Honestly Ben

By: Bill Konigsberg

Narrated by: Dan Bittner

Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

In this companion to Openly Straight, Ben confronts pressure at school, repression at home, and his passion for two very different people in figuring out what it takes to be Honestly Ben.

Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.

Except...there's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else...and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.

Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green, Honestly Ben is a smart, laugh-out-loud novel that will speak to anyone who's struggled to be "honestly ____" in some part of their lives.

©2017 Bill Konigsberg (P)2017 Scholastic Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dan Bittner's narration develops the unique personality of 17-year-old Ben, a secondary character in Konigsberg's earlier book Openly Straight.... In this follow-up, Bittner quickly reveals Ben's intelligence and introspection.... In a complex portrait, Bittner captures Ben's confused central conflict - is he gay, or straight, or is he only 'gay-for-Rafe'? Keeping the plot engaging, Bittner highlights Ben's search for his identity." ( AudioFile)

good read

Thought provoking and honest. The writing doesn't really remind me of teenage boys, but a lot of the shenanigans do. Worth a listen.

Loved it!

Another great YA novel about teen struggles, romance and coming to terms with one's own sexuality (with a side story of gender identity). I didn't want the story to end. I want to know what happens next for these boys and hope their story will be continued. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Pretty good...even with new narrator.

This story was pretty good. It was better than honestly straight though I like that narrator more. I eventually got use to this new one and Ben is such a wonderful character. I wouldn’t mind knowing more about what happens with him, and the rest of the gang.

honestly wonderful

THIS was a beautiful conclusion to the story. It made me think through labels, coming out, and everything and I mean everything in between.

The importance of not labelling people

The importance of not labelling people isn’t explained enough in this book.

The pressure to be called gay/straight/bi is immense on a teen and when people even lovingly try to make them move faster than what they can or want to can do as much harm as hate does. This is explored in the book but not enough.

Love it

I love it ❤️was one of the best books on audible please everyone read it

Different Voices

Great like the first one. I think the label which was avoided is demisexual, not that any label fits perfectly to anything, but it concerns about emotion preceding actual sexual attraction. I was a little nervous about the changing perspectives, but nothing was lost about the real story. It's almost annoying the amount of connectivity, me and Rafer have the same thoughts on the barrier to makes, and Ben and I are hold it in guys. Anyway great book, I just wish the narrators could have been the same, a couple of the voices were really hard to get used to. I didn't want this story to end. it would be cool if there's a third volume with them actually navigating their new lives at the school, and maybe Ben interacting with his family situation.

Perfect sequel

Perfectly follows up the first book, really gives you an in DEPTH explanation of Ben’s character that you’d never guess from the first. Although I do think a LOT of ‘page time’ was wasted on Hannah.

#TeamKonigsberg

Was always available at a moments notice and off-line playback was a plus. 💙 It

Good read for adults too

Enjoyed listening to this very much. Well constructed story. Interesting characters. Very real emotions expressed. Wish I could have read it as a confused teenager.