“FIND ME A BOOK”: A fandom-tastic LGBTQ+ YA novel
THE BOOK: WEIRD GIRL AND WHAT’S HIS NAME by Meagan Brothers
CATEGORIZATION: YA LGBTQ+ contemporary / dual first-person POV
IN A SENTENCE: Teen X-Files devotees Lula and Rory share a complicated platonic friendship that rivals Mulder and Scully’s—but when a fight puts their powerful bond to the test, they embark on separate searches for family and identity.
WHY YOU’D LIKE IT: If you’ve ever been involved in a fandom that set your heart on fire—or found your hand inching toward your platonic friend’s as your mutual obsession flickered on the TV—you’ll want to read and reread this wise and witty book about the bond between two misfit X-Philes. I had the honor of blurbing this one a few months back, and I called it “pure teen-geek heaven, packed with details so authentic I’m pretty sure Meagan Brothers peeked in my teenage journals.” As someone who’s lived her entire life as a fangirl (and written her own YA novel about it), that’s about the highest praise I can imagine giving a book. Brothers just gets it, from the forum banter to the private jokes about random little details (Mulder’s exile beard!). So many times I had to stop reading just to fist-pump, or giggle, or rewatch parts of the “Pusher” X-Files episode because MAN that Russian roulette scene was intense.
“Cerulean blue is a gentle breeze…”
Beyond the pitch-perfect fandom stuff, the story and characters deliver, too. This is Brothers’ third YA novel—she also wrote DEBBIE HARRY SINGS IN FRENCH and SUPERGIRL MIXTAPES—and she’s at the top of her game here. She’s created a pair of endearing and well-defined narrators: shy, idealistic Rory, who’s having a secret affair with his much-older boss, Andy; and prickly, funny Lula, who longs to connect with the mother who abandoned her years ago. They’re inseparable oddballs, joined in a passionate fandom-marriage…until Things Change, as they do in all good YA novels. Lula’s feelings for Rory start to bend in a less-than-platonic direction. Rory tries out for football and Lula’s left-behind feelings curdle into harsh disapproval. And finally there’s a fight, one of those uber-realistic teenage fights that leave you cringing in recognition and thinking “holy crap…is this the end?”
The book’s dual-narrative structure is unusual: instead of switching off chapter by chapter, Rory tells the first half of the story and Lula takes the second half. It’s a smart choice because the book is just as much about their separate journeys toward love, family, and identity as it is about their special friendship. I won’t delve into plot details because it’s fun to watch the story unfold, but Lula and Rory’s divergent paths introduce a constellation of supporting characters who are vivid but never cartoonish. (My favorite is Lula’s stepfather Walter, who’s folksy without being corny and shows her the genuine, unconditional parental love she’s been aching for. Everyone needs a Walter in her life.)
Along the way, the two narrators’ sexual identities are explored with nuance and candor. Rory’s embraced his sexuality, pretty much, but his naive dreams about building a life with Andy are shutting the door on healthy relationships he could be having. Lula, meanwhile, is having her own super-relatable “how-do-I-define-myself” quandary, as she navigates a same-sex attraction to her sophisticated English teacher. Anyone who’s struggled to label themselves or move past a bad romance will relate to and root for Lula and Rory. (And it’s not all angst—there’s a pair of sweet, oddly perfect romantic connections that develop in the book’s last third. No spoilers!)
Despite their separate paths, the platonic Lula-Rory bond is still the book’s emotional center, even as it shape-shifts to accommodate their growth. The end manages to be both bittersweet and hopeful. People change in this book, like they always do, but fandom and friendship are eternal. And when one DVD marathon comes to an end, you can always start over from Episode 1.
THE PERFECT DAY TO READ IT: On the road to a fan convention, while your best-pal-and-possibly-more drives the car in full costume.
FAVORITE LINE: There are two I want to highlight, because they both capture the themes and takeaways of the book.
The first is Lula’s:
“There are times when talking about the X-Files is actually more important than talking about ourselves. I mean, it’s the way we talk about ourselves. It’s the two of us saying, all right, we can’t even approach the real stuff, can’t even begin, but we have this shared love, and yes, it’s just some television show, but it’s our television show; it’s this language that we speak, that only the two of us understand.”
The second one is from Lula’s teacher, Mrs. Lidell:
“Pretty much everybody you meet in life is trying to figure out how to be a so-called ‘normal person.’ As if it’s some fixed point that you reach, like zero degrees Celsius. But everybody’s just who they are. Weird, flawed, good at some things, bad at others. There’s no one single person who’s doing everything right all the time. Trust me on that. There is no such thing as normal.”
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