--- product_id: 1390244 title: "Adam: A Scathingly Funny and Poignant LGBTQ Coming of Age Love Story of Identity" price: "VT5715" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1390244-adam-a-scathingly-funny-and-poignant-lgbtq-coming-of-age store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # Adam: A Scathingly Funny and Poignant LGBTQ Coming of Age Love Story of Identity **Price:** VT5715 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Adam: A Scathingly Funny and Poignant LGBTQ Coming of Age Love Story of Identity - **How much does it cost?** VT5715 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1390244-adam-a-scathingly-funny-and-poignant-lgbtq-coming-of-age) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Adam: A Scathingly Funny and Poignant LGBTQ Coming of Age Love Story of Identity: 9780544142930: Schrag, Ariel: Books Review: Addictive - This book is full of turns that make the story develop on a very deep level. It starts out with the typical rich-kid attitude, and throughout the entire book, abuses his awkwardness. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions, and felt very sad at others because of events within the story. I just couldn't put it down; I finished it in about a week (while dealing with a nearly full time job and summer classes), which for me personally, is incredibly fast. The characters had me wanting to befriend, yell at, or even question their decisions on nearly every single page. The details are incredibly strong, but not too much to over saturate the story. Schrag leaves the right details up to the reader's imagination, which helps bring the reader even further into the summer that Adam experiences his biggest life changes. Language is very un-PC at points, which helps with the character development and believability that these could be genuinely real people. This development is where I questioned a lot, only to find out the reasoning typically hidden later in the book. It would be too easy and no fun if all the reasoning was spelled out straight forward. I found out about this book as a "similar to Catcher in the Rye" suggestion, and in many senses, it fulfills that very well. It essentially encompasses the themes of "coming of age" and "confidence in, and appreciation for, oneself". If you like books that are bland and can't handle feeling changed as a person by magnificent works of beauty, then find another book. All others, you'll enjoy this. Review: Turns the usual boy-meets-girl novel on its head a bit...sweet, quirky, and funny - Sometimes when we're attracted to a person we bend the truth about ourselves a little bit to get them to like us. But no one does it quite like 17-year-old Adam Freedman. As Adam's junior year of high school ends, he's not quite sure he fits in with friends anymore, because they all have girlfriends and he tends to be a little more on the awkward side. He desperately wants a girlfriend, however, and really wants to lose his virginity (although don't tell anyone he's a virgin). When his friends start pairing off in couples, leaving him the odd man out, Adam decides to spend the summer living with his sister Casey in New York City, where she is a student at Columbia and has fully immersed herself in the LGBT culture, without worrying that their parents will find out. Adam finds himself drifting aimlessly through the summer, still feeling like a third wheel, and longing to meet the girl his dreams have envisioned—a beautiful redhead—so he can go back to his California high school a completely different person. When he meets Gillian—a redhead, no less—at a rally in support of same-sex marriage. He is instantly smitten, and when they meet again at a party, the two feel a strong connection. There's just one problem—Gillian is a lesbian, and has no desire to date a man. What's a guy to do? Desperate to build a relationship with Gillian, he pretends to be transgender, one who was born female but has transitioned to male, which explains Adam's youthful appearance. (He's also led her to believe he's 22, the same age she is.) Adam knows that a lie, especially one so serious, isn't a good foundation on which to build a relationship, but he can't stand the thought of being without Gillian. The more intense their relationship grows, the more he feels pressure to tell the truth, but instead he learns everything there is to know about being transgender, so his cover doesn't get blown. But Adam realizes how one lie leads to other lies, and the pressure of maintaining such a facade takes its toll on happiness. And he also learns that memorizing facts about what it's like to be transgender doesn't even scratch the surface of understanding what life is really like. Along the way he'll find himself in some compromising positions (both sexually and ethically), and he'll be more surprised than he ever imagined. Ariel Schrag's debut novel is sweet, funny, and quirky. At times I found Adam's character a bit reprehensible, but then I remembered he was only 17, and many an immature 17-year-old has done far worse, particularly in the pursuit of sex and love. (Often more the former than the latter.) Adam pokes fun at every LGBT stereotype, and while it does raise some interesting social issues, ultimately it's simply a charming boy-meets-girl novel, albeit this one tweaks that formula a bit. I enjoyed this book, quirks and all, and found Schrag's storytelling ability to be breezy and refreshing. I'll definitely be watching to see what comes next in her career. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,008,875 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #221 in LGBTQ+ Humorous Fiction (Books) #255 in LGBTQ+ Coming of Age Fiction (Books) #262 in LGBTQ+ Family Life Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 3.8 out of 5 stars 281 Reviews | ## Images ![Adam: A Scathingly Funny and Poignant LGBTQ Coming of Age Love Story of Identity - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51LLylTli-L.