Destination Unknown (by Bill Konigsberg)

I was EAGERLY awaiting this book from the first second I heard about it. I stalked my library until they had it available to recommend (and thus would get me on the waitlist first). It worked! It's the story of two gay boys in 1987, one closeted and one proudly out.

This novel is clearly very personal for the author, who based it on his own life: the Larry Kramer and Marsha P. Johnson cameos really happened to him. He does a great job of  immersing the reader in the 80s in general, too -- remember going to the counter at Tower Records to buy concert tickets? -- though I did notice some anachronisms. (Did white people use the term “allies" to describe themselves back in the day? Were there such things as “Lifetime Movies” in 1987?) 

This is the type of subject matter and story I was sure would have me sobbing by the end -- and I loved what Konigsberg did with the ending and the epilogue -- but ultimately I wasn’t that moved? After thinking about it, I realized I just didn’t connect with the characters enough. I hated CJ’s constant lying and I didn’t like Micah’s general… vibe. And their relationship didn’t work for me either. 

So the tl;dr is this: I loved all the personal stuff Konigsberg took from growing up in the 80s under the specter of AIDS - but it let down my expectations somewhat anyways. YMMV.