Monday, March 25, 2013

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Before I even went online to find out who wrote which part, I already guessed that the first Will Grayson was by Green and the second will grayson was by Levithan.  Let me preface by saying that I love John Green.  I've only read one Levithan book and I like him, but I don't love him.  This book pretty much supports my initial opinions on both authors.  

Will Grayson is a typical nerdish teenager.  Just trying to keep his head down, trying to attract as little attention as possible and trying to feel as little as possible.  This is was getting pretty hard considering that his best friend was the most flamboyant, HUGEST gay ever.  Who is named Tiny.  And is a football player.  The aforementioned Tiny sets Will up with a cute girl and basically totally ignores Will's pledge to himself to FEEL NOTHING and ATTRACT NO ATTENTION.

But there is also another will grayson.  One who is the most depressed and dark teenager ever.  He likes nothing and no one, not even his only friend, a goth girl.  They only thing they have together is their misery.  The only thing he likes in the world is his online boyfriend (I forgot to mention that this Will is gay).  But ***SPOILERS*** it turns out that his boyfriend is just his goth friend (not a very good friend) pretending to be somebody else.

Will 2 finds all of this out on his trip to the city where he is is heartbroken when his date does not show up.  But it is there that he runs into Will 1 and events that change both their lives unfold.

I got to say that I like Will 1 much better that will 2.  Maybe it's because of my impatience for emo characters, which is not very empathetic of me, I know, but I can't help it.  I also like John Green's writing style more than Levithans'.  However, I did not like this story as much as I liked every other John Green book.  I think it has something to do with Tiny, the huge gay friend.  I found him annoying,  I know he was supposed to be this really amazing guy, but my grumpy self just could not get into his exuberance.  And the ending.  Was cheesy and improbable.  Americans, is Will Grayson really a common name?

Hmm, it would seem like I hated the book.  But I really don't.  It had its funny and touching moments but I just couldn't get that into it.  Personal preference.