I love books told through letters and actually thought the writing in We Contain Multitudes was quite beautiful. However, I struggled with the age gap and it fell into some stereotypes, making the characters feel more like caricatures.

While my library did ultimately end up purchasing this title and I enjoyed the letter format used to tell the story, I ultimately felt the protagonists read more like assumed stereotypes of gay teenage men than anything else. As someone who reads a lot of YA fiction featuring queer characters written by queer authors, I guarantee there are better options for those wanting these stories.

DNF

It has been a while since I got this book and unfortunately I don’t really have any interest in reading the book anymore. I am also now a lot more picky with the books I request and choose to read.

I love books told in letter writing, emails, texts and various multimedia so I was super intrigued by this book, overall it kind of fell flat for me. The teenagers seemed a little over the top... do kids actually talk this way in high school. I mean I didn’t but I can get over that. The main issues I had was just not really caring about the characters and the cheating aspect was just not my favourite. The writing was really good though just not for me! Also is Kurl over 18 cause that’s kinda... icky.

<b>Trigger Warnings: Parental Abuse, Homophobia, Bullying, Underage drinking/ drug use, Slurs mostly f-slur and q-slur, Language</b>

I kind of finished this with a dirty feeling in my mouth. This was a gay romance written by who I assume is a straight white lady. As a straight white lady myself, I don't know anything about what it means to be gay and I wouldn't know the first thing that they go through. I felt as if Jo was some kind of stereotype of what a young gay man would be. And the relationship? It gave me some serious issues with this book. If someone like Adam/ Kurl went through that and has that much rage in him, he needed to work on himself first, get counselling and then and ONLY then would it be healthy to start a relationship with Jo. But even with the 15 year old in a relationship with the 18 year old made me feel really icky. I think this just made parental abuse and gay relationships and a bunch of other things into plot points in these characters lives.
This book was very lyrical and has some gorgeous quotes in it. Especially pertaining to abuse, healing and memories. But the overall book was unable to reach the potential of the writing. I don't believe I will be reading another one of this author's books unfortunately.
If this is a book that has spoken to you personally, I am not trying to dimish your experience of the book. I myself just did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would.

Unique ways of telling a story have always been popular; but it's hard to get them right. Whether it's in a prose, poetry, visual or audio format we crave the uniqueness of a story told in a new way. Sarah Henstra uses hand-written letters, in We Contain Multitudes, to tell the entirety of her story. These letters capture the thoughts, feelings and actions of two boys who grow to care for one another. A football player whose repeating grade 12 and seen as 'macho'; and a geeky picked-on gay boy. These high school boys set the scene via their letters to tell an endearing and decent contemporary teen story.

Letters
The beginning of We Contain Multitudes is sooo great. The letters are the perfect way for us to learn about each boy, see what they are obviously holding back, experience their true emotions written down; as opposed to the look or face they put on in public. Set-up to write to one another via an English class Henstra gives us a clever premise and executes it fairly well.
However the letter method starts to fall apart as the book progresses. The boys start explaining (blow for blow, word for word) situations where they were both present. Who would recap an event with dialogue? Who would tell someone what happened when they were already there? I realize this is required to tell the story to the reader; but for me it came off as really weak and started to consistently bug me the further into the story we got. If I may suggest, a better way to tackle this would have been for Henstra to start off with the letters (ie: Part I - Letters), then maybe move to a first person narrative where each boy gets their own chapter for Part II (plus add a few letters they write in so the boys can express to one another what they are afraid to say out loud). This would have felt more balanced and taken away the unbelievability I felt that the boys would capture and write down every word said at an event or to one another.

