Review - Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Size: 224 pages
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Release Date: May 10, 2005
ISBN: 978-0375832994
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 5/5 stars


I have been wanting to read this book forever. I’ve read a couple other books by Levithan (Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Every Day) and really enjoyed them. They are always quirky and fun reads that are heartfelt and entertaining. This book fit that perfectly. It’s quirky, fun, heartfelt, and a good commentary on life in general.

Paul has known he was gay since Kindergarten, he’s had a couple of boyfriends but he knows he has met his soulmate in Noah. Him and Noah are perfect together, with Noah at his side life makes sense. Then Paul blows it when he comforts his ex-boyfriend Karl with a kiss. As if things aren't bad enough Paul’s best friend Jodi has started going out with a colossal jerk and won’t even talk to Paul now. Thrown into the mix is poor Tony, Tony is trying to help everyone when really it’s him that needs help. Tony’s parents are absolutely convinced that he will go to hell if they can’t cure his gayness and he is so sick of dealing with that.

This is an absolutely hilarious and heartfelt read. It takes a humorous and endearing look at high school life and life in general. I was seriously laughing my butt off at a number of points in this book. Some of it is just so outlandishly funny.

Paul goes to a very quirky high school. No one has ever given him trouble about his gayness, the cheerleaders ride Harleys, and the star quarterback (who used to be Daryl) is now called Infinite Darlene and is also the Prom Queen. It is a crazy high school. It’s also surprisingly endearing because despite all the quirkiness it just works so well for all involved. Yes there is a lot of drama here, a lot of high school angst...but it’s dealt with in such a humorous way and with so much grace that it is just a wonderful read.

Paul is an incredibly unique character, he is solid in his identity in a way most people never are. His friends love him for it and are a bit jealous. Paul is always trying to fix everything for everyone, and is a bit blind when it comes to taking care of his own issues. His family is wonderfully supportive and funny too.

There are a lot of wonderful characters in here. They are all interesting, intriguing, and inherently trying to be good people.

As everything starts to fall apart for Paul be finally begins to doubt himself and despair...of course this is when his friends step it up and support him the most. Paul finds maybe that first everything had to fall apart before it could be put back together in a way that totally makes more sense.

Tony definitely deserves a shout out as an excellent side character in this book. He is secure in who his is but tired of his parents not accepting that. He makes some incredibly mature decisions throughout the book and really was an absolutely wonderfully wise and supportive character throughout the story.

Overall an absolutely fun and entertaining read. This is a funny, quirky, hilarious, and heartfelt book about a crazy high school where everyone is just trying to figure out who they are as people and find a way to be happy. This book is about love, friendship, life, and of course all the hilarity that ensues. It’s one of those books that just makes you feel happy and good to read. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- TBR Pile Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Early Review - Every Day by David Levithan (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Size: 336 pages
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 28, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0307931887
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley through NetGalley.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

I got a copy of this book to review through NetGalley(dot)com. This was one of the most fantastic books I have read this year. It is so creative and tackles some really interesting questions. It does this in a heartfelt and humorous way; I really really loved it and could not put this book down.

Every morning A wakes as a different person. A never knows if he/she will be a boy or a girl, fat or thin, rich or poor. All A knows is that he/she will wake up in a body that is the same age as A and also within a certain distance of the last body that A possesses. Up to this point it hasn’t been a problem. A lives from day to day and tries not to screw up people’s lives too bad while he is in control of their body. Then one day he wakes up as Justin, Rhiannon’s boyfriend. This time things are different, A falls in love with Rhiannon. How can you be in love when you never know from day to day which person you will be?

Can you have a relationship when you never know what body you will be in from one day to the next? This book is funny, touching, and thoughtful. It brings to light questions about society's perceptions of the physical body and explores how we take permanence of our lives for granted.

I am going to refer to A as a he throughout the review because A starts out as a he in the story...just keep in mind A is more of a he/she. A thinks he has a great overview of human life and is very wise about it all. After all he’s lived through many, many things. He’s been a drug addict, gay, straight, fat and thin. He’s been in loving homes and abusive homes. The one thing he has never been is in one family for more than day.

Can you imagine trying to hold onto the perception of who you are when you have a different physical body every day? A can access the memories of the people he inhabits, but needs to know when to do so. Can you imagine growing up like this and then finally realizing one day that this is not normal?

The concept is mindblowing. Levithan confronts the difficulty and questions that come with this type of existance head on and in a very thoughful and engaging way.

