Imogen may be hopelessly heterosexual, but she’s got the World’s Greatest Ally title locked down. And when she visits her best friend, Lili, at college who is newly-out, newly-graduated, and newly thriving, with a cool new squad of queer college friends, no one knows that Imogen’s a raging hetero – not even Lili’s best friend, Tessa.
Of course, the more time Imogen spends with chaotic, freckle-faced Tessa, the more she starts to wonder if her truth was ever all that straight to begin with…
With an irresistible cast of characters, hugely funny and empathetic writing, and all of Becky Albertalli's trademark warmth and wit, Imogen, Obviously beautifully explores the nuances of sexuality, identity, and friendship – perfect for fans of Alice Oseman and Adam Silvera.
Review: Once I started this story, I just couldn’t stop. I loved the author's note at the beginning of this book and felt like I could relate to it so hard. I loved what she put into this book and I think the whole novel felt more personal because of the letter at the beginning.
I’m such a sucker for books that deal with that transition from high school to college/university and so I knew I was going to be a fan of this one right from the word go. Imogen is going to visit her best friend who is already at the college that she is going to be attending in the summer. It's a big move for her, the college, the gap in time that she hasn’t seen her friend for and then all the new friends that her bestie has made since starting college. I always felt trepidation when I would go and visit friends at other universities and see their lives that they had built post-school and so I really related to this.
Imogen is a proud ally and loves the fact that her pan friend has found her queer clan but this makes her begin to question her own identity, especially when her other best friend is bi and her sister is gay. She has always been the straight ally but is that who she really is? This book opens up a whole can of worms when it comes to queerness and identity and those around you who are supportive on the surface and yet may not have your best interests at heart. It also has a lot to say about growing up and changing and discovering your identity. There is no way that I am the same person now that I was in high school, never mind university or even the person I was 10 years ago. So why should we all have to choose our labels as soon as possible and then stay in our lane?
One of the things that I really enjoyed about this book was how relevant it is to pop culture and it is so in tune with the queer voices on social media right now. I think that it does assume some knowledge of social media though, especially tik tok and terms used within the queer community online so you may want to bear that in mind before picking this up. The romance in this book is just as sweet as the friendship and I was just loving the heart and soul that was so open and raw on the page. I loved getting to know Imogen, I loved Becky Albertalli’s words and I just loved the way Imogen’s story was told. I can’t stop thinking about her and I really hope that this isn’t the last time that we get to see her!
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