| Title | : | Boy Meets Boy |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0375832998 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780375832994 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 185 |
| Publication | : | First published September 9, 2003 |
| Awards | : | Lambda Literary Award (2003), Lincoln Award (2008), Margaret A. Edwards Award (2016) |
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.
This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.
Boy Meets Boy Reviews
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hm. i don't really know what to make of this one.
see, here's the deal - i know this is a hugely popular gay teen fiction book - it has been around for a while and everyone loves it (LGM), but in light of recent current events, it just makes me nervous.
this book takes place in a gay utopia, really. a world where there would be no need for the
"it gets better project". and on the one hand, i'm sure gay teens would love reading it because it is like an escapist fantasy where everyone is tolerant and heterosexuals actually seem to be the minority and the homecoming queen is the same entity as the quarterback. football players in drag, what more could an acceptance-seeking gay teen want??
but on the other hand, doesn't this kind of hyperbolic fantasy make teens feel worse?? because it is totally not like this anywhere i have ever heard of. where the boy scouts have been banned from town for not being gaycepting and changed to "the joy scouts." where the vegetarians win and get the local mcdonalds changed to a veggie d. where everyone's parents are cool with their gay kids coming out when they are 8. (but not one town over, mind you, just in this weird rainbow-gated community). doesn't a kid read that, and then go to their real high school and get called a fag, and doesn't it make them feel worse?
i have no idea.
apart from my squeamishness about how this book operates psychologically in a real-world context that has lately been more dramatic than usual, the book itself is okay. it's a fine little story about first real love and loyalty and all the regular ups and downs of high school. not particularly illuminating, but it is only 185 pages, so what can you do??
however, all social climate stuff aside, this got me peeving:
Joni's brought us here because sometimes you just have to dance like a madman in the self-help section of your local bookstore.
this is untrue. no dancing, please. it is a place of business. take that shit outside, capice?
come to my blog! -
UPDATE
Oh my gosh. I just reread the description. This was supposed to be a romantic comedy? A ROMANTIC COMEDY? Since when? Where was the funny?
THE REVIEW
Oh my gawd. I hated it. Every. Minute.Because sometimes you just have to dance like a madman in the Self-Help section of your local bookstore.
Ahh yes. That feeling. I know it well.
Anyway, this book was so incredibly awful that I listened to the entire audiobook in a single day.
AKA it was literally SO bad that I could not put it down, SOLELY because I could not believe how terrible it was.
It was...quite the experience.
Why? You may ask.
What could be so bad about an out-and-proud main character surrounded by his quirky gay best friends?
Is it *gasp* BECAUSE the main character is gay? Miranda, could your hatred of the book be homophobic in origin? (No. In all honesty, the only thing that could make the book worse is if the characters were straight).
Is it because Miranda is a grouchy old woman who can no longer relate to "the youth"? (Possibly. )
Is it because the book was terrible in every way, shape and form? (Exactly. That's exactly it.)
Why This Book Is Terrible In Every Way, Shape, and Form
The Ways - aka, why bother even trying to make a realistic story.
Okay. So when I read the description - all about how Paul meets Nick and their wacky adventures through high school.
I really loved the idea of approaching high school with absolutely no prejudice towards sexuality, race or gender. And I still love that idea - but my gosh. Did the execution of this book flub that.
I think, if it were to work, that would have to ALL that the author changes.
When you create a fantasy world (I know, I know...but in this day and age, acceptance of everyone in high school really would be a fantasy world), you change a few things here and there but you don't change EVERYTHING.
Humans still behave according to certain patterns, magic has strict rules, world building fits the guidelines.
So when the cheerleaders rip in with Harleys or the school dance is utterly and nauseatingly exquisite, when the main character can kiss multiple guys and yet make it out as a grand, meaningful gesture (AND NOT because he was cheating)...it's just too much.
It just got tiresome. I wanted to see a utopia and see how the characters work within that - not a world where it isn't even remotely close to reality.
The Shape - aka people aren't like that folks
The shape and way the characters are portrayed really bugged me.
We have an incredibly diverse cast...and yet they are all playing to their tropes with the only difference being that there's no backlash.
Let me try that again - the school has a drag queen, a religiously oppressed gay character, a gay character who isn't oppressed and can live his fabulous self, and so on.
And each and every one of them acts exactly as you'd expect them.
