Out of the Pocket by Bill Konigsberg

Gut Instinct Rating - 3.5

Story Line - 4

Writing Style - 5

Characters - 4

Excitement Factor - 3.5

Believability for type and topics - 5

Similarity to other books - 4

Dust Jacket Art - 4

Title Relevance - 5

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.99. I think it was more deserving of a 3.78.

Emoji Meter: 😐 🙂

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Published in 2008.

Pages: 264.

Number of books by author: 4.

Genre: YA Fiction.

I would probably recommend this depending on the reader because it was enjoyable. And it was enjoyable. It wasn't great. I definitely wouldn't recommend this to someone who didn't enjoy football, because this was a football heavy book. Not only that, but if you're not into sports at all, this book would be so far out of your league (pun sort of intended). The book was fine for a sports/football fan, and it was fine for a high school demographic; but probably not anything higher than that.

The characters were well done but needed some small adjustments. And I only say that because this book was almost entirely made up on guys... which you're probably thinking, "Well, it's about a football team and a gay male." Well, sure. But, this is "the guy." He's the QB of one of the best football teams in the state. I expected there to be more females involved in his high school career. In addition, there was really only three character traits for every character in the book. Pro-Gay, Nervous-Gay, Anti-Gay. And with those character traits came the same three personalities. The pro-gay were kind, accepting people who in general, weren't incredibly popular, nor were they outsiders. The nervous-gay individuals were bandwagon individuals. They all jumped on the pro/anti bandwagon based on their friends... which I guess is pretty true to high school personalities, but it was really annoying that they were all the exact same person. And the anti-gay, well you can piece together the type of people they were based on these other two personality traits. I just would've liked to see some more diversity, I suppose.

I could see this happening tomorrow. And it has, and it will continue to happen until we as society realize sexuality is not a person. It's a part of a person. (I could go on, Michael Sam, being the most recent out-player looking for a spot in the NFL, but I'll leave my GBLT soapbox in the corner and focus on the book.)

I've read 1-2 books similar to this one. Which isn't to say it's a bad thing, but it was very much like Geography Club. So it kind of felt as if I was re-reading a story I've already read. It probably doesn't help that season 2 of American Crime (ABC) featured an identical story line - a gay basketball player and the challenges that come with a gay player on the court and in the locker room. So maybe it's just too fresh in my mind, but it was a very generic story line.

Writing was smooth with no interruptions to the story line. Which was nice, obviously. But it was so incredibly YA. I kind of wanted to shoot myself in the foot with a BB-gun to make the experience a bit more exciting. The writing was very elementary... and there was a bloody-typo! (Made should've been mad.) I don't understand how you can be picked up by a publishing company and both you, the editor, and the first edition released weren't corrected. Maybe it's the spelling/grammar-buff in me, but this can ruin a book for me.

The book was mildly exciting. I wasn't falling asleep, but I think I might've if I hadn't been forced to take breaks in between readings. This book was predictable, so it wasn't all that exciting. Everything was taken at a YA level and returned at a YA level. I wouldn't recommend reading it if you're tired.

The story was well thought out with few flaws. The story itself was fine, but it was just boring. It was too predictable. For me, it was too simple. I think for some readers, it might be too specific to football details. (I, personally followed that portion of the story, but I fear most people won't.)

The title fits perfectly with the story's mission and tone and the dust jacket matches the story line well. I think both might turn some people away given the football imagery and tone. Again, it's just something that might be too specific. I didn't love the dust-jacket anyways. I think there could've been something more.... GBLT-ish or telling of Bobby on the cover other than him in uniform.

This is completely irrelevant, but I'm not a huge fan of the author's name being Bill and the main characters' name being Bobby. It feels too, autobiographical, which makes the book worse if this is the case.