Gayness
I checked and gayness is a word. It believe it conveys what I want for this purpose (thank you urban dictionary for helping this old-ish lady pretend to be current). Overall there is a gayness to We Contain Multitudes; and it's not that one of our primary characters is outwardly (and clearly comfortably) homosexual. This gayness permeates from the pages when the boys talk about poetry, music and other cultural aspects of their likes (and dislikes) to one another. While our football boy may not realize he's gay, or may not even be gay, he does start to realize that there is something to be said for being less macho and a little more gay (if you will). Maybe gay isn't the right word here but this 80's child is going with it.
I liked how Henstra handled the awkwardness of the first hands-on encounters between the boys. They were horribly unsure (both of them) and afterwards it created all kinds of drama. This is true of hetero and homo interactions at this age. Although it is clearly heightened for our boys given the uncertainty of whether our football bay is even gay.

This brings me to my question about the author...
What experience does Henstra have with the LGBTQ+ community? I couldn't really find much info about her online and I'd be curious to know if she knows some gay men or has some context for where the emotions of her two leading boys comes from. I'm certain I couldn't tell you how the average man feels, nevermind when it comes to complex subjects like sexuality. At one point it struck me that I would have like some validity or assurance in the Author's bio or in a forward (or even afterward) that Henstra had some credible sources to draw from. The reason I wanted this validation is that this comes off as a romance story where the two leads could be any gender or sexuality. There is something a bit too generic about the overall outcome and attitudes for me given the central importance to the story being between an opening gay boy and one who is not so sure. I need to find a review written by a boy/man who was unsure if he was gay as a teen and see if it resonates for them to know if I'm onto something or just out in left field.

Overall
For a contemporary YA book We Contain Multitudes has a pretty good ending; which is a big compliment from me as I tend to hate contemporary romance endings (YA or adult). This ends feels authentic, realistic and reasonable. A nice treat given how often a "John Green" ending (aka: someone dies and it's all bittersweet and now you'll be forced to bawl your eyes out even if you rarely cry) transpires with this genre. I like both the boys and felt there were equally interesting traits in each of them. Both boys feel like real people with real challenges that stem from their own individual feelings, experiences and current living situations. Additionally I didn't feel like I'd been tricked into crying or had my 'heart strings' pulled just for the sake of pulling them.
So, I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading We Contain Multitudes and I'd definitely recommend it over that Simon book everyone rants about (yes I know I'm just going to bring the legion of haters to the comments by saying this). The difference from Simon to this is that the realism is there, the emotions are there and not everyone is happy go lucky the whole time; because who smiles after being bullied, called names and beat on? No one. And Henstra makes that abundantly clear to the reader as each boy calls the other out for not supporting as expected in certain situations.
Finally, Henstra makes a general call to the reader and challenges them to stand-up for others around them. It's a central part of the story and the evolution of the boys. For me it's a great message that everyone could use a reminder of. Individuals can influence and affect the world directly around them; and if we choose not to then we choose to accept what is happening (intentionally or not).

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

Wow, uh, MY HEART.
From the moment I read the synopsis of this book, I just knew that I wanted to read it. The prospect of two boys writing letters to each other as part of a school project? Sign me up. Considering that I'm super into letter-writing in any sense, this plot was right up my alley.
First off, I LOVE the character development we see, just from beginning to end of the book, these boys seem like totally different people. Watching their feelings for each other grow simply by reading their correspondence was really cool! Oh yeah, this book is written strictly by letters, the story is told through their letters to each other, the whole way through. I thought that this was really cool, where the story could have been lacking in storytelling because of this format; it flourished. The only thing that I found weird about it was that the boys recounted so many things to each other even though they were both there and went through it. Obviously, this was to clue us readers into what happened, and while I, of course, appreciated this, so I wasn't left confused the entire book, it's just pretty unrealistic that people would recount so much stuff they both already experienced. I was able to get over that rather easily, though, and other than that, this formatting is fantastic!
It seems that as of late, I've been reading books about gay boys that are sports stars and aren't as douchey as everyone would assume. And I'm not complaining at all! Kurl, at first, seems completely bemused with the whole letter writing process, and even that being as it may, I was still surprised by how much he would write per letter and of what he would write of. This is for a purpose, of course, as it turns out, Kurl is quite a great writer, and he's not just some sports God or scary twelfth grader. (The author and therefore the setting of this book is Canadian!) In fact, there's so much to his character that we don't know at first glance, and I really loved how he slowly unfurls throughout the story.
In fact, both characters go through quite the amount of character development because of the other's influence. I really loved that Kurl never actually labelled his sexuality concretely, he likes Jonathan and that's that, he slept with a girl while drunk and that was a thing that happened. I think that I can always appreciate one character who knows how he identifies exactly, and the other character he is with, who doesn't know at all. It was refreshing that this character didn't need to rush to figure it out.
The side characters are also really well developed. Shayna and Bron, Lyle, Kurl's brother Mark. Shayna is very much like my sister, so I could definitely relate to that.
I was about halfway through the book and they were already together, my mother was beside me, and when I noticed I went "Oh no." She inquires, and I tell her my predicament. "Ohh." She nods at me in understanding. Oh no, indeed. We all know what it means when they're already together only halfway through the book. That's right, CONFLICT. HUGE BREAKUP.
This conflict didn't actually come until further into the book, and yes, it hurt just much as I thought it would. I felt that it was fitting that nothing was all the way resolved by the end of the book, given the situation that had happened.
Anyways, I need more books written as letters written between characters, preferably queer characters, stat.

