Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles is a fantastic follow up to Tyler Johnson Was Here. If you are looking for a book that is a thoughtful character study of the inner world of a bisexual Black boy, this is THE book for you. I found myself so impressed and frankly bowled over by some of the passages within this book.
Jay Coles’ Things We Couldn’t Say is about Giovanni “Gio” who is a junior in high school. Gio is a starter on the varsity basketball team. He also loves making playlists. Gio lives with his father and stepmother, Karina, along with his little brother Theo. His mother essentially abandoned him when he was eight, and so Gio and Theo both are working through abandonment issues and trauma from it. As it turns out though, his mother has returned and Gio must decide if he wants her back in his life, while also processing what happened. Meanwhile, there is a new boy on the basketball team who also happens to be his neighbor – David. FYI, David is bisexual as well and spending more and more time with Gio.
This book is multifaceted. I love that it wasn’t solely about one thing. Rather, this was about Gio coming into his own. He had to get comfortable with who he was. Gio had to figure out if he wanted to come out in general as bisexual and then if he wanted to pursue a relationship with David. David, FYI, does make some missteps but learns from them. We also do get the reason why Gio’s mom left and it makes some sense. Looking at it from the perspective of a mom with two kids, there’s nothing in this world that could prevent me from being in the lives of my children. BUT, that is also looking at it from immense privilege, given that I am a cishet.
Anyways, I just really want to point out that I thought Tyler Johnson Was Here was really good and I feel as though Things We Couldn’t Say was a level up for Coles. Clearly the writing and skills have not stagnated. And well, I just love when an author gets better and better. Now I find myself looking forward to whatever Jay Coles is coming out with next. I am sure he is going to ascend his skills to the next level.
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