Title: Out of the Pocket
Author: Bill Konigsberg
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication Date: September , 18th 2008
Source: bought
Rating: 3.5/5
Star quarterback Bobby Framingham, one of the most talented high school football players in California, knows he's different from his teammates. They're like brothers, but they don't know one essential thing: Bobby is gay. Can he still be one of the guys and be honest about who he is? When he's outed against his will by a student reporter, Bobby must find a way to earn back his teammates' trust and accept that his path to success might be more public, and more difficult, than he'd hoped. An affecting novel about identity that also delivers great sportswriting.
My thoughts
( I could not find real american foot ball audibles* ,so I created one)
B24 B 22 C 10 ,Hut Hut Hut .
( an audible* cry out )
American football is one of the four major sports in 'Merica . As I'm from South America , specifically Suriname , I have never experienced or seen a live match on TV . I've only come in contact with this sport through American media. Ok now a bit on the sport !
American football (known as football in the United States and gridiron in some other countries) is a sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field 120 yards long by 53.33 yards wide with goalposts at each end. The offense attempts to advance an oval ball (the football)down the field by running with or passing it. They must advance it at least ten yards in four downs to receive a new set of four downs and continue the drive; if not, they turn over the football to the opposing team. Most points are scored by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.*source ; Wikipedia *
Now that we know what american football is I can share my thoughts on this novel . I know little or nothing at all of the sport .Out of the pocket has been the first American Football centric novel I've read ,I do have others on my radar or on my shelf but this is the first. So I can not say if the author represented well enough but I could feel as if was a part of the team trough Bobby's eyes . I could feel the comradery between the team mates and the rush of adrenaline on the green during a match . Bobby Framingham has it all ,he is the school's star quarterback , popular and dating a cool weird chick. Ok kinda dating . But he's is hiding something , his attraction to men . His not coming out because it could damage his future foot ball college career . Involuntary coming out of the closet changes his carefully crafted cocoon. He's outed by a school reporter .
Ok that's a quick rundown on the Out of the Pocket . ( it's really paraphrased version of the synopsis , hahaha) ok now on the characters , pacing and all that jazz.
The characters
Bobby has a great voice trough out the book. A great friend and team mate who would have had my back in a match if I was one of the characters in this novel. It took me a quarter of the book to emotionally attach to him with this said it does not mean he was annoying or anything. He felt like nothing special but at end of Out of the Pocket I felt for him dearly . And I like how he handled the situation caused by the outing and how dealt with the kid that outed him . Bobby was of course furious but calmed down did nothing stupid and handled it well. Up to bro . ( tiny 5'4 roro tries to hive five him lol ) . I don't know or can't remember but I envisioned bobby to be 5'9 ^^.
The remaining cast of characters were okay. Nothing special but the ones that sticked with me are his parents. They were in his life. A lot of times YA novels don't have present parents and if they have some the parents often take a back seat in the scheme of things ( hope I'm using the expression correctly ). Bobby is very consumed about his parents and especially his father and after I thing that happens they grow closer. Coming out and an other thing started the growth. *I hope I have an great coming out experience when I come out. My dad thinks it a face and mum does not know yet* . Ok enough of my life drama ( you're here for the review gosh darn it lol , tnx for the eventual comments of what I just shared )
The plot and such
Out of pocket is written in first person past tense. The things that made it special in my opinion were the sports articles appearing at certain moments in this book. I loved one in particular. Just saying
2nd.The other thing that I loved to read about was the football terms , I've was never interested in American football. I must watch one now . Name your favorite team in the comments and do say so why ^^ .
One thing I did not like and which dropped the rating with 1 1/5 star was the notion being gay is okay as long as your not effeminate. I don't know if this is intentional but it appeared at least twice in Out of the Pocket. It's only okay when you're a jock/ athlete .AKA very masculine . I'm not effeminate but I would get crushed at a football match . I'm more like the artsy skinny kid but this rubbed me the wrong way. In the past I felt like effeminate gay guys gave the gay community a bad rep but I now I don't think that way anymore . That's who they are . Ok back to the review . Later on Bobby come to same conclusion but I did not take way what already was done . Maybe I'm bitter or hypocritical but effeminate statement should not have happened. Also the new upcoming romance has an open ending I which I don't like. I wish it did't ( the open ending )
My final thoughts
I've had this book on my wish list since 2011. By then it was already 3 yrs old . Every time I had the opportunity to buy it I did not. I was planning to buy it early 2012 when I would win cash again but my access to the internet was cut 2013 so I was not able to. Now 2014 it is out of print . I bought a kindle version with the sum of credits I had left and some I had recently won at the time . It is freaking $ 14 . Overpriced and I did not love it 100% but still happy I gave it a try. I hope you all give it a try . Library lend it or find it at second hand bookstores . $14 dollars is not worth it for the kindle . Time flies for sure . When this book was published not a lot of current day athletes came out but recently that has changed. Ranging from nfl players to a WWE superstars and even Olympic divers like Tom Daley and Matthew Mitcham ( he's 26 or soon to be and he's so adorable , search him up on YouTube his ukelele videos brighten up my day immensely ) . I can't wait for openly straight but hopefully I won't wait till it's out of print
*audibles: Audible, a tactic used by quarterbacks in American football to change a play at the line of scrimmage
