Boy Meets Boy
David Levithan
FROM THE COVER:
Love is never easy. Especially if you’re Paul. He’s a sophomore at a high school like no other – and these are his friends:
Infinite Darlene, the homecoming queen and star quarterback
Joni, Paul’s best friend who may not be his best friend anymore
Tony, his other best friend, who can’t leave the house unless his parents think he’s going on a date … with a girl
Kyle, the ex-boyfriend who won’t go away
Rip, the school bookie, who sets the odds…
And Noah. The Boy. The one who changes everything.
Love meets love.
Confusion meets clarity.
Boy meets boy.
David Levithan
FROM THE COVER:
Love is never easy. Especially if you’re Paul. He’s a sophomore at a high school like no other – and these are his friends:
Joni, Paul’s best friend who may not be his best friend anymore
Tony, his other best friend, who can’t leave the house unless his parents think he’s going on a date … with a girl
Kyle, the ex-boyfriend who won’t go away
Rip, the school bookie, who sets the odds…
And Noah. The Boy. The one who changes everything.
Love meets love.
Confusion meets clarity.
Boy meets boy.
My rating: 4 stars.MY THOUGHTS:
Although not even 200 pages in length, Boy Meets Boy is worth every second spent reading. What I love most about this book is that there’s clearly a set guideline for the plot, but the characters act as catalysts and help it develop; they do the work, instead of the plot doing the work for them. Without the characters Levithan’s created, the plot would fall flat, typical. But instead the characters elevate the situations they’ve been placed in, and each is complex in their own way, even if they’re just a minor character.
Each character has a distinct personality that is able to meld with the other distinctive personalities. There’s no feeling of disconnect between any, and that’s what gives this book its charm. Dialogue and narration are just as helpful and important; Levithan gives Paul’s narrative voice comedy, quirkiness and insight, while keeping it relatable and believable.
There’s not a dull moment and it makes for a great quick read.
I love David Levithan, and I especially loved this book. It's a shame Paul's world doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteOh, I read this for my Children's Lit class and it was seriously fun and whimsical. Magical realism? Drag Queen quarterbacks - that's an image for anyone to savour, hehe. The only thing that didn't sit well with me what the lack of balance in the portrayal in the straight and gay relationships. Hetero relationships were almost always (in the book) are always cast in a negative light - they're always breaking up, breaking hearts and generally miserable. I thought that was unfair and did not really promote what Levithan seemed to want to do. My prof said that usually books dealing with gay/lesbian relationships end up portraying straight relationships in an undesirable light. So, eh. Sorry, I wrote an essay. =\
ReplyDeleteNo need to be sorry; essay-like comments don't bother me. :]
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that the hetero relationships are looked upon negatively in the book. However, I've read one of his other novels, The Realm of Possibility, and the hetero relationships were treated in a much more thoughtful manner. So I never felt the need to harp on Boy Meets Boy because treating the hetero relationships negatively hasn't been a recurring thing with Levithan.
I had a chance to meet David Levithan recently and he is so hilarious and wonderful to talk with. Have you read his other books? I really enjoyed "Wide Awake." Have you read Will Grayson, Will Grayson yet? Would love to know your thoughts on that.
ReplyDeleteI review YA as well...you can find reading suggestions and reviews on my blog:
http://evergreenjuniorhighlibrary.blogspot.com
I look forward to reading more, now that I'm following your blog!