Straight Expectations

July 15, 2023
A heat-of-the-moment wish comes true and causes a gay British teen to wake up straight. Out and proud Max Baker is hoping to get through his last year of high school by serving as fashion consultant for his school's theater department and managing his incurable crush on soccer player Oliver Cheng. Max's best friends, Dean and Alicia, seem to have their futures figured out. Max, on the other hand, is uncertain about what comes next, and he dreams of having the high school romance that many queer kids miss out on. Dean and Alicia are more than happy to help set Max up with Oliver, even if it means embarrassing Max in the process. But when they push too far, and the matchmaking plan fails, the ensuing argument culminates in Max's wishing to be "normal." He wakes up the next day to find that it's more than his sexuality that's changed: He has different friends, his parents are no longer divorced, and, worst of all, Dean has vanished. The story hinges on Max's being upset enough to wish away his current circumstances, but the catalyzing event feels exaggerated and unbelievable, making it hard to buy into the premise. Max is white; Oliver, Dean, and Alicia are all people of color, and through them, Max is made aware of the ways he has privilege due to his race. A clever concept that misses the mark in its execution. (Fiction. 14-18)

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January 31, 2024
Grades 9-12 When 17-year-old Max (very gay) has a terrible fight with his besties Alicia and Dean, he feverishly declares to Dean, "I wish we were never even friends." Be careful what you wish for: the next morning Max wakes up in a parallel universe, where there seems to be no Dean, and, oh god, he's straight. Worse, "It isn't just my sexuality that's changed, the whole world has changed." His divorced parents are now back together; he and Alicia are now a romantic couple, and Ollie--who he was crushign on in the real world--now has a crush on him! Max is desperate to find Dean, who doesn't seem to exist in this universe. With a clever premise, McSwiggan does an excellent job of answering all the questions that Max suddenly encounters with wit (a messy-haired character looks like a Bichon Fris� that got trapped in a car wash) and panache. The result is a highly readable lark.

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