The Music of What Happens

I have no words. Just loved it.

OMG!! This hardcover is so beautiful!!!And smells amazing! (although there is a marker mark on dust jacket 😢)Loved the book! And all that Texas surrounding and desert vibe + food truck !! What's not to love?!Books are my life and I rant about them on Instagram (@book_dd_ ) !

Konigsberg’s latest book, The Music if What Happens, is his best yet. The Music of What Happens is a beautifully written story of two high school boys, Max and Jordan, as they work together on amateur food truck trying to raise money to save Jordan’s house from foreclosure. Along the way, these two opposites attract, and learn how to deal with the secrets that each one carries. In regard to the writing, Konigsberg’s characters jump off the page with their authenticity and the setting of Chandler AZ is vibrant and real. I have never felt as close to a book as I have with this one. Beyond the story and writing, The Music of What Happens is a pivotal book in young adult literature. LGBTQ+ young adult literature has a rich history of coming out stories about protagonists affirming their identity and encouraging countless readers to do the same. But there has been fewer books that look the lives of LGBTQ+ youth beyond their coming out. The Music of What Happens explores issues including: heteronormativity, toxic masculinity, and sexual assault in the LGBTQ+ community. I couldn’t recommend The Music of What Happens highly enough.

This is a well written book and he really gets into the teenage mindset and language. I loved Openly Straight and Honestly Ben so I was excited to read his book. It is dark and everything that could go wrong does. The ending is not really happy and a deep sadness permeates the book. I found it a tad oppressive but I love an upbeat ending.

Having read all of Bill Konigsberg’s works I obviously had to preorder this book the second if became available. I waited nearly a year for this release and could not wait to get my hands on this story. Plain and simple “The Music of What Happens” has easily become my favorite of all his works! (Thus Far) From the moment I met Max and Jordan I could not put this book down! I hope to keep this Spoiler-Free but all I can say is this story made me laugh out loud, made me cry, I literally felt like Max and Jordan were real people I could know & wish I actually knew. Their experiences make for a phenomenal story, from a phenomenal author, and an important story not just for us LGBTQIA, but for anyone looking to experience life through the music of what happens.

“The Music of What Happens” is a tiny epic, exquisitely crafted, covering only a month in the life of Max Morrison and Jordan Edwards, two very different LGBT boys, one hot Arizona summer.The classic YA trope is that Max is a jock, big and muscular, while Jordan is slender and graceful. The reversal of this trope is that both boys are out to their best friends – two other baseball players for Max, two snarky girls for Jordan. Coming out is not the issue here; coping with life is. These boys and their friends are a racially diverse crew, which allows the author to explore those realities in clever and meaningful ways through the kids’ often hilarious banter. These two triads of teenagers are miniature Greek choruses, giving Jordan and Max both sounding boards and sources for their personal pain.The central plot arc is a grimy food truck that Jordan’s widowed mother Lydia is trying to resurrect in order to stave off losing their house. Max decides to sign on as a helper when he happens across the food truck while avoiding his mother, Rosa, who is on the warpath because of his staying out overnight the night before. Max sees working on a food truck as an escape from the tedious clerical job his mother has assigned him as punishment for his behavior; but he also is fascinated by Jordan, and hopes to get to know this creative, quiet kid better.Parents are critical in this story, something I especially appreciate in YA fiction. That doesn’t mean that the parents are saintly or wise. Parental failure is key here, as well as parental love. Love is not a solution in this world. It is necessary, for sure, but it guarantees nothing.Very early in the book Max narrates: “I came away realizing I had powers I didn’t know I had: I was a freakin’ warrior.” For all that this seems like an affirmation, the author and the narrative gradually bring us to the realization that this is a fallacy, a smokescreen designed to deny feelings that themselves would reveal something profoundly damaging. Both Max and Jordan are in denial, and neither one of them understands it. Being strong is what boys – even LGBT boys – are taught, and that gets in the way of self-understanding.Jordan and Max are attracted to each other, but also see each other as alien creatures that they don’t understand and don’t know how to deal with. For much of the story, the boys circle each other, trying to figure out what they’re dealing with. This is handled charmingly and with great humor, as each boy brings his puzzlement back to his best friends for discussion and judgment. By the time any sort of overt physical interaction happens, they’ve already gone past their basic attraction to each other. I don’t mean it’s over, but that their friendship has evolved to the point where they are able to truly see each other. This, in the end, makes all the difference, and transforms Konigsberg’s book from a teen romance to a coming of age story that seems quietly Wagnerian in its emotional power.No spoilers, but the first 80 percent of the book is the build up to a crescendo that brings both Jordan and Max’s back stories to a head. This is where the book’s title comes into play, weaving a line from a poem into a complex and poignant finale.

The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg is a contemporary YA love story between two boys going through a rough time in their lives.Jordan and his mom attempt to start running their food truck when Max happens to check the truck out. What he sees has him volunteering to help work on the truck for the summer and make it a successful business.Now that's just a small part of the story but I hate spoilers. This book was so wonderful, that you should read it and find out for yourself what else happened. It was beautifully written. Konigsberg is one of my favorite authors for his ability to write these amazing characters that I get so caught up in. I find myself thinking about them long after the book is closed and wondering what else is happening in their lives.I absolutely loved that Jordan and Max were there for one another during what was probably the worst days of each of their lives. If they had to go through things without one another, they may not have been able to.I appreciate that Max immediately saw Jordan and not any of his flaws. This was a boy who thought very little of himself and Max helped him grow and change.The parental roles were so significant in both of their lives and making them who they were. Jordan's more so than Max but Max deserved better than what he got from his father. He hid his pain thanks to his fathers influence.As I read through this, it sounds more like a book report than a review. But to the point, I loved it and highly recommend this as well as his other books.