Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The Music of What Happens

Konigsberg, Bill. The Music of What Happens. 2019. 338p. ISBN 9781338215502. Available at FIC KON on the library shelves.

The Music of What Happens

Max is your typical teen. He loves video games, plays football, enjoys cooking, and is popular at school. He's also gay and out, and it is not a problem for anyone in his life. With summer, Max needs a job and would rather not work at the bank with his mother. When he helps a woman struggling with her food truck, he jumps at the opportunity to cook in a truck.

Jordan, although also gay, is the complete opposite of Max. Gay but uncomfortable, a drama queen of the first order, and most often lost in his own wallowing misery, Jordan can't believe that he has to spend the summer running his father's old food truck with his mother instead of spending time with his girl friends looking for the perfect boy. 

Finding themselves working in the truck in hot Mesa, Arizona, Max at first can't believe that Jordan is an employee, let alone the boss. Jordan is impulsive, doesn't know how to cook, and puts his foot in his mouth more often than not. Jordan finds Max aggravating with his sunny disposition and his common sense approach. They soon realize that they need each other, however, and an attraction between the two of them develop as they spend days figuring out how to turn an old food truck into a profit-making machine. 

However, both of them harbor dangerous secrets that could upend their lives. Jordan's mother is literally falling apart, gambling away the little money they have. Max's secret is even darker, as he was raped by a college student during his first sexual encounter and remains traumatized by this experience. Will they be able to move beyond their issues to really bond with each other?

Told from the alternating perspectives of Max and Jordan, their relationship is realistically portrayed and feature intense feelings, misunderstanding, and the confusion that arise out of first love. Fans of realistic fiction and of LGBTQ+ literature will appreciate the efforts that both Jordan and Max end up investing in trying to make the food truck, and themselves, work!

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