My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Draw the Line by Laurent Linn is a gay YA coming-of-age set in small -town Texas and follows closeted sixteen-year-old Adrian Piper as he learns to stand up for himself and others against the homophobic bullies and administrators at his high school.
Initially, I hated Adrian and this book and dnf’d it years ago, but lately I’ve been on a queer super hero kick and revisited it now that I’m a little older.
In hindsight, I realize my visceral hate was due to Adrian reminding me too much of myself, e.g. his internalized homophobia and femephobia and being a shy geeky kid with a superhero alter ego.
Graphite, the main character of Adrian’s comic, was interesting, and I loved how the comics broke up/introduced the chapters. The artwork was also good and reminiscent of Webtoon comics I’ve read.
Overall, I liked the plot of the story, but I had some issues.
First, Adrian’s friend Audrey, was the sole Black main character and often described as loud, bossy, and angry. She also had no role outside of helping Adrian and advancing his storyline.
Second, while I found Adrian’s relationship with Lev cute and wholesome, it came off as forced and rushed as they go from complete strangers to boyfriends in a few weeks. I also thought him kissing Adrian in the cafeteria where anyone could stumble upon them didn’t make sense as they were both closeted, and he did not know if Adrian even liked him.
Third, given the hate crime Doug committed against Kobe, which incited the story, and the abundance of videos of said hate crime, it should have been a much bigger deal. And Doug’s police-sergeant father shouldn’t have been able to make it go away as easily as he did.
I also thought Kobe was little more than a plot device and could have been used so much more to help Adrian come to terms with his sexuality and femmephobia.
I will say I’m glad Linn didn’t use the cliché of the homophobic bully who’s secretly gay. However, the reason for (spoiler) sending messages to Adrian was never explained.
Overall, I give Draw the Line 5.0 out of 5.0 stars and recommend it if you like queer geeky teens, comics, and superheroes.
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