The Music of What Happens

Literary Merit: Excellent
Characterization: Excellent
Recommended: Highly Recommended
Level: High School

I absolutely adored this book from beginning to end. The characters were quirky, sweet, and entirely relatable, and the story deals with very powerful themes like rape and addiction. The main focus is an LGBT+ romance, made all the more powerful and real because the author himself is a member of the LGBT+ community. I laughed, I shed tears, and I thoroughly enjoyed the wacky food truck ride this novel took me on.

The Music of What Happens follows two high school boys through an incredibly eventful summer in Mesa, Arizona. Max is self-assured and outgoing, but struggles with his mixed race and "man up and stop being a sissy" father. On top show more of this, Max is fairly certain his first sexual experience was rape, and is slowly coming to terms with the trauma of the incident. Jordan, on the other hand, lacks confidence in himself, and is dealing with the loss of his father and his mother's severe gambling addiction. In an attempt to save their home, Jordan and his mother take his father's old food truck (Coq Au Vinny) out once more to earn income over the summer. This is where Jordan and Max just so happen to meet. Realizing that she can't handle the stress and responsibility of a food truck, Jordan's mom hires Max to work on the food truck with him for the summer, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. What neither of them realize, however, is that this summer will likely change both of their lives forever.

Without a doubt, my favorite part of this book was its memorable and three-dimensional characters. Max and Jordan not only feel like guys I would want to be friends with, but Konigsberg writes them in a way that makes me care deeply about their hopes, dreams, and struggles. The characters in this book (even minor characters like Max and Jordan's friends) feel like real people, and their relationships also feel incredibly real. Max and Jordan razz and bicker with their friends the same way I bicker with mine, and familial relationships also feel very diverse and realistic. For example, Max has a wonderful relationship with his mom, who encourages him to open up and express his feelings in a healthy way. On the flip-side, however, Max's dad rarely takes anything seriously, constantly telling him to "man up" and "Stop acting like a sissy." Jordan, too, has a complicated relationship with his mother, whose gambling addiction prevents her from being a supportive or productive mother. Jordan finds himself envying the closeness between Max and his mother, a jealousy I have definitely experienced in real life. The characters and their relationships make this story feel very real, like something that could easily happen in today's world, and I loved that aspect of the novel.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this book is that it tackles some extremely heavy issues without ever feeling preachy or overwhelming. The biggest example of this can be seen in Max, who spends the book slowly coming to terms with the fact that he's been raped. Just like many real victims of sexual assault, Max waffles between feeling angry, scared, and blaming himself for the ordeal, wondering why he couldn't get up and walk away while it was happening. He struggles to open up to others about this experience, feeling weak and thinking that he's making a big deal out of nothing. In addition to this, Max later struggles to be intimate with Jordan because of his experience, suffering from PTSD every time someone mentions something sexual or gets too close. Max's journey in this book could be a powerful learning and healing tool for victims of sexual assault, and I love that Konigsberg uses it as teaching tool for consent and safe, positive sex.

In addition to dealing with the issue of rape, The Music of What Happens also focuses on divorce, loss, and addiction, and does so in an extremely realistic way. At first, it seems as though Jordan's mom might be recovering from her gambling addiction, but we find out in the end that she has relapsed, spending all of the money the boys earned to save their house at the casino. This eventually forces Jordan to snap and cut his mother off to protect his own mental health, and I really felt for him in that moment. As someone who has been personally affected by addiction, I know how helpless it can feel to watch someone you love struggle and relapse. While I think this book is great for victims of sexual assault, I think it could also help to heal those who have family members with an addiction, as I found Jordan to be extremely relatable and empathetic.

While Max and Jordan's friends annoyed me sometimes (much like real friends, I suppose), I really enjoyed their friendships. Jordan has two female friends that he refers to as his "wives," and they sometimes have a tendency to walk all over him while ignoring his wishes. Max, on the other hand, has two "dude-bro" friends, straight guys who enjoy horse-playing and talking about sports. Neither friend group is bad, but both say and do things that leave Max and Jordan feeling pressured, judged, or lonely at times. Both characters open up to their friends near the end of the novel, explaining to their friends that they don't enjoy being the "token gay friend" or the "token minority," and I loved that Konigsberg helped to promote communication and healthy friendships, even between boys (who are often told to hide their feelings and never, EVER talk about them). As I've said many times in my reviews, I appreciate strong male friendships, as they seem to be under-represented in literature aimed at young adults.

While I like to leave room in my reviews for constructive criticism, I honestly can't think of anything I would change about this book. I loved Max and Jordan, thought they had an incredibly sweet relationship, and loved that the author used their struggles as a way to quietly teach teens about the importance of consent, communication, and recognizing one's own self worth. Sure, the characters suffer from a bit of that "John Green quirkiness," but they still feel like genuine and real people despite these quirks. What makes this even more authentic is that it's being told from the point of view of a gay man, lending credibility to the story. In his Author's Note, Konigsberg explains that Jordan was based on a boy he once met who was kicked out of his house for being gay. While The Music of What Happens ended up being very different from this real life story, many elements from both Max's and Jordan's lives were pulled directly from reality. This furthered the authentic feel of the novel, and made me fall even more in love with these characters who could easily be real gay teenagers in America today.