I really enjoyed this book. It was cute and quirky. A good summer read. I highly recommend this book

I loved this story! I couldn’t put it down!

This story begins with Adam and Jonathan writing letters back and forth to each other as a school assignment, but it quickly blossoms into a friendship. I think this way of developing a relationship, which was basically orchestrated by the teacher, could be realistic. Sometimes teachers can see things in students that they can’t see themselves, so they can pair up students who would work well together. I’m curious to see the teacher’s perspective on their relationship and to know if she ever read their letters.

I loved the way that the letters told the story. The boys would recount things they did together. They often had a different perspective of events, so the letters weren’t repetitive. The letters would give two sides to the same story. This demonstrated the way that two people can see the same event in different ways.

This was an incredibly moving story.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. Henstra's words were like honey'd tea for a sore throat only to burn your tongue and then soothe you once again. Jo and Kurl's back and forth correspondence fed my literary hunger. I couldn't get enough of them.
The prose was raw and eloquent and build up of the two young men's relationship was beautifully portrayed. the parallels Henstra used with Walt Whitman's poetry was well done and created layers and complexity to these characters that could only be seen through their letters to each other. I might be in the minority in that I loved and appreciated the style of the letters the characters wrote to each other-- like they had a window seat to their own life and feelings.
I loved that Henstra did not back down from the realities of homophobia-- the abuse, the hate, the fear. I loved that she addressed these social atrocities (the abuse, the hate, the fear) along with the navigation of high school and teenage life. Because We Contain Multittudes-- We are more than just ourselves. We are more.
Bravo Sarah Henstra.
D 5/5

I love books written in letters, but this didn't grip me quite like The Chilbury Ladies' Choir. Even though it's different genres and dealing with completely different subject matters, Ladies Choir's letters gave more context and explored even minor characters' lives.

I felt like we only knew Kurl and Jo on the surface level. The minor characters were also severely underdeveloped and underutilized. I also didn't understand why they were in the same school and writing letters to each other about incidents that involved both of them. It felt odd that they needed to write down the dialogue that occured between them just to let the reader know. It could've switched to just letting the reader be in on the scene at that point.

But there were some beautiful sentences and I loved (although it got to be a bit much later on) the references to Walt Whitman.

<i> “And I still hope someday that you and I will be as one”.</i>

This book instantly captured my attention. Right from the first page. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for review purposes.

We Contain Multitudes is the story of Jonathan and Adam. Told through letters, the boys fall in love.

TW: parental abuse, drug use, homophobia, bullying, grief, loss of a parent.

My heart was full of love for Jonathan and Adam. I did despise some of the characters due to their behavior.

I’m so glad that Jonathan and Adam did have supportive people around them.

