WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan

Saturday, April 17, 2010

This book is called Will Grayson, Will Grayson because it's about two boys named Will Grayson who meet once by chance. The book jumps between both their perspectives, and their separate stories. And sure the book is about them, because they're telling their stories, but it's also very much about Tiny Cooper - a friend of one of the Will Grayson's - and the musical he is making about his own life. The other Will Grayson is in love with Tiny Cooper, and he's also depressed, and extremely emo.
 
And it's really difficult to explain but the book is just so funny and with so much heart and with fantastic dialogue. And you'll like it.
 
To me, it was really obvious which author had written which Will Grayson. One was an extremely John Green character (every protagonist in each of his books is effectively the same. It's a great character, and the writing is hilarious, but you wonder, must they all be the same? Which is hypocritical of me since all my characters are just slight variations on myself.), and the other was gay (David Levithan's known for writing GLBTQ lit for teens).
 
I didn't really feel the attraction to Jane. Usually in John Green books, I'm basically in love with the love interest myself but Jane felt a little bland to me. And the interactions between Jane and Green's Will Grayson were too damn intelligent. I mean, I don't want to feel stupid when I'm reading a book. Teenagers don't talk like that. But I still loved his perspective and his relationship with Tiny and it was great.
 
But Levithan's (well, I think it was Levithan's) Will Grayson definitely made the book for me. I think an adult reading this book will hate him because he's a whiny, mopey teenager but I thought his character was so representative of teenagers in general. All of the dialogues between him and other characters were really believable. And I was basically laughing through this entire book.
 
And Tiny Cooper! So brilliant. I wished we could have had his perspective.
 
The themes in the book weren't as developed as I think they could have been. That just fell a little flat for me. There's very strong language and it's largely about a gay teenager (Tiny Cooper, who is indescribably awesome), so it might not be everyone's cup of tea. I recommend it only to an Upper YA audience. It's funny and fantastic and I loved it.
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