The book really makes you think. Especially as Rhiannon and A try to carry out a relationship. It makes you wonder would you be strong enough to love someone for soley who they are and not the physical package? Could you love your significant other if one day they were male, another day female, one day a drug addict and the next a 300 pound chronically depressed person?

Then there is the whole question of how A should treat the bodies he inhabits. He tries to leave them in the condition he finds them, but what happens if A is in someone who is suicidal? Does he get them help? Or should he not mess with their decision?

Just a ton of wonderful thoughtful issues wrapped in an utterly engrossing story. I could not put this book down. You never know what situation A is going to find when he wakes up and this makes the story absolutely unpredictable. You also are dying to know if A and Rhiannon can actually make this thing work.

I loved the ending, it too was absolutely creative and interesting. I would love to read more stories featuring A...I really would.

Overall an absolutely stunning and fantastic book. Everyone needs to read this. It will make you think and make you look at the perceptions we have as a society in a totally new way. It does all this in a story that is completely engaging, has wonderful characters, is incredibly creative, and even has a sweet love story woven throughout. Highly, highly recommended to everyone.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Review - Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: General Fiction/GLBT
Size: 304 pages
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Release Date: April 6, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0525421580
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: From Library
Rating: 5/5 stars


I am a big John Green fan; I loved Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines and I have Looking for Alaska sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.  So when I saw a new book by John Green I couldn't wait to read it.  This was a wonderful book with wonderful characters.

The book switches between two different viewpoints; each viewpoint is from a different Will Grayson.  The first Will Grayson is best friends with a huge gay teen named Tiny.  Will kind of lives in Tiny's shadow.  Tiny is preparing a glorious musical for high school that he wants Will's help with; Will is struggling with his relationship with Tiny as well as with how he feels about a cute girl named Jane.  Tiny is trying to force Jane and Will into dating.  Then there is the Other Will Grayson, who we will call OWG, who is having an online relationship with a teenage guy; they finally decided to meet in person.  OWG is also dealing with his best friend who is a girl but wants to be more than that and with ongoing clinical depression.  Things culminate into craziness when Will Grayson enters a porn shop out of boredom and bumps into OWG, who is looking for his online boyfriend.  The reader is left on the edge of the seat wondering what will happen with Will Grayson; will him and Tiny stay friends, will he hook up with Jane, will the musical go on?  What will happen to OWG when he tries to hook up with his online crush? 

Okay I am not sure if the above clarifies things, but remember this is a John Green book...so despite (or maybe because of) all the weird relationship stuff going on this is a really great book.  You have a lot of wonderfully realistic characters dealing with a lot of issues.  Green and Levithan do an excellent job capturing the intricacies of all of the teenage angst that these characters are going through.  The characters are wonderfully quirky and easy to sympathize with and love. 

I have never read anything by Levithan before, and I am assuming he wrote what I am calling the OWG parts of the book (since that Will Grayson was introduced second).  He does a great job capturing the troubled moments of that character as well and after reading this book I really want to read more from Levithan.

I was also really impressed with how the Will Graysons' parents were portrayed; the parents are understanding people who are trying to do the best that they can as their sons struggle through high school and adolescence.  I think most parents really do try to do the best that they can for their kids, (despite what a lot of YA literature portrays) so it was nice to see this...it leaves you feeling good.

The character of Tiny bears mentioning because he is central to so much of the book.  Tiny is large and gay and proud of it; he portrays a sense of positivity that is prevalent throughout the whole book...and in a way it is really him that drives the story.  You have to love Tiny; his confidence in himself, the way he tries to exude happiness, his melodrama, and his utter belief in love.

The writing of this book was high quality and super easy to read.  It was incredibly engaging and I found myself reading the whole book in a day, unable to put it down for longer than a few hours at a time.  There is something magical about the story and the way it is written; even if there isn't actually and fantasy here.

I know this book has created some controversy as to whether or not it is age appropriate.  I agree that it is probably best suited for mid to older teens.  There is a ton of swearing, lots of talk about sex, and loads of gay sexual references.  All of this was fairly pertinent to the story, so I don't think it was frivolous.  At heart this is more a book about friendship, about love, and about accepting yourself and others for who they are.

Overall a wonderful read.  It leaves the reader feeling positive and upbeat.  The book addresses issues about self-confidence, belonging, GLBT rights, accepting people for who they are, love, and happiness.  This book just cements John Green more firmly in my mind as a must read author.  It adds David Levithan to my list of authors I want to read more from.  I have had Levithan's Boy Meets Boy on my "to read" list for a while now and this book makes me bump that up further on the list.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The Young Adult Reading Challenge
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- GLBT Reading Challenge