After reading this novel, I definitely want to check out more of this author's work, as I adored his writing style and the way he was able to easily connect with his reader on a personal level. I would gladly recommend this to not only questioning LGBT+ teens, but to anyone who has ever struggled with sexual assault, addiction, loss, or low self-esteem. All of these issues are tackled in an extremely respectful way, and might bring some comfort to readers who can relate to such issues. I would honestly highly recommend this book to anyone, as it's a sweet story with very lovable and realistic characters. I'm certainly glad I gave it a read, and can't wait to see what else this author writes in the future. show less

4.5 stars. Just an incredibly lovely, heartwarming and heartbreaking story of a month in the life of two very different teenage boys who fall in love while working together on a food truck during a hot Arizona summer. They both have secrets they don't want to share; Max had a troubling encounter with an older boy that he doesn't want to label because he's used to being cool and in control of things, and Jordan's mom has been struggling emotionally since the death of his dad and he has taken on a caretaker role that he can't quite handle. So while on the surface this is your basic "emo guy and dude bro jock guy slowly open up to each other" romance, it's also about how they relate to their friends and parents, and how their growth means show more learning what they can handle by themselves, what they can share with each other, and when to call in the cavalry when it's beyond their ability to deal.

The dialogue rang true to me, unlike a lot of YA fiction that makes the teens sound preternaturally adult. It's funny, sweet, snarky and occasionally tragic. And it also felt real to me that at the end nothing has been tied up with a red bow; the boys are happily together, but there is a lot unresolved in their respective lives and I don't even think they have even said "I love you" yet. That could mean that Konigsberg plans a sequel, but the book doesn't need one. The story and the character arcs feel complete even if we don't know exactly what happens next.

I loved this book, and suspect I will re-read it soon to savor it more slowly. show less

The Music of What Happens navigates the fallen-upon relationship between Max and Jordan, and while I like there is a LGBTQ+ romance where there is a positive outcome in the end, I felt like the characters were WAY too stereotypical. It feels like they looked up on ChatGPT, “what are the two furthest stereotypes of gay men” and then formed a ring around them with similar friends. The “weak” fem girly man and the outed jock just seem so…fake? I honestly don't know any other way to put it.
Also, some of the slang and the way they talked to each other were way more sexualized than I think actual teenagers would talk (I am one myself), but I get it this is an middle-aged adult trying to write books that connect to today's teenagers show more but I feel like it was taken a little too far. I also was not very okay with how some of the friend dynamics were…some of them were just plain mean. Like I personally have a lot of friends that are girls but I would never insult them with the b word on the regular.
Although my review might seem super picky, I still overall enjoyed the story and the attention given on the definition of rape and how its not the same for everybody and how it still is a horrid act. Overall, it was fun to read and the love story, and the backgrounds were very valid, and it's good for stories to be out there for us, but maybe do a little more research into more authentic characters. Good book though! show less

Finally, a gay novel about teenagers who don't stay depressed. Thank you "gay Jesus" for a book with smart characters who dialogue with one another and actually show maturity.

The friendships have comedy but they eventually quit being superficial and tell the truth.

I gave this book an extra star because these characters have an authenticity that seems to be missing from many of the GLBT novels I've read.

There is a frank conversation about sexual abuse and issues of masculinity.

Both men use art as therapy.

"The world will make you vunerable. If you're acting like you're not, that's what you're doing. Acting."

I quite enjoyed Konigsberg's earlier books, so together with the neat bookcover... this was a done deal when I spotted it at the library. And quite honestly, it is up there in the top two.

Most of the praise, strategically placed all over the back of the book, has to do with the characters, and after reading it, I totally understand why. Max and Jordan do feel quite real, they're complex in a way that give them a three dimensional feel. So does their feelings for each other, despite the short time span; because while I'm usually a bit eh about quick romances... it doesn't feel that weird knowing they spend so many hours a day cramped show more up in a tiny space together.

The setting was perfect; it was something I didn't know I wanted until now, but man, what a good setting for some good ol' romance. I know I started a story with a similar setting, albeit on a food truck dedicated to baked goods, and this gave me some inspiration to maybe pick that up.

But despite all that, I agree with some reviewers who felt bothered by the lack of reaction of the people around Jordan regarding his living situation, and uh, the fact that his mum basically just let him run a food track with NO supervision together, his only co-worker a fellow teenager, who was also a stranger. It felt even more odd considering how much I liked the way Konigsberg wrote and handled Max's "subplot". Because that is one of the most touching parts of this book, and something that will stay with me for a long time.

Also a tiny sidenote, knowing Konigsberg is also white, it felt weird to me when he had Max rant about the term latinx rather than latin-o/a. I feel like such discussions are up to the actual latinx authors, as it feels very different from when Max felt uncomfortable because his white friends didn't take into consideration the possible racism that made him feel anxious or unsafe regarding
certain things they felt pretty safe and comfortable doing. I don't know. It just felt weird to me.

I'll also admit I feel so, so about the ending of the book. I don't want to spoil, but I liked it for its realness while also disliking it for making me feel the same way as when Rian Johnson made Finn and Rose spend an entire movie doing something only to barely have an impact on the outcome at all. show less

This review is posted on both my personal account and the account for Crossroads Public Library.

Actual Rating: 4.75 stars

What do I say about this book? It was...it was a lot of things. It was funny, but it dealt with serious subject matter and never made light of any of the situations. Jordan and Max are the sweetest, most perfect couple and my heart is so warm, but it aches for what both of them have gone through. I just can’t say enough good things about this book.

It ended sort of abruptly for me, but honestly it could just be that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.