They didn't have depth. They didn't have anything to them other than their tropes.
I wanted to see development and growth, but they stay the same (with minor tweaks) throughout the book.
The Form - aka the linguistic horrors
Ack. How can I possibly explain the true extent of the linguistic horrors inflicted upon my ears?We pencil-sketch our previous life so we can contrast it to the technicolor of the moment.
This entire book was one badly written prose piece. The author ate a thesaurous and spat out a paragraph.Part of love is letting a person be who they want to be
It's like he checked out every teenage romance and chucked it into a blender....I don't believe in doing hugs halfway. I can't stand people who try to hug without touching. A hug should be a full embrace - as I wrap my arms around Tony, I am not just holding him, but also trying to lift off his troubles for a moment so that the only thing he can feel is my presence, my support.
It's just like, come on kid. There's being sweet and there's being annoying.I wonder if it's possible to have happiness without it being at someone else's expense.
Overall
I wouldn't recommend wasting time on this one. It was so incredibly frustrating that the author went with this angle for the book and the text itself was such a letdown.
Plus, was anyone else bugged that Paul cheated? It's like...yeah Levithan creates a world without judgement but seriously. Dude. How hard is it to NOT kiss someone who is not in a relationship with you?
Dance around it with all the pretty words you want...but if those lips aren't in the relationship, it's cheating.
If you are looking for really good LGBTQ+ lit, I'd definitely recommend
Parrotfish,
Nevernight,
Call Down the Hawk,
Girl Mans Up and
Out of the Pocket. This is by no means an exhaustive list - let me know of your favorites! I'd love to check them out!
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Super cute!! This is a very adorable, light, quick read. I loved the quirky and fun world. All of the cheerleaders ride motorcycles, the star quarterback is also the homecoming queen, etc. This book plays with the typical high school stereotypes which is really fun.
I've never read a book by David Levithan before and I really liked his writing style. I highlighted so many adorable quotes!
Overall the reason I gave this book 3 stars and not higher isn't because of anything negative really. I felt as though the book was a little young for me at points (which is no fault of the book). And the book is under 200 pages. I often feel like short books can't go in as much depth with the characters and story but I loved how fast-paced and quick of a read this book is. -
Or Ten Reasons Why You Should Read Boy Meets Boy
I want to live in the world David Levithan has created. It's fun, it's fabulous, it's the literary equivalent of unicorn fart! Sure, I know there probably doesn't exist a place where all the teenagers gather together to dance away Sunday nights in the local bookstore. Where the school's star quarterback is a crossdresser with the improbable name of Infinite Darlene. Where the Boy Scouts quit and reform as the Joy Scouts because the Boy Scouts wouldn't accept gay members. But it's nice to suspend your disbelief and just enjoy this magical, happy place with it's accepting, encouraging populace where being gay is no more unusual than being straight and the love of your life would just walk up to you in the Self Improvement section. Hello, Narnia!
I don't think I stopped smiling AT ALL through the first hundred-odd pages of this book. I asked for a happy gay romance, and boy, did this story deliver! Paul is a great protagonist - he is comfortable in his own skin, he is popular and well-adjusted, he has an adorable family I just could not get enough of, and the story of his and Noah's budding romance is all sparkles and rainbows without being cheesy in the least. I LOVED the fact that Noah brought him flowers on their first date, and I loved that we got to see them hang out with his quirky family. This book was like an episode of Glee - you know real life's not this easy, but that's kind of the point!
Despite the sunshine-y tone of the book, it manages to address several issues with a fairly large cast of characters who all steal your heart. There's Tony, struggling struggling with his sexuality in the midst of his rabidly religious family. And Kyle, Paul's ex, who is confused about whether he likes girls or boys, unable to understand that liking both is a possibility. And then there's Joni, who's been friends with Paul since forever, but now she's changing, because she's in love with the one boy who can't accept Paul for what he is. And Noah, so happy in the beginning, but filled with doubts on the inside, burned before and wary of being burned again. This is a story about a bunch of teenagers trying to find their place in the world, and the general tone of levity doesn't distract from the importance of the message.
So there I was, coasting along on this pink cloud, when I got a rude shock!
David Levithan must be some kind of genius. After a twist that left me fuming mad, I thought the rest of the book was going to be ruined. But somehow, he managed to explain it just right, in a way that was realistic and compassionate, yet without make lame justifications for Paul's behaviour. Somehow, somehow, he managed to not only bring me back to the point of liking the book, he had me smiling again!
