“Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun” is a story written by Jonny Garza Villa. It is a Young Adult Novel about Julián who lives in Texas with his widowed father. It is his senior year of high school and he is in the closet. Secretly, he has been crushing after Mat, a boy from California that he met on Twitter. But after getting drunk at a party, he unintentionally comes out via Twitter.
Julián’s life is completely turned upside down as now all his friends and classmates know the truth, as well as his crush. Which turns out, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Mat reaches out to him and the two begin an online friendship which eventually leads to more. Julián’s only problem is his father, who learns about him and gives him an ultimatum, be straight or get out.
Fortunately, Julián’s older sister is there for him. Both she and their grandfather try to help him deal with his father’s rejection. While trying to fulfill his dream of attending college in California.
This is a beautiful love story, which has real obstacles for Julián to overcome. It is easy to say, it is fiction so of course, these guys will end up together. But Villa does a good job of setting up realistic obstacles that Julián has to overcome, and not hand him an easy win. Julián’s family truly cannot afford the tuition for school in California and are trying to convince him to stay local. But Julián is lovestruck and is adamant that he wants to attend in California. Not only to get away from his hometown but to be with the boy he loves.
I can understand his drive to want to leave his hometown. He is aware that there is no future for him there. Most of his high school friends will be gone after graduation, going to college themselves. He is doing what he can do, to be free before he is trapped. This was a very relatable book and I felt for him. It has a beautiful ending, which I think I enjoyed more because his happy ending wasn’t about getting the guy.
The story wraps up nicely and it is easy to imagine and decide what his future became. But that being said, I hope that Villa has plans for a sequel where we see Julián in college overcoming the unforeseen struggles that are a part of his new life.
Esteban Q Mathieus 