How to Be Remy Cameron
by Julian Winters,
2019.
I have a confession to make: I totally bought this book because of its cover.
Everyone says not to do that. But folk wisdom isn’t always right. The truth is, a smart publishing house understands that people do buy books by their covers, and that the book better deliver what the cover promises, or else they’re going to have unhappy customers. So a smart publishing house hires talented artists and designers to create a cover that captures the themes and the mood of the book inside.
How can your heart not go out to the kid on the cover of this book, plastered as he is with sticky notes that read ADOPTED, BLACK, and GAY? The whole thing has him knocked sideways, like a bottle of wine. He stares at the reader in bewilderment.
The note BEAGLE on his dog is the crowning touch.
So I bought the book. And now I am here to recommend Remy Cameron to you all. And to affirm that the cover really nails it.
Rembrandt “Remy” Cameron is a clever, handsome, and popular high school student, though he is only dimly aware that he is any of those things. He is also Black, adopted by a white suburban family whom he loves deeply, attending an overwhelmingly white school. He is also gay, and more than that, the first student of his school ever to come out publicly. Others followed, and now he is president of the school Gay-Straight Alliance. As the novel opens, Remy is just coming off a painful breakup with his first boyfriend, a soccer player named Dimi. Now the rest of the soccer team refers to him as “Dimi’s ex-girlfriend.” Ouch.
The folk wisdom that “you can’t judge a book by its cover” is not just shopping advice for book readers. It’s also a metaphor, warning us not to judge our fellow human beings by their superficial traits. Remy Cameron confronts this metaphor head on when his English teacher assigns him a self-description essay and his seemingly comfortable life (the breakup with Dimi notwithstanding) goes right off the rails as Remy experiences the mother of all identity crises.
“Who am I?” is the most important question in an adolescent’s life, but because Remy is so distinctive in so many ways, he feels lost in the very traits that make him stand out. He’s famous at school for being out and proud, but surely there’s more to him than being gay. He’s one of a handful of students of color, but surely there’s more to him than his race. Only, what?
Remy goes out with his seven-year-old sister and gets mistaken for her babysitter because they’re different races, triggering all his adoptive child insecurities that he’ll never really be a Cameron. He studies the arsenal of pastels and neons in his closet and wonders if it’s possible to be too gay. He ponders his taste in indie rock and thinks maybe he’s not Black enough. The less said about Dimi the better, but at least Remy knows one thing: amid all this turmoil in his life, he has no emotional room for another relationship. Then he meets Ian.
A character study like this rises or falls on the strength of the character, so I’m pleased to report that Julian Winters has drawn a powerful character beset by powerful doubts—daunting, yet familiar to us all. The challenge is great, but Remy Cameron rises to it. So does Julian Winters. Pick up this book and, like Remy Cameron, prepare to fall in love, whether you think you’re ready for it or not.