Review & Book to Movie Comparison: “Geography Club” by Brent Hartinger

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How I came about this book and ended up adding it to my “currently-reading” list is actually pretty unique. Chad’s dad lives in West Sixth, this ultra cool high-rise right on Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe. It’s right next to ASU’s campus and the entire area has a cool, hip, college-town vibe. We were walking around with our friend Drew after eating at the new Steak n’ Shake (!!!) there and passed by the indie art house theatre there. Drew saw a poster for the movie The Geography Club and I think he had a minor seizure. We walked closer to the poster because he wanted to make sure that it was indeed a movie version of one of his favorite books growing up of the same name. It was! He made me promise that I would read the book so we could watch the movie together. Because you always have to read the book first, right? Here’s a synopsis from its Goodreads page:

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he’s the only gay kid at Goodkind High School.

Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school’s baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There’s his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there’s Terese’s politically active friend, Ike.

But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

“We just choose a club that’s so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!”

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I haven’t read a middle school novel in awhile but I’m glad I read this one. This is a book I’d never even heard of until Drew mentioned to me which, and I know it’s cocky to say this, but that’s hard to do. I was an even bigger reader when I was in elementary and middle school so not much in our school’s library went unnoticed by me. I spent every lunch hour and recess in my library so I can say that with cocky confidence.

Then I realized the subject matter and understood why, I didn’t see many books dealing with gay teens in my Mesa upbringing. That being said, I wish it had been around because I think compassion leads to understanding, and this book definitely inspires compassion. It is a middle school book intended for middle schoolers so read it through that lens and I think you will enjoy it.

I blew through it in order to be able to catch the movie with Drew, we missed it at the theatre but enjoyed it from Amazon Instant Video. The movie kind of overwhelmed me compared to the book, quite a bit was changed and I thought it missed out on a lot of potential that the book offered. Certain aspects of the characters were very different and I think it took away from the “real-ness” provided by the novel. From what Drew, who has read the entire series, has said, they combined a lot of aspects of the first few book together into one movie.

I don’t want to say any more for those that haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet; what do you think based on the trailer below?