I am a complete girl when it comes to romance. Nothing melts my heart like hearts and flowers and grand gestures. And this book had some of the most satisfyingly cheesy romantic gestures ever written. Again, I say, I want to live in David Levithan's world! I loved the way the relationship between the two main characters was rebuilt, in a manner that was sweet and warm, and peculiarly their own, giving the reader a nice case of the warm fuzzies.
If you are not a big fan of sweetness and light, I would suggest you stay away from this book. As you can probably tell from the cutesy cover, it is pure fluff - the kind of book you'd take with you to the beach. It is very well written fluff, however, and if straightforward romance floats your boat, I could not recommend this book more highly. Now, since I am running out of words, Reasons 9 and 10 shall speak for themselves!
My recommendation? Date a Unicorn - Read this book - Up your fuzzy quotient today!
Oh, and thank you to Hannah Moskowitz for recommending a book that exactly met my requirements! :)
Image Attribution: Matthew Inman for Mingle2.com -
Despite its pretenses & it's overall theme of goodness, friendship, this story is kinda, sorta, uh pedestrian*. A love triangle not in the least bit bizarre, our character is a prancing, megaconfident & hyperpositive social Pollyanna. These kids seemingly live in a perpetual children's museum--their hometown caters to them all, & to SUCH a staggering degree as to make you go "ick."
"On the seventh day I gave him me." Yeah, Paul. You and your buddies have a god complex. The atmosphere is too sweet, often unbelievably. Plus references to "Breakfast Club"? (Cliche even in popular movies like "Pitch Perfect".) Yeah. These characters definitely DO NOT EXIST. Or ever will. Or ever did.
*It's always convenient for an adolescent idyll/fairy tale/hormonal angst to have two dudes go for you at once (see: Twilight, ...etc.) cos, you know, YOU DESERVE IT, girl! -
Review will be spoiler-ish of the storyline
You know a book is special, when the first thing you do AFTER you close the last page is ... sighing and whisper, "Beautiful".
That is exactly what I do after I finish reading Levithan's Boy Meets Boy. I think this is one of the most beautiful and smartest young adult book dealing with gay-themed that I have read. Sure, this book has sort of an unrealistic portrayal of LGBT acceptance. But that is the beauty of it. This is THE Gay Utopia World -- where the gay kids and the lesbian kids and the drag queens can exist in a high school with the other kids, in a town where P-FLAG is "as big as draw as the PTA", where the town Boy Scouts changes their name to Joy Scouts simply because "Boy Scouts decided gays had no place in their ranks".
It's a hopeful world, and in the center of it, is the love story between Paul -- who knows he is gay since he is five years old -- and Noah, the new senior at the high school. It is also a story of friendship and fighting for the right to be who you are, with Paul's friends: Joni, Tony, Infinite Darlene, Ted, and Paul's ex, Kyle. This book makes me laugh in the beginning, when I read how Paul comes out to his parents ... "Guess, what, I'm gay" (Paul says to his mother). "Honey ... Paul leaned a new word!" (that's how his mother reacted).
But it also made me think, when Tony, Paul's friend who lives at another town, with a very strict religious parents, tells him that he always feels lost because he is pretending to be someone he is not and even if it hurts him, he knows that his parents actually love him.
""But maybe they will someday. I don't know. All I know is that I can't just run off. They think that being gay is going to mess up my whole life. I can't prove them right, Paul. I have to prove them wrong. And I know I can't prove them wrong by changing myself or by denying what I really am. The only way for me to prove them wrong is to try to be who I am and show them it's not hurting me to be that way. In two years I'll graduate. I'll be gone. But in the meantime, I have to find a way to make this work."
It's so heartbreaking the way Tony says it -- no kids should ever feel that way, it's just wrong!!! -- but that is one fact that is closer to the world we live in.
But this book is also romantic and witty -- and you need to read how Paul determines to prove to Noah that he loves him, by giving him, let's see: flowers and time (first day), words and definitions (second day), space (third day), song (fourth day), film (fifth day), letters (sixth day), and himself (seventh day). I DARE YOU to find one adult romance who can be as inventive and unique like this book, in declaring one's love to another. Those books simply pale in comparison. Plus the beautiful "paint some music" scene that is so beautiful, I can imagine it in my mind and start painting some music as well.
