May The Best Man Win by Z R Ellor
CW: Generational Trauma, Divorce, Recent Death of a Sibling, Grief, Violence, Blood, Blackmail, Thievery, Emotionally Absent Parents, Underage Drinking, Heavy Drinking, Cheating (Relationship and Academically), Toxic School Staff, Queerphobia, Deadnaming (off page), Misgendering, Internalized Ableism, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Transphobia, College Application Process Struggles, Money Problems, Bullying, Hate Crime, Dysphoria, Toxic Relationships, Toxic Friendships, Mentally/Emotionally Abusive Sibling, Misogyny, Sexual Assault, Unbalanced Punishment System, Sexism, Cursing, Described Panic Attack, Racism, Self Harm, Classism, Arson, Vomit, Racism, Antisemitism, Body Shaming
3/5
I chose to read Z R Ellor's May the Best Man Win because it sounded and looked like my usual angsty teen romcom with queer characters. Although I feel like I was misled by the premise and point of the book, I couldn't bring myself to put it down. I kept needing to know what disaster would come next. This is the kind of book that can keep the audience invested even when they don't see how it could possibly have a satisfying ending. I came for the romance, I stayed for the drama!
Jeremy and Lukas kick off their senior year of high school by running against each other for Homecoming King. It should be a civil activity, but they used to date before Jeremy came out as trans and started to transition. Jeremy never explained himself for the break-up and Lukas is still spiraling from the recent death of his brother. Neither one is in a good place, and they make it everyone's problem. Friendships are tested, school rules are broken, pasts come back to haunt, and the school is controlled by the money of alumni. Everything is about to go wrong, but maybe some things will turn out okay in the end!
So, if this isn't a book about romance, what is it about? Toxic Masculinity. While it's not the only thing to cause problems for characters, it's certainly what the book focuses on exploring. May the Best Man Win shows that one does not have to be cis or conservative to be lured in by it. Jeremy feels like the only way to be seen as a man is to be aggressive and standoffish. This is likely modeled by his absentee birth father and abusive ex-step-father. It certainly wasn't helped by his grandmother insisting that girls must keep their heads down and behave. Lukas is so desperate to be the rescuer and fix everything that he won't accept help or listen to those he's trying to rescue. There's also a school bully who clearly feels threatened in his masculinity by being friends with girls, trans people existing, and football players being gay. If you want more on how Ellor sees toxic masculinity, you'll have to read the book.
The pacing for May the Best Man Win was hard to keep up with. Lukas has a countdown to the Homecoming Game that he occasionally checks throughout the story, but it's not enough. Sometimes it felt like days had passed when it had only been one or two. As it got closer to the game, it was easier to keep track of, but I lost track again afterward. It was also hard to root for most of the characters, especially Jeremy and Lukas. Their relationship was simply too toxic, and it sounded like it had been for a long time. On the other hand, we likely weren't supposed to root for many of them. The relationship is between two teenagers who are going through some awful times. They're the ones who know each other best, of course they're drawn to each other. This doesn't mean they'll still be together when they grow up. Their romance doesn't need to be a good one for the story to work.
While the romance may have been a trainwreck, the queer representation was phenomenal! I'm cis, so I will never fully grasp the emotions that can pop up when someone is trans, but I have several non-binary people who are important to me. Experiences from Jeremy and his non-binary friend, Sol, often sounded so familiar. A lot of ground is covered, including gatekeeping within the queer community and the people who refuse to intentionally use the singular "they" pronoun. There are a number of gay characters and one active poly relationship. Of course bigotry is also heavily woven into the story. The school is stuck in the past, parents have trouble adjusting to new information about their kids, and the queer club at school is still labeled a "Gay Straight Alliance". May the Best Man Win is a book with informative, poignant, and raw queer rep. You'll get the good bits, the messy bits, and everything in between if you read it.
I don't think that Z R Ellor's May the Best Man Win is for everyone. Parts of the book were really hard to read and I nearly DNF'd it a bunch of times. If you can't handle secondhand embarrassment, stay away. That said, there's a reason I finished the book. It's compelling and dramatic. It reminded me of the best chaotic high school movies. You don't have to root for the characters, but you might just find yourself rooting for the book.
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