Across the Page: Coming of Age and Coming Out

This month’s Across the Page features two novels that focus on the complex, sometimes funny and usually terrifying experience of coming out: Lauren Bjorkman’s My Invented Life and Paula Boock’s Dare, Truth or Promise.

My Invented Life by Lauren Bjorkman (Henry Holt)

Due out this fall, Lauren Bjorkman’s My Invented Life is a hilarious, thoughtful and engaging novel about the power of perception.

Roz admires her older sister Eva so much that it borders on envy.  Eva is a beautiful, sophisticated, and popular cheerleader who’s dating Bryan, Roz’s crush. But everything changes when Roz discovers a “lesbian” novel in Eva’s room and becomes convinced that her sister is gay.

Eva dismisses the idea and says that the book belongs to “Eyeliner Andie,” a goth chic from the school play, As You Like It, that both sisters are working on. But Eva’s answers to Roz’s questions are suspicious, particularly when the name of Carmen, her best friend and cheerleading partner, comes up:

“‘As if a cheerleading babe could be a dyke,’” Eva says at one point, and Roz notes that usually she would simply joke about the accusation: “The old Eva would’ve made a joke of it. Now you know. Just between you and me and the tabloids, Britney Spears and I are lovers.”

On the other hand, Roz has reasons for wanting to believe that Eva is a lesbian. For one, she thinks it would make the family more interesting, and then, of course, there’s her crush on Bryan.

Roz continues to pursue her suspicions. Part of her charm as a narrator is not only that she is extremely funny, but that she makes a mess of just about everything she touches. In an attempt to help Eva though the difficult coming out process, Roz decides to tell everyone at school that she herself is a lesbian. The announcement ricochets through the theater group, especially after Roz gets the lead role of Rosalind.

Though Eva is still unwilling to admit anything to her sister, she watches the other students’ reaction to Roz’s “lesbianism” very carefully. The lie actually begins to bring the competitive sisters closer as Roz files briefings to Eva called the “L Reports.”

In the “reports,” Roz chronicles her experience at school (student reactions, a surprising crush she develops on “Eyeliner Andie”) and her research (reading coming out stories online and learning about the challenges of gay teens). Her false coming out initially angered Eva, but it eventually forces many of the characters’ secrets to come out of the closet.

Though My Invented Life, Bjorkman first novel, reveals the difficulties many LGBT teens face at both school and home, it is ultimately an uplifting story that offers insight and hope with a nice dash of humor. Highly recommended.