Books like Thinking Straight

I tried to read this book but I’m on page 110 and I asked myself why on Earth I am doing this to myself. So let’s stop.Why? It’s a story about a gay teen, Taylor, who is also a believer and whose extra strict homophobic parents enroll him to a special correction unit where Taylor is supposed to become straight ‘again.’ Mind you, the parents are described as not that bad, yeah, the father is quite ‘gruff’ but the mother is ‘the sweetest woman on earth’ – I get that a child doesn’t want to fight against parents and see them as villains, not every time, but can we stop with excusing parents’ horrific behaviour? Because what, they’re parents? It makes them even worse.We also get a story about how Tylor became aware he was gay. You see, being around 15 (I guess?) he touched his friend’s dick. And then he discovered he wanted to do that again. And again. Fine, I get everyone has their own realization story but this one… Then he meets his true love, Will, and the very moment they get to be alone for the first time together, they have sex. Again, I get that there are people who do that but I don’t know, being 16 me and my friends were about kissing after the first "I like you" was uttered. Also, given the fact that Taylor is such a devoted believer, it seems a bit strange that he has absolutely no second thought about remaining ‘chaste’ or ‘virgin’, boy or not. And the same character admits that he finds it hard to believe that atheists exist! I get that American religiousness may be strange to some of us but that left me confused as hell.Then we move to the facility and it’s a parade of clichés and stereotypes. You read about any mental institution? You know them all. You read anything about any institution led by clergy? You know what the secret plot will be about. I reached almost the half of the book and I can’t muster any interest in any of the kids. I feel really sorry for them, of course, but that feels not enough to follow their plot.Of course the villains are the devilish priests and women. There is an obligatory mean girl that is mean to everyone because she can be. Generally, the way the girls were described was unpleasant and Taylor, who’s the first person narrative, didn’t get any of my sympathy points for that.Oh, and do you know what is the first thing that Taylor does after being left alone for the first time in the institution, on his first day, being closed here for forty days, after crying his eyes out and declaring he was scared? He masturbates in the corner. Because he misses his boyfriend. I don’t know, maybe that’s what people do but for me it felt so forced I was rolling my eyes.As for me, a waste of time.