Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (2010)

I last read this novel in 2011, and it was the first book I read by either of these authors. I have since read all of John Green's books and although I've only read one other by David Levithan I do plan to read more. You can see my previous post for a summary and my initial thoughts.

Reading it this time, I remembered very little about the book, like the fact that even though there are two Will Graysons, the whole thing is much more about Tiny Cooper. I did remember how much I love Tiny Cooper. He feels all of the feelings, which kind of makes up for some of the other characters who have trouble expressing themselves or choose not to. He's also more sure of himself than anyone else, and is there for the newly-met Will Grayson when he most needs someone, and does a great job of making him feel better. (I will heretofore refer to that Will as lowercase Will and the other as capital Will.)

This time around, one aspect of the story that really stood out to me was lowercase Will's depression. When Tiny first comes over for a visit, he sees Will's prescription meds. When Will explains that they are for depression, Tiny mentions that he too sometimes feels depressed. Will is inwardly very annoyed because, of course, feeling depressed sometimes is not the same as clinical depression. He also dislikes when people say they have to take a "mental health day" when they have no idea what it's actually like to have a mental illness. How awesome if it could be alleviated just by taking one day off. While lowercase Will's depression isn't the focus of the book, it was a pretty large part of his character and I guess I just noticed it more this time around. I've read other books recently in which mental illness plays a role and I've sort of begun looking for it in YA books. I actually liked that his part of the story wasn't focused on dealing with his depression; that was something already established that was just going on in the background like it actually does in so many real lives.

Similarly, although two of the main characters are gay, this isn't a coming out story either. For lowercase Will, it's true that he comes out to a lot of people around him, but he already knew he was gay and was fine with it, it's just that for quite a while he didn't think it was anyone else's business. Tiny has been out and proud for a long time and although it's a big part of who he is as a person, the story isn't really about that.

Primarily, it's a story about friendship, and about the many ways that people are terrible friends to each other. Remember high school? The lies and betrayals and drama? They are all here. Everybody is the star of his or her own life in the most exaggerated way possible because everything is such a big deal and they are all rather self-centered. Tiny gets so wrapped up in his romances and his musical that he'll ignore capital Will's calls. And capital Will is so intent on shutting up and not caring that he is also not a great friend to Tiny. The worst is the toxic friendship between lowercase Will and Maura, but although she is terrible to him it's really out of a desperate need for his friendship. It's all wonderfully complex and entertaining.

I've wanted my Not-So-Young Adult book group to pick this book for ages and finally, finally they did. Thankfully, they all liked it too. It's maybe not the very best book for discussion, as it doesn't have the heavy-hitting and complicated issues that some of our book choices do and which can spur debate and extensive conversation, but I think sometimes it's ok to just pick a fun book. Anyhow, we did find a decent amount of things to talk about, and I loved it just as much as I did the first time, so it was a success all around.

Every Day

Every Day by David Levithan (2012)

A isn't a boy or a girl, doesn't even have a body. Every day, A wakes up as someone else, lives as that person for a day - trying not to alter their life too much - before then moving on and becoming someone else for the next day. (We first meet A as a boy and for simplicity, I'm just going to use male pronouns.) A doesn't know why his life is different from everyone else's and doesn't try to control it or build relationships with anyone and is always careful not to leave a trace of his presence. Until he meets Rhiannon, and then everything changes.

When I first heard about this book, I thought the premise was dubious, but as I read I became fascinated by this idea. A had experienced so many different kinds of people that he understood a lot more than most people do. He had been chronically ill, blind, a drug addict, rich, spoiled, everything you can think of. It gave him insights into human nature that nobody else can really have, especially at so young an age when most teens' experiences have been quite limited.

Despite these insights, it's also true that he was never any of these things for more than a day. That also means he had never been anyone's child, sibling or friend for more than a day. Tomorrow meant nothing because tomorrow he would be somewhere and someone else. He realizes at one point that nobody has memories of his childhood, he'll never have anyone to grieve for him, or to remember him when he's gone. It's a bit mind-blowing if you think about it.