This book is one that I can cherish, because it touches not only my brain, but also my heart and my soul. Thank you, Mr. Levithan. -
The more I read David Levithan, the less impressed I become. Or maybe it's just that i'm beginning to read his older works, and they're just not that great.
This was what i'm now starting to label a "typical" Levithan book. Unimpressive, bland plot, okay characters, average writing. I nearly didn't finish this because I thought maybe it wouldn't be worth it, and I can honestly admit that I wouldn't have missed anything had I decided to DNF it. It's not the worst story in the world, and I did like that this book has a gay protagonist, but it was written in 2003 and you can tell it's so horribly outdated and the audiobook is old as well and it was really irritating because there were a lot of voice changes and background music. Overall this book is just meh and it made me question if I should just get rid of my last two Levithan books on my TBR, which are "Are We There Yet?" and "How They Met and Other Stories" -
Cute love story about love, friendship, coming out, and heart break.
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Any book that makes me cry deserves at least 4 stars.
Boy Meets Boy managed to squeeze tears out of me on several occasions. It doesn't mean, however, that this is one of those downer novels where someone dies or suffers horrible decease or misfortunes. Quite the opposite, this book is actually upbeat and lighthearted, and my tears were tears of pride and relief mostly.
The setting of the novel is unusual. In fact, I am dying to borrow from
Tony Kushner and call
Boy Meets Boy a gay fantasia. A town where all action takes place is fantastical, the level of acceptance of all kinds of sexuality is unprecedented. Our main character Paul is the most well adjusted gay teen you will ever meet. He never had any trouble coming out at the age of 5, he is popular, in fact, a transvestite quarterback is popular in Paul's wonder-school too. In short, Paul's life is free of all homosexuality-related problems and anxieties we all are accustomed to reading about. However it doesn't mean Paul is perfect - he falls in love, botches his relationship, gets involved with his ex, is concerned about his relationships with his friends, both gay and straight - basically he has all your normal teen problems. This is a book about how he deals with them.
Boy Meets Boy is a wonderful, heartfelt, sweet love story, story about friendships and acceptance, a celebration of individuality and difference. This book is rightfully regarded as a pioneer gay teen novel. And, most importantly, it is a delight to read. -
Painfully mediocre.
-
At the beginning I couldn't see the town in the book being real. I liked the town, it seemed awesome, just not realistic. I was very much like Tony in that sense; "The first time I met you, I honestly couldn't believe that someone like you could exist, or even a town like yours could entirely exist." But as I got to the middle, a little after I read that quote, I realized two things. First, Paul is the exception not the rule. He's grown up in this amazing home with a really supportive family and great friends , and it's because of all of that that he is who he is. Paul is the character we wish we could be, the fortunate one whose life has been easy and to whom the world just seems to open up for. Whereas, Tony is the character most like us. The one who has to deal with problems that seem way to complex for anyone to have to deal with because he doesn't have a choice.
The second thing I realized is that the town described in the book is not the whole town... it's Paul's town. The people of the town that are mentioned are those who Paul associates with. They make up his town, his world even. Sure, there might be people at his school who are homophobic and others who are just plain mean, but they don't matter to Paul because their not his world. Like in the last chapter when all of his friends delay the Dowager dance in favor of hanging out together in the clearing: "In this space, in this moment, we are who we want to be." And really, if you had friends like that why would anyone else matter to you, why would you bother with anyone else? -
When I first read this book, I fell in love...
in love with the main character and with the writer. David Levithan nailed what I'd been looking for for some time; a type of book that should be written many times over for alot of different kids.
Here is the review I wrote June, 2004
I just read an incredible book. Its called Boy meets Boy by David Levithan. I loved it on so many levels; the main one being its normalcy. Through my book travels, I read alot of teen angst, where the main character is dealing with tragedy in some form, or struggling to find his place...but in Boy meets Boy, the main character in this book, Paul, is someone that I would want to be my friend. Someone I like and want to see again, get to know and see him grow and develope. (And so, of course, I will read Levithans next work eagerly)
Paul comes from a secure, happy two parent family, he's fifteen and loves his parents. They worry about him, understand him, yet support him with little fanfare and alot of pride. The fact that Paul is gay is almost beside the point--which in my opinion is the point. This is a story about friends who deal with struggles of love, trust, relationships and simple suburban life that is for once (gasp) not denigrated, but celebrated. I loved this book and highly recommend it.
