One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, teenager Will Grayson crosses paths with..."Will Grayson"! Two teens with the same name who run in two very different circles suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions. Culminating in epic turns-of-heart on both of their parts, they team up to produce the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high-school stage. Told in alternating voices from two award-winning, popular names in young-adult fiction - John Green (author of "The Fault in Our Stars") and David Levithan (author of "Boy Meets Boy") - this unique collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humour that has won both authors legions of fans.
~ Taken from Goodreads.com
Review
As most of you are aware, I am a huge John Green fan. His writing is breath-taking and as a person he is interesting and inspirational. This book, however, is written by another author too - David Levithan. Before reading this, I had never read anything by him. Now that I have experienced his amazing piece of work, I am encouraged to look out for his books and be captivated again by his genius stories.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson is told through the eyes of two different boys alternating with each chapter. These teenage boys are both called - prepare to be extremely surprised - Will Grayson. They both have issues that they are trying to deal with and the only thing that is helping them get through it is by talking to each other through the Internet. They have never met before yet they have a strong bond and undeniable friendship and that really comes across to the reader; it is heart-warming to read their conversations. A lot of the book is revolved around a gay romance which links into finding yourself and the difficulty of coming out which can be hard for some teenagers. Homosexuality isn't approached in a lot of books so I think this is one of many reasons why this novel stands out among the others.
One of my favourite parts of the book that I found quite interesting was how Levithan portrayed his Will Grayson (each author had one Will Grayson each to write from the point of view from, to vary the chapters) in the form of complete lower case letters and misses some punctuation out. I think this means that Will finds his life simple and unimportant. The unique way of telling this was very interesting as it could be shown as a way of self-expression which gives the reader a deeper insight to his character.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of original and funny novels. Not only is it humorous and refreshing, it deals with some big issues that can be relatable to a lot of teenagers. In my opinion, this would be best for 14+ in terms of suitability. The only problem that I had with it is that it isn't very clear that different chapters are told from different perspectives which could lead to confusion in the beginning. A lot of people have commented that it shows a stereotypical gay person, which it does (Tiny's character is very exaggerated) but it also shows one of the Will Graysons as the complete opposite because he is still dealing with the idea.
I give this book full marks and I hope that, if you haven't read it already, you'll read it soon. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I am sure that it will be a book I re-read again and again.
RATE: 5/5
Publisher: Penguin Books | Pages: 352 | Publication Date: 10th May 2012 | Edition: Paperback | Source: For Review | To buy click HERE.
9 comments:
I really want to get my hands on this book, John Green is an amazing author and so far I have read TFIOS and Looking For Alaska (which I will be doing a review on soon). My baby brother is called Grayson so before I knew it was by John Green, I wanted to read it and now after all these reviews I want to read it so badly. Great Review, Happy Blogging:)
PS. If you go onto my latest post there is a shout out to you.
Fantastic review, Zoe! I've only read The Fault in Our Stars, but am also a big John Green fan. You're right - his writing is breath-taking. And you're so lucky to have practically met him in person!
It's interesting that there are two authors writing two different characters. I don't think I've ever read a book like that before, so I'm really curious as to what it's like!
Thanks for sharing your lovely, persuasive review with us, Zoe. It's great to know this one didn't disappoint! :)x
*hangs head in shame* I haven't read anything by either of these authors!
I fail as a reader. :P I'm really glad you liked this, though. I love the sound of it - two characters with the same name and each written by a different author. I haven't read anything like that before. :)
Lovely review, darling!
Great review! I also like the concept of two authors writing alternate chapters in completely different styles - it makes the book so unique and definitely intriguing!
I've heard such good things about David Levithan as a writer so I feel like the worst book blogger for not having read one of his books yet! I've heard AMAZING things about his steampunk series... Hopefully I'll be able to read a book by both of these authors soon! Thanks for sharing this awesome review! xD
Original and funny sounds great. I have read Green but not Leviathan just like you,
Brandi @ Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Brilliant review, Zoe! Just read two of John Green's books and he's amazing. I love that Will Grayson, Will Grayson is written by two people and in two different styles. Humour is definitely a must for a book that seems to face a subject that not many books tackle so definitely interested to see what happens ;)
So happy that you liked it, be fangirling with you soon enough!
I have been wanting to read this for while, I am glad you enjoyed it! I love the new editions too.. they are so pretty ^^ xxx
this is definitely on mymust read list! Im glad you enjoyed it!
I love this book and I think Tiny Cooper is an amazing character!
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