Gaslighting, Queer Gatekeeping, Internalized Biphobia, Anxiety, Celebrity Pressured into Coming Out, Bullying, Queerphobia, Biphobia, Positive Reference to David Bowie
5/5
I obviously read this book because I read all of Becky Albertalli's books, she even has a tag on this site. I love knowing that I'm getting queer and/or Jewish content when I start to read any of her novels. However, Imogen, Obviously ended up being extra special to me. Imogen and I are very similar people with very similar experiences. I am warning you now that I am going to go into some of my own queer journey further down. There is some bullying, but I will keep the details light. It is impossible for me to talk about this book without going into what it means to me.
Imogen Scott is a senior in high school who has just been accepted to her best friend's college. Lili is one year older than Imogen and has been begging her to come visit all year. When Imogen finally does, she quickly gets absorbed into the group of cool college queer folks that Lili is a part of. That includes Tessa, a chaotic lesbian who reminds Imogen of her favorite character in her favorite movie. It turns out that these friends think that Imogen is bi, as Lili pretended that they used to date. Imogen agrees to go along with it, but she starts to consider all she knows about being bi and what that might have to do with her.
Imogen, Obviously is written very well! Every joke landed, the characters felt like the ages they were written as, there was plenty of diversity, it dove into real and important issues, the pacing was perfect, and mental health was handled realistically and with care. Mental health is very important to this novel, especially considering the anxiety Imogen seems to be struggling with. Other mental health topics discussed and shown in this book are ADHD, bullying, bigotry, gaslighting/gatekeeping, and self-esteem. The diversity in the novel goes beyond queer representation, including a black character, an Asian character, and a Jewish love interest. The book takes place over the course of about a week, but nothing feels rushed or like it couldn't fit. Albertalli is great at making all of the elements work together.
Albertalli has discussed her story on social media, so I will discuss her’s before my own story. If you know it before you read the book, you'll be able to pick up on the references to it. However, you will still get a lot from Imogen, Obviously even if you don't know. There have been a lot of creators of queer content that have been pressured into coming out, especially from within the community. Becky Albertalli is one of them. Others include Kit Connor (Heartstopper), Jameela Jamil (Legacy), and Rebel Wilson (Isn't It Romantic). Albertalli faced years of scrutiny, harassment, criticism, and invasive questions surrounding her sexuality. Although she has been a great ally and advocate to the queer community and has never written anything exploitative, people had a problem with her writing queer content while being seen as cis and heterosexual. Her books led her to questioning her identity, but she should have gotten to come out on her own terms, if she ever wanted to. Imogen, Obviously explores both the pressure to come out when creating queer content and not knowing that you are queer until later in life.
Now for my own story. Thanks to queer media and Glee specifically, I started to consider that I might be bi in middle school. I called myself bicurious at summer camp between sixth and seventh grade. In retrospect, I had a crush on both the girl and boy in a couple I knew there. Although, my first unknown-crush was likely on a girl in my second grade class. However, in middle school, a bully found out that I am bi when she took my friend's phone. I believe I said it was a joke when I realized, and then went so far back into the closet that I thought I was straight.
I was a strong ally to a bunch of queer best friends throughout high school, even to the one person that was a lot like Imogen's friend, Gretchen (you'll know what I mean if you read the book). I also had my one "girl-crush" on/obsession with Felicia Day. In senior year I learned about aesthetic attraction and started coming back to terms with not being straight. It wasn't until the summer when I was posting a lot of pictures of Hayley Atwell on tumblr and also found the term "biromantic" on there, that I finally knew I was bi. Albertalli touches on this a little near the end of the book, but we need more asexual representation in school and in media. The lack of knowledge and the presence of bullies kept me from realizing who I am until a little after Imogen figured herself out. Still, it took me several more years to fully process where I am on the ace spectrum. My story is obviously mine, but I feel a deep sense of familiarity with Imogen.
Thank you for reading my story and Becky Albertalli's. I hope that you'll read Imogen's as well. If you like queer nerds and college stories, Imogen, Obviously is a great book for you! A giant griddle, underground passageways, and dark academia await you in the pages of this book!
Bonus!
Becky Albertali was doing a month of giveaways in honor of Imogen and I won one day! In the slideshow below are the stickers she sent me and the drawings on the envelope!
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