Okay, I wrote that short review back in June and re-reading it I see that it fails to do justice to the book. I was literally crying when I finished it. From sadness? No not at all. Sometimes a scene is so poignant that you get choked up. The last scene was powerful and beautiful that I had to hold it to myself a little longer. This is the magic that David Levithan creates.
This book is about a gay teenager that is happy, is NORMAL, and is a precious adorable soul. I like his ethics, his take on life, his matter of fact acceptance that he is gay, like he's blond or blue eyed. I love his parents who accepted it from day one--possibly when his kindergarten teacher made a notation that Paul was probably gay. There is nothing unusual about his family (why would there be?) they are loving parents that have expectations for Paul and his brother like any other family. This book is not about the gay experience yet is wholly involved with the relationships between Paul, his new love interest and his old boyfriend, not to mention a host of other funny sometimes wacky characters.
Teen issues are teen issues...does it matter whether or not they are gay?
Kids need to see themselves within the context of normalcy. David has done this.
-
Una novela tierna y entretenida con una pareja protagonista altamente shippeable. Se nota que es su primera novela, y que con el tiempo ha ido mejorando, pues me he encontrado con quizá demasiados personajes y alguna que otra escena con menos ritmo que el resto de la novela. Aun y todo, Boy Meets Boy nos da grandes citas (como siempre nos da Levithan) y consigue mantenerte en vilo con la trama principal. La historia en sí es muy simple, pero no es eso lo que creo yo que se debería de valorar en las novelas de este hombre, sino más bien la evolución de los personajes y el cómo suceden las cosas.
Uno de los fallos que le veo a la novela es lo que acabo de comentar, que hay demasiados personajes. Llega un punto en el que es un lío, pues no están realmente bien definidos y cuesta diferenciarlos. Creo que es algo que más tarde Levithan ha ido manejando mucho mejor, porque no recuerdo que me pasara en sus siguientes libros. Otra cosa que no me ha gustado mucho es lo exagerado que es el protagonista con Noah, sobre el final de la novela. No has estado mucho tiempo con él, no es el amor de tu vida... ¿de verdad vas a hacer TODO eso? No sé, no lo entiendo, ¡y eso que me encantan como pareja!
Así que en definitiva, Boy Meets Boy es una novela entretenida, agradable de leer, con unos personajes principales muy cercanos, grandes frases y un estilo envidiable. A seguir leyendo a Levithan se ha dicho ♥ -
Cheating is not ok, folks. It's wrong in every shape and form.
-
I love the innocence, purity and simplicity of the characters. I love that it isn't overly dramatic while it does have teen angst and drama in it. I enjoyed the range of characters and that the love triangle didn't really exist. Paul and Kyle were an old thing and I simply didn't feel much pull there. That was simply to complicate the plot. Paul and Noah are the new item. Noah moved to town and they are both openly gay. They both have a good life.
I love the character of Tony. He is gay and lives in another town with conservative Christian parents who are against gays. Tony has it very difficult. I knew so many people growing up who had to deal with this. They were kicked out of their homes, disowned. This is the old archetype. I love the Story arch for Tony, I won't give that away here. David Levithan came up with such a beautiful ending for Tony. I simply love it and I wished we had thought of it as high schoolers back in the 90s. Tony has strength and bravery. He doesn't hate his parents. He tries to show who he is standing in his truth while being respectful. It is a beautiful depiction.
Thank you Jesus for the book! I wish this and others like it were around during the 90s in small towns. There was Weetzie bat which I didn't hear of. The 80s and 90s was a dark time to be a high schooler who is LGBTQ. Teachers were gate keepers who kept out anyone not fitting into southern social norms. I am so glad the world is changing and growing up. I'm so glad boys can take boys to prom and girls can take girls to prom and kids can be who they are in more and more areas. This is positive and good. I am so happy that stories like this are possible and acceptance like this happens in places. I love to think that people can keep their innocence and have high school love.
This book gave me life. I loved reading this and I loved thinking that Paul was a big idiot and Joni was such a bad friend. I rooted for the characters. I love that it gave us the nearly fairy tale ending and experience. I need that in a story along with other stories that aren't that. This book was beautiful and thank you so much David Levithan for writing this and giving it to the world. We need to know that this world is more than possible, it's here - not everywhere, but it's here.
