Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan [Review]

4.5 out of 5 Robots!

  

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Genre: Contemporary YA
Release: August 27, 2013
Hardcover: 208 Pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:

New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS.

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

(Courtesy of the Publisher)

Shannon's Thoughts:

There is no doubt that Two Boys Kissing is an Important Book.  And it feels like an Important Book. It wants to be an Important Book.  And it succeeds for the most part. Two Boys Kissing is narrated in a first person plural by the past generation of gay men lost to AIDS.  At first, I was a little thrown off by the narration style.  But then we start to get into the storyline and then I started to get swept away.  David Levithan has a very distinct writing style that is at once wordy and sparse.  The emotions and images he is able to invoke in a 200 page book is pretty astounding.  I really loved the complex relationships between the characters.  Levithan captures the feelings of rejection, love, longing, and hope extremely well.  At times my heart was truly breaking for the characters.  I think a lot of teens especially (gay or straight) will get a lot out of this book.  A very good read.

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer & David Levithan [Review]

3.5 out of 5 Robots!

  

Invisibility by Andrea Cremer & David Levithan
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Release: May 7, 2013
Hardcover: 358 Pages
Publisher: Philomel
My Copy: Purchased
Reviewer: Shannon
Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:

Stephen has been invisible for practically his whole life — because of a curse his grandfather, a powerful cursecaster, bestowed on Stephen’s mother before Stephen was born. So when Elizabeth moves to Stephen’s NYC apartment building from Minnesota, no one is more surprised than he is that she can see him. A budding romance ensues, and when Stephen confides in Elizabeth about his predicament, the two of them decide to dive headfirst into the secret world of cursecasters and spellseekers to figure out a way to break the curse. But things don’t go as planned, especially when Stephen’s grandfather arrives in town, taking his anger out on everyone he sees. In the end, Elizabeth and Stephen must decide how big of a sacrifice they’re willing to make for Stephen to become visible — because the answer could mean the difference between life and death. At least for Elizabeth.

Shannon's Thoughts:

The premise of this book seemed really interesting and fun, but unfortunately I found Invisibility to be just "ok".  One thing I did like was that I could definitely get a sense of each author's writing style (Levithan for Stephen and Cremer for Elizabeth).  It gave each character a very distinctive voice.  I especially enjoyed Stephen's narratives.  In fact, my favorite part of the book was learning how Stephen deals with his invisibility and also how his world is affected once he realizes Elizabeth can see him. 

The beginning of the story really does start off strong, but somewhere in the middle it gets bogged down and convoluted.  The added storyline of the cursecasters and spellseekers took up too much of story and kept it from focusing on the elements I enjoyed.  The story stalls right about the time Elizabeth starts her training.   I wished the book had focused on Stephen and Elizabeth's friendship and allowed for a slower build to their relationship.  As it were, they fell in love rather quickly and then were suddenly "boyfriend/girlfriend". It felt a bit off.  Also I had SO many questions about Stephen's invisibility that were never really answered.  And even though I enjoyed the invisibility aspect, I was still distracted by my questions the whole time. I guess, in the end, I wished the book had a smaller focus and tried to accomplish less.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan [Review]

4 out of 5 Robots!

   

Will Grayson, Will Grayson
By John Green & David Levithan

Genre: Contemporary Young Adult

Release: April 6, 2010

Hardcover: 310 Pages

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile

My Copy: Purchased

Reviewer: Shannon

Buy the Book: Amazon

Book Summary:

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

Shannon's Thoughts: 

I did not read the cover flap very well because when I started reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I had no idea what it was about.  I honestly thought it was going to have some kind of Sci-Fi alternate reality situation but that is very very far from the truth. And that is a good thing!  It is not the type of book I generally read, but I usually like them when I do.  And I generally don’t get to read books where the two main characters are guys!  So yay for that!


The story is told by alternating perspectives of each Will Grayson.  John Green and David Levithan take turns narrating for each Will Grayson.  This could have been a train wreck, but it works very well here.  Each Will ends up with a very distinctive voice and I have no problem distinguishing between the two.  Green’s Will is introverted, timid and slightly nerdy.  His best friend is Tiny Cooper - a very large and gay boy with a larger than life personality.  Levithan’s Will is a manic depressive goth boy who is coming to terms with being gay.  The Wills end up meeting by chance and their lives become entangled through Tiny.
  

I was fully on board with this book...right up until the ending.  The book touches so many important adolescent themes - friendship, relationships, love, sexual orientation and depression.  The themes are handled with authenticity and poignancy and quite a bit of humor.  But then the ending happens with the high school musical and it is just a little too over the top for my taste.  I don't want to scare people away by saying that because the rest of the book is really good.


I would also warn that Will Grayson, Will Grayson is not a book for everyone.  There is strong language and sexual references.  But I really enjoyed it (minus the ending).  Both Wills come a long way from the beginning of the book and there are some very sweet moments between the characters.  Just don’t expect a sci-fi book - haha!