Book Review-Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy

 Author: David Levithan

Series:  N/A

Published:  September 2003 by Knopf

Length: 192 pages

Source: publisher and netgalley

Other info: David Levithan co-authored Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green.

Summary : This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.
When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right. Review: Paul, who's known he's gay his entire life and lives in essentially a utopia for the LGBT community, doesn't have any problems. Until he meets Noah and falls in love.

I read this because everyone's just like “Yay! David Levithan!” and I wanted to know what all the fuss is about.

I think this would have been so much better if someone other than Paul was the main character.  Hopefully Tony, whose religious household means that he has to hide his feelings for other guys, or Kyle,  whose struggling with his sexuality. (I think) Both of them have much more interesting storylines than Paul, whose seems to be “I met a guy. I messed up. I want him back.” Paul himself isn't that interesting either, so having him as our main character didn't make me care too much for this book.

As I said, this is a utopia of sorts. The gay and straight scenes got mixed up. The only opposition to the LGBT community is from the overly religious, and there's none of the  outright or casual homophobia that is often seen in highschool environments. The star football player is a drag queen, and there's a small subculture. I'm reading it thinking “this is lovely and all, and I love the fact that there's very little discrimination and such, but it's just a bit too  optimistic; I can't see this happening in a contemporary, modern day setting”.

Apologies for the shortness of this review but I just sat there thinking “this is boring. Boring. Bored.” And couldn’t really formulate many thoughts past that.

Overall:  Strength 2 tea to a book where the side characters and plots make for much better stories than the main one we have.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |