I Kissed Shara Wheeler

McQuiston’s novel celebrates the multiplicity and complexity of identity. Not only do the characters subvert gender and sexual stereotypes but the novel’s protagonist, Chloe, also discovers the complexity of others’ identities and learns to resist prejudice against those whose stories she does not know. At the beginning of the novel, Chloe swears that “nothing interesting happens” in False Beach (15), but by the end of the novel, she recognizes that the residents are, in fact, complex and interesting people. What Chloe first regards as being “assigned to the world’s worst group project” (10), eventually becomes an experience of learning and growth.

Smith challenges the stereotype of the high school football jock. Although Chloe at first assumes that Smith “isn’t much better than the other football d-bags,” whom she “dislikes on principle” (17), she finds that there is more to Smith than his jock status. Not only is he graceful, but he also enjoys wearing cosmetics and putting flowers in his hair. Smith is in love with his friend Rory whom he had drifted away from once he joined the football team. That Smith “flows” from room to room rather than walks reflects the fluidity of his gender identity.