I JUST LOVE THESE BOYS LIKE A LOT OKAY?! I was intrigued right from the synopsis for this one, guys! It gave me Patrick from Perks vibes and I could not wait to pick it up! And it did NOT disappoint. I was giggly and weepy all the way through. I loved the letter format and I will hold these boys in my heart for a long time. I love, Love, LOVED this read and absolutely suggest it to any contemporary readers, especially Adam Silvera, Becky Albertalli, and Benjamin Alire Saenz fans.
*Content warning for family abuse, practice safe read, BookNerds*

I love a good epistolary novel. This one is about an unlikely friendship between football star Adam Kurlansky, otherwise known as Kurl, and Jonathan Hopkirk, whom Kurl calls Jo. These two are pretty much polar opposites, with Jonathan being a die hard Walt Whitman fan who dresses in cosplay in his honour, and Kurl being a popular all-American kid. And as their friendship grows through their letters, a real life friendship, which eventually blossoms into a romance, emerges. That’s where this novel’s weakest quality resides. There were many things described in the letters that both characters were present for. If both were there, there would be no need to describe the event in letters, and the author says as much several times in the letters, excusing the rehashing as an opportunity to relive the events. But that had me rolling my eyes. It just felt fake and unauthentic, and drew me out of the book, making me thing “I am reading a novel” and not swept away into the story as good books do.

The romance between the two boys was lovely and steamy and heartbreaking. The subplots, though, were overwrought and tragic. They took away from the beauty of the complicated notion of a gay romance during high school, which, honestly is tragic enough. These subplots lead Kurl to do something to Jonathan that is unforgivable, and yet, he is forgiven. That ending felt a little too tidy for the rest of the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinTeen for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know this book is going to stay in my heart for a while, and not a lot of books do that. I just wrote a review about another book that's in the form of letters where I talked about not liking books that are narrated in the letter format. And I just have to say, in this book... it just worked without being over the top. The thing about letter-writing in the 2010s is that it just doesn't happen anymore so it can be hard to take seriously when two characters correspond that way, but the fact that the main characters new how weird letter-writing was, how they continued to do it anyway because it gave them a chance to reflect, and how they continued writing letters to each other even when they didn't need to was so beautiful to me. I love how the characters used letters to get to know each other, share their points of views of situations that they both experienced, and ultimately fall in love with each other. Everything about the letters was so, so, so amazing. This is like the falling in love over emails that happened in Love Simon but times a thousand.

I absolutely loved all the characters. They were so well-rounded to me. I could connect almost immediately to Jonathan. I loved the way he wrote, his obsession with Walt Whitman, the way he expressed himself, his honesty. But I also loved Kurl and his complexities. These characters were multi-dimensional, and I could imagine them so clearly in my mind.

Honestly, I prefer good characters over a good plot, so even if the plot sucked, I would have still loved the book. But the plot was so good. The plot involves two boys falling in love while writing letters to each other for a school assignment but there are so many subplots from Kurl's family situation, his relationship with his brothers, and figuring out his sexuality to Jo dealing with his mother's death, his relationship with his sister, his bullies, and so many more. All of the plots were so important and were woven so well together. The only plot I didn't really care about was the background to Jo's mother and her death. I also really enjoyed how not every plot was wrapped perfectly. Some things are still in the grey area and that's okay because that's life.

I only have two small complaints. First, some parts dragged on, like when they were discussing Walt Whitman or salamanders (lol) and I kind of just skipped forward a bit to get to the juicier parts. The other complaint is I wish the ending was happier. Not that it was sad, but I really wanted to be squealing of happiness at the end. A lot of people complained about the last quarter of the book. I didn't think it was bad at all. Yeah, the drama intensified x10000, but at the same time I loved the drama, and I couldn't put the book down.

The writing was amazing, there were so many quotes I loved (a lot of them from Jo), and I finished this book within a few hours because I could not stop but also didn't want it to end. Also not to be weird but even the sexy scenes were so beautifully written and touching they made me want to cry. I'm going to be thinking about this book for so long and I highly recommend it!!