Geography Club

By: Brent Hartinger

Narrated by: Josh Hurley

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

"We just choose a club that's so boring, that nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!"

Brent Hartinger's debut novel, what became first of a series about Russel Middlebrook, is a fast-paced, funny, and trenchant portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart. This is Book 1 in the Russel Middlebrook Series.

©2003 Brent Hartinger (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Highly recommended

Love this story. Not too angsty and tells a believable story of friendship and trust.

Very Interesting

Geography club is about a group of kids who are secretly LGBTQ plus who decide to make a club under the false name, the geography club.

Voice Actor: The voice actor for this piece did a phenomenal job of convincing me that he was 16 years old. I actually thought he could’ve been in high school based on how he read it and the sound of his voice.

Writing: The writing was very simplistic and easy enough to follow. I felt that there was less narrative and more dialogue or internal thought than other books that I have read.

Characters: each of the characters is unique and has their own personality.

Russ, the 16 year old protagonist from which the story is told, is a typical high school boy who is definitely influenced by the opinions of others and by peer pressure. He doesn’t wanna come
out and feel like the only gay kid at school. I thought Russ was decently developed for this first book, hopefully with more development as a series goes on. Continues to go back-and-forth during the story on doing what’s right versus doing what’s popular/expected.

Minh: sassy best friend to Russ. She seems to have a strong personality and is willing to stand up for what she believes in.

Kevin: semi stereotypical jock. Doesn’t check all of the boxes of what you would assume a stereotypical. Is kind and compassionate to a degree.

Gunnar: other best friend to Russ. Manipulative asshole. Wants a girlfriend so bad he forces Russ to go on dates with this girl just so he can go on a date with her friend, even though he knows Russ is gay.

Brian: Poor Brian. The kid no one sits with. The butt of everyone’s jokes. Gets picked on by everyone.

Story: The story was very character driven, based around Russ and his personal fight with not coming out while also wanting to connect with others to discover himself. He makes decisions that are questionable because he doesn’t want to be found out or that he is expected to make in order to be popular.

This is one of those books in which a lot happens without a lot happening. It didn’t totally suck but it also didn’t totally blow me away. I did expect a little more to happen with Kevin than what did, but perhaps that will be in another book. Cute gay teen novel.

Different but very good

This is a little different Than other books i listened to in the Young gay genre. It is not a love story, its a story of comming out and growing up and High School dynamics. But even though it is a little out of my normal HEA genre, i really liked it. I like the MC and the Way he is both human enough to do the stupid thing and brave enough to do the Right thing in the end, makes him a very Real person. I already downloaded the sequal.

I really love this book.

It was... Real. That's really all I can say. (and I was shipping them all so much!)

This was a great start to a fun series

What a great start to a fun series. I'm definitely looking forward to book 2.

I was nervous, but...

I came across this audiobook by looking for freebies in between credits on Audible. Now, I'm 30 years old and really enjoy YA books. I enjoy the simplicity and how they're usually easy to follow along. I also listen to these while I'm working, so the less complicated the story, the better for me.

This book was fantastic. While the story was a bit corny, guess what? It is a story that describes what a LOT of gay youth go through... and dang, it brought me back to my experiences in high school growing up as a gay boy. The characters had good background, the story was spicy, and there was a really lovely lesson learned from our beloved Brian!

I highly recommend this. Easy, simple, but fantastic story.

Realistic story about today's gay youth.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes I would and I have, I have a friend who is taking gay studies at her university I told her it might help her to relate to her subject matter.

What other book might you compare Geography Club to and why?

Zach's Secret about another closeted teen in high school hiding.

Which character – as performed by Josh Hurley – was your favorite?

Russell Middlebroock

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Russell abused the boy in the janitor closet so his friends would think he was cool and just like them.

Any additional comments?

This story reminds me of my time in high school there where kids who where in the closet
some like me who where out and some of those kids in the closet where the most homophobic acting. I though could relate to Russell Middlebrook I was afraid of being found out about my sexuality, till I met my new boyfriend he was out and showed me it was good being who I was his closeness gave me strength he helped me more than any teacher, any counsellor ever did.

Love this series

I actually missed book one and 2 of this series and have gone back to hear the back story. Great acting and story telling.

Good story, well performed.

Good story, worth a listen but one of the rare instances where I think the movie is better than the book.
What they did with the source material really elevates the story!

Bring your own GPS and maps to find your way.

You learn a lot about anatomy and geography. Plus high school cliques and jock ethics. The rumor and gossip are rampant. The lunch room shenanigans are painful. The dates and link ups at night can mix drinking with stupidity. Complete nudity in the locker room and sometimes outside. Teachers and parents are optional.