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Addictive *by C***D on July 24, 2015* This book is full of turns that make the story develop on a very deep level. It starts out with the typical rich-kid attitude, and throughout the entire book, abuses his awkwardness. I laughed out loud on numerous occasions, and felt very sad at others because of events within the story. I just couldn't put it down; I finished it in about a week (while dealing with a nearly full time job and summer classes), which for me personally, is incredibly fast. The characters had me wanting to befriend, yell at, or even question their decisions on nearly every single page. The details are incredibly strong, but not too much to over saturate the story. Schrag leaves the right details up to the reader's imagination, which helps bring the reader even further into the summer that Adam experiences his biggest life changes. Language is very un-PC at points, which helps with the character development and believability that these could be genuinely real people. This development is where I questioned a lot, only to find out the reasoning typically hidden later in the book. It would be too easy and no fun if all the reasoning was spelled out straight forward. I found out about this book as a "similar to Catcher in the Rye" suggestion, and in many senses, it fulfills that very well. It essentially encompasses the themes of "coming of age" and "confidence in, and appreciation for, oneself". If you like books that are bland and can't handle feeling changed as a person by magnificent works of beauty, then find another book. All others, you'll enjoy this. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Turns the usual boy-meets-girl novel on its head a bit...sweet, quirky, and funny *by L***R on June 16, 2014* Sometimes when we're attracted to a person we bend the truth about ourselves a little bit to get them to like us. But no one does it quite like 17-year-old Adam Freedman. As Adam's junior year of high school ends, he's not quite sure he fits in with friends anymore, because they all have girlfriends and he tends to be a little more on the awkward side. He desperately wants a girlfriend, however, and really wants to lose his virginity (although don't tell anyone he's a virgin). When his friends start pairing off in couples, leaving him the odd man out, Adam decides to spend the summer living with his sister Casey in New York City, where she is a student at Columbia and has fully immersed herself in the LGBT culture, without worrying that their parents will find out. Adam finds himself drifting aimlessly through the summer, still feeling like a third wheel, and longing to meet the girl his dreams have envisioned—a beautiful redhead—so he can go back to his California high school a completely different person. When he meets Gillian—a redhead, no less—at a rally in support of same-sex marriage. He is instantly smitten, and when they meet again at a party, the two feel a strong connection. There's just one problem—Gillian is a lesbian, and has no desire to date a man. What's a guy to do? Desperate to build a relationship with Gillian, he pretends to be transgender, one who was born female but has transitioned to male, which explains Adam's youthful appearance. (He's also led her to believe he's 22, the same age she is.) Adam knows that a lie, especially one so serious, isn't a good foundation on which to build a relationship, but he can't stand the thought of being without Gillian. The more intense their relationship grows, the more he feels pressure to tell the truth, but instead he learns everything there is to know about being transgender, so his cover doesn't get blown. But Adam realizes how one lie leads to other lies, and the pressure of maintaining such a facade takes its toll on happiness. And he also learns that memorizing facts about what it's like to be transgender doesn't even scratch the surface of understanding what life is really like. Along the way he'll find himself in some compromising positions (both sexually and ethically), and he'll be more surprised than he ever imagined. Ariel Schrag's debut novel is sweet, funny, and quirky. At times I found Adam's character a bit reprehensible, but then I remembered he was only 17, and many an immature 17-year-old has done far worse, particularly in the pursuit of sex and love. (Often more the former than the latter.) Adam pokes fun at every LGBT stereotype, and while it does raise some interesting social issues, ultimately it's simply a charming boy-meets-girl novel, albeit this one tweaks that formula a bit. I enjoyed this book, quirks and all, and found Schrag's storytelling ability to be breezy and refreshing. I'll definitely be watching to see what comes next in her career. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Plot device gone wild. *by K***R on June 12, 2014* The premise of this book is genuinely intriguing. Adam is a straight man who has come to live with his sister who is lesbian. In her world he is the anomoly. All her friends are part of the LGBT world. Many of the men are transgendered who are beginning or who have completed hormone treatments and sexual reassignment surgery options. Adam has yet to find himself comfortable in any sexual world. He is younger than this twenty something group. He is a virgin, body and soul. In order to win his first true love, he lies and says he was born a woman and is lesbian. The girl with whom he is involved has been born a woman and identifies herself as lesbian. There is much to admire in the writing of this book. The style is literate and witty. The author fairly fearlessly takes on the deeply complex waters of sexuality that is not only counter to the culture, but often to the body of birth. And sex is a divisive topic. There are questions of whether being accepted is simply pandering to a sick society and who is politically more correct. For Adam the landmines never stop and this is where the plot device devours the book. The continuing story depends on any number of coincidences and subterfuges succeeding. Adam is not without soul, and the lie is making him sick at heart. His struggle to understand the people around him make this book exceptionally insightful. But the lie keeps skewing the story to almost slapstick levels at times as he tries to hide or rationalize his erections. I think the endearing issue of Adam's "straight" sexuality being far from clear to him is lost in his endless faking. The device really could have worked, since this self confusion is a clear and present theme of this book. I still recommend this book. It addresses subjects central to the human condition and even at lesser level of success, it is more worthwhile than many successful treatments of easier topics. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1390244-adam-a-scathingly-funny-and-poignant-lgbtq-coming-of-age](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/1390244-adam-a-scathingly-funny-and-poignant-lgbtq-coming-of-age) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-07*