Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review It's September 1987 when 17-year-old closeted teen Micah sees the fabulous CJ at a New York City dance club and feels immediately drawn to him. Circumstances dictate that the two will meet and, after a false start, become friends. CJ is endlessly fascinating to Micah, being the first openly gay person he has ever met, but then, much of gay life and culture are foreign to the innocent teen. CJ becomes his guide en he can be trusted, that is, for he is no stranger to elaborate lies. "A boy likes to be mysterious," he protests. Part of the truth of CJ's mysterious life is revealed when Micah discovers that his new friend is an exotic dancer at a gay "Burlesk" theater. In the wake of this discovery, Micah becomes ambivalent about their growing friendship, wishing for more but afraid of then-rampant AIDS, the specter of which haunts this remarkable novel. Konigsberg has done a superb job of capturing a year at the height of the epidemic; indeed, the book is a marvel of verisimilitude as it explores AIDS' ineluctable impact on the lives of the two teens, who have come to love each other. Both CJ and Micah are beautifully realized characters, helping to make this the arguable best of Konigsberg's excellent novels, and that's high praise, indeed.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Wed Jul 06 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Two drastically different gay teens meet in New York City in 1987 at the height of the AIDS pandemic.Introverted Micah Strauss lives a sheltered life on the Upper West Side with his liberal Jewish parents, who are clueless about his sexuality. CJ Gorman is his opposite: an openly gay, fast-talking, sometimes-compulsive liar who enraptures Micah from the first moment he sees CJ in a plexiglass bra at a dance club: "He looked to me like everything I never would be." For Micah, unemotional hookups with closeted jocks from his school are the extent of his contact with anyone not straight. What ensues is a tour de force: an exploration of a relationship that pulls back the curtains on queer 1980s New York City to reveal a community wrestling with life and death. With care, emotional depth, and a myriad of period music references, Konigsberg expertly balances Micah's wonder, fear, despair, and outrage at coming out during the AIDS crisis. Strong characterizations of Micah and CJ are buoyed by excellent dialogue and believable secondary characters-Micah's doting mother, caring but passive father, hurt and jealous best friend Deena, and supportive lesbian boss-propelling this exhilarating page-turner. It's sure to be an emotional eye-opener for those who did not live through this time and a resonant picture of resilience, community, and activism for those who did. Micah and CJ are White, as is most of the supporting cast.Historical fiction at its finest. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

Horn Book (Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

A Manhattan teen comes out as gay, starts to date, and explores his sexual awakening in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis. Narrator Micah, a high school junior, meets CJ, eighteen, at a nightclub, and the attraction is instant. They bond over music, and CJ supports Micah as he comes out to his family. Konigsberg traces CJ and Micah's close friendship and on-again, off-again romantic relationship through tumultuous HIV/AIDS protests, volunteer work, and a terrifying diagnosis. The novel exuberantly explores NYC counterculture and the music of the period, with scenes involving several iconic gay bars and organizations, including ACT UP, which Micah and CJ join. It also starkly confronts readers with the experience of watching the people of one's community get sick and die painfully of the AIDS virus; Micah's intense fear of sex due to the risk of infection inhibits his relationships. However, the story ends on a hopeful note, and Micah and CJ's love for and loyalty to each other never fail. An author's note explains Konigsberg's connections to the era.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Two drastically different gay teens meet in New York City in 1987 at the height of the AIDS pandemic.Introverted Micah Strauss lives a sheltered life on the Upper West Side with his liberal Jewish parents, who are clueless about his sexuality. CJ Gorman is his opposite: an openly gay, fast-talking, sometimes-compulsive liar who enraptures Micah from the first moment he sees CJ in a plexiglass bra at a dance club: "He looked to me like everything I never would be." For Micah, unemotional hookups with closeted jocks from his school are the extent of his contact with anyone not straight. What ensues is a tour de force: an exploration of a relationship that pulls back the curtains on queer 1980s New York City to reveal a community wrestling with life and death. With care, emotional depth, and a myriad of period music references, Konigsberg expertly balances Micah's wonder, fear, despair, and outrage at coming out during the AIDS crisis. Strong characterizations of Micah and CJ are buoyed by excellent dialogue and believable secondary characters-Micah's doting mother, caring but passive father, hurt and jealous best friend Deena, and supportive lesbian boss-propelling this exhilarating page-turner. It's sure to be an emotional eye-opener for those who did not live through this time and a resonant picture of resilience, community, and activism for those who did. Micah and CJ are White, as is most of the supporting cast.Historical fiction at its finest. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Konigsberg (The Bridge) draws on personal experiences, as detailed in an author’s note, to deliver a touching love story between two gay teens, set in 1987 New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Sparks fly when closeted Jewish Micah Strauss, 17, meets offbeat, out CJ Gorman, 18 and wearing a plexiglass bra, in a nightclub bathroom. The pair bond over music from period-specific musicians such as Wham!, and deliver meals to people with AIDS. Though Micah is immediately captivated, calling CJ “a puzzle I needed to solve,” the two decide they’re better off as friends after engaging in awkward sex. But upon discovering that CJ is an exotic dancer, Micah is overcome with jealousy around CJ’s patrons. A compassionate cast, including Micah’s affectionate mother and a mentoring lesbian coworker, supports him as he learns more about queer people’s triumphs and trials, and reevaluates his place within the community while falling hard for CJ. Konigsberg’s keen sense of time and place, coupled with an optimistic atmosphere, make for both a swoony romance and a sensitive, nuanced look into a tumultuous period in history. Characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Linda Epstein, Emerald City Literary. (Sept.)

School Library Journal (Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2022)

Gr 9 Up— Micah seemingly has every reason to be a comfortable, confident teenager in New York City—except the year is 1987, and he is well aware of the dangers facing young gay men like himself in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. It is only after his encounter with CJ, a flamboyant, proud teen only a year older, that Micah begins to realize that being queer can be more than clandestine encounters and early death. As the two boys grow closer and CJ's outrageous, compulsive lies give way to quieter, scarier truths, Micah begins to embrace his own place in the queer community. The vision of this community constructed by Konigsberg is complex and vast, ranging from a run-in with Marsha P. Johnson to Micah's father's wealthy, seemingly hetero-assimilated gay friend. The glaring inequity between the experiences of queer white boys like CJ and Micah and their Black and brown counterparts is not overlooked. Although AIDS is inescapable, the focus remains on Micah's personal growth from a closeted boy to an activist arrested at a die-in protest. Modern teens may also see parallels between the events that lead to Micah's activism and the events currently urging young queer people into tenacious self-advocacy. VERDICT An intense but ultimately uplifting purchase crucial to augmenting any historical fiction collection.— Austin Ferraro