Tuesday, January 11, 2011

2 for the price of 1!


Two wonderful young adult authors collaborated to write this book, in alternating chapters, each author covering a boy named Will Grayson.
John Green's character lives in Evanston and is a timid but intelligent and well-read friend of an outgoing and huge boy (who happens to be gay) nicknamed Tiny. David Levithan's character lives in Naperville and is an "angry young man" who is coming to the knowledge that he is gay. Though a girl named Maura is always trying to draw him out, and would probably like to be more than a friend to him, his best friend is someone from Ohio that he met online, Isaac, with whom he spends hours chatting in IM.
The Evanston-based Will likes a girl named Jane who hangs out with Tiny - but he's too afraid of rejection to take a chance on asking her out. Tiny has written a musical, and gets both the Gay/Straight Alliance and the Student Council at school to sponsor it.

Somehow all of these characters eventually meet in downtown Chicago as their lives surprisingly intertwine. The book shows off both authors' strengths, and fills the bill as a typical young adult novel caught up in the angst that both Will Graysons experience as they try to come to terms with what life throws at them, and with who they are.
3 out of 4 stars

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