Convenient to the plot, A was always in the US, pretty much confined to one part of the country. This made it easy to further the plot by being able to hunt down Rhiannon pretty easily, but was a bit disappointing. I would have loved seeing him try to adjust to other cultures around the world. I found his experience as a body-hopper much more interesting than the romance that was supposed to be central to the novel. I'm all for a good romance, but can't even buy someone falling in love with someone from spending an afternoon together and then not being able to let go, risking everything to be with them again. The ending also left me unsatisfied, but I'll leave it at that so as not to spoil anything. Other readers obviously feel differently about the romance and the ending based on their reviews.

Still, I'm glad I read it. Although I didn't love it madly as some do, it was imaginative and gave me a lot to think about. I like David Levithan's writing style and will certainly read more of his books in the future.

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan (2010)

It's Christmastime, and Dash has told each parent that he's spending the holiday with the other. They haven't spoken to each other in years, so it's a pretty safe plan. Content to be alone, Dash goes to the Strand where, hidden on the shelves, he finds a red notebook with a message inviting the finder to follow some clues.

Lily is spending Christmas without her parents as well. They are vacationing in Fiji, leaving Lily at home with her older brother who is pretty much ignoring her in favor of his new boyfriend. In an attempt to keep Lily occupied, Langston decides to map out some clues in a notebook to potentially find Lily a romantic companion.

Passing the notebook back and forth without meeting, Dash and Lily send each other on fun and daring tasks all over New York City, building up to a (perhaps) inevitable meeting.

I like the premise of this book. It was fun to see Dash and Lily playing this elaborate game, while philosophizing about what they'd actually feel if they met in person. It's kind of like online dating. You never know how much of what you know about the other person is real, how much of it is what they want you to think, and how much is your own projection. That's very much what this novel was like. There was a lot of tension in this fun little adventure.

I feel like I've met these characters before, in many many YA books. They are super-smart, self-aware, delightfully quirky....these personalities have become fairly standard. I like them though, which I suppose is the point. I just couldn't get too super-excited about them.

It was a fun book and I flew through it. I just don't think it's a book I'll still be thinking about months from now. But for a cold winter weekend when you're at home looking for an engaging diversion, it might be just the thing.

Hold me closer, Tiny Cooper

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (2009)

Meet Will Grayson. To get through high school, he tries to abide by two rules: 1. Don’t care too much, and 2. Shut up. He’s convinced that everything bad that’s ever happened to him has been the result of not following these rules. Though Will tries to keep a low profile, his efforts are undermined daily by his proiximity to his best friend, Tiny Cooper. Tiny is the size of a refrigerator, flamboyantly gay, and writing an autobiographical musical entitled Tiny Dancer.

Meet Will Grayson. He is angry, disappointed, and very private. The person he hangs out with the most is Maura, a similarly gloomy and cynical girl who seems to think of herself as Will’s girlfriend. But every day Will looks forward to the one bright spot in his life: chatting online with Isaac, the only person Will feels truly comfortable with. Although their relationship is purely virtual, Will is madly in love.

One night, through a series of rather unfortunate events, the two Will Graysons meet face to face and the result is the most important musical of our time. Well, a lot of stuff happens in between but I don’t want to ruin the story by telling you too much about it.

I really liked spending time with both Wills, Tiny, Jane, and even Maura. I was envious of their high school experience, where it’s ok to be different, and the school supports you putting on an elaborate musical you wrote yourself, and you have a fake ID to get into cool clubs to see crappy bands. Even if some people tease you for being who you are, you still have your few close friends and your favorite music. It’s a little like Glee.

Despite the title, the real star of the book is Tiny Cooper. He makes most of what happens in the story happen, brings people together, provides comic relief, supplies ample drama, and teaches everyone about love. It’s really quite a ride.

Both authors did a great job of differentiating their characters while maintaining the flow of the story. Chapters alternated between each of the title characters, one Will Grayson per author, with chapters focusing on the second Will Grayson written all in lower case. What could have been a very confusing book was handled quite deftly. I haven’t written anything else by either author, but after this awesome collaboration, I definitely will!