I hope that some day people simply won't care about anything but being a good person and living with love. Love is the goal. -
2.5 stars.
"If there's no feeling of fear, then there's no need for courage."
This is the first time that I read a David Levithan book and well, this is disappointing.
I didn't really have expectations from the book but still hoped to liked it. You know, there's always those short contemporaries that makes you feel butterflies and it's like you're in love again for the first time. This wasn't that kind of book.
In this book I wanted to kill everyone. I hated everybody! Ok, maybe not EVERYBODY, but almost. The only character who, I think saved the book for me, was Noah. Ah Noah. I'll talk about him later. First thing first: Paul, our MC.
Paul was the most annoying thing I've read in the LGBT contemporary books I've gone through. He was so undecided about what he really wanted.
Then there are a lot of other characters that were so meh, I didn't care for them at all, the book was full of clichés. Like Infinite Darlene, sometimes she was there just to ANNOY me. Also, what's up with the whole transgender girl as a quarterback of a football team? The book is unrealistic and I don't like the way David Levithan talked about homosexuality. It's too unrealistic, that's the only word I can think of at the moment. Unrealistic.
Levithan's writing just wasn't my thing and I don't really know if I will pick one of his other works up soon. Maybe never to be honest.
The finale was opened af and that bothered me a lot because they never resolved ANYTHING.
Ok, but right now I'm going to talk about Noah, the only one I cared about. I know he's character was super cheesy and a total LGBT cliché but I couldn't resist to like him a lot and feel the urge to hug him for the rest of the book.
The scene I liked the most was when Noah comes over Paul's for the first time and well, things happen. It was super cute. And ugh, Noah. He was perfect.
"I lean forward and kiss him. The flowers crush between our shirts. I touch his lips, I breathe him in. I close my eyes, I open them. He is surprised, I can tell. I am surprised too. He kisses me back with a kiss like a smile."
-
Boy Meets Boy is about Paul, an openly gay kid in high school. Of course he has his problems and his drama but none of it really involves his sexuality - he's just that comfortable with it. However, his friend Tony does have a problem with it. Or more like his parents do, because Tony's parents are like the bible worshiper type. Then there's Kyle, Paul's ex-boyfriend who can't seem to decide what he wants. Joni is Paul's best friend who might not be his best friend for much longer. Infinite Darlene is the school's drag queen quarterback, as unrealistic as that sounds. And finally, there's Noah. The one that might make everything else worthwhile for Paul.
This was a huge disappointment. While I have received mixed feedback from people who have read Boy Meets Boy, I was expecting it to at least be at a three star level. Nope. The main problem I had was that Levithan seemed to be trying too hard to make his story unique and different, and tried to incorporate too many struggling unique characters. Nothing was really fleshed out, and I didn't connect with any of the characters.
A lot of the details were unnecessary and didn't relate to the story at all. I'm surprised that is the case because the book is a pretty quick read on its own, but there were certain moments where the author seems to go on wild tangents of randomness that had no correlation to the book itself. Most of the characters were just who they were because they had to be unique to fit in. I know Levithan was trying to manifest a world where homophobia isn't an issue, drag queens who play football are normal, and teachers who tell their kindergarten students that they are gay is a regular occurrence, but it just didn't work out. -
This review and the rest of the crap I write can be seen @ my blog
Bark's Book Nonsense . Stop by and say hey.
This is a lovely little confection of a book about friendship and high school loves. It does have a little angst but the main character Paul is such an effervescent fellow that it goes down easy instead of dragging the book down.
When it starts, I have to admit I found it all a little strange. Like alternate universe level of strange. There were kids meeting up, playing instruments, singing and dancing in a bookstore. A bookstore. At first I thought I had misheard and rewound. Nope, it was a bookstore that they basically used as a club.
Also, Paul’s high school and town were basically in their own little bubble where everyone was exceptionally tolerant and accepting of everyone, be they gay, straight, bi, or a cross-dressing quarterback. I found this a sweet fantasy but terribly unrealistic. My kids just finished up high school and I’m sorry to be the one to break the sad news to you but kids are still mean. And so are adults, for that matter. But kitties, well, kitties are the meanest.
Anyway, once I got past all that, I found the book a fairly realistic picture of growing up and struggling with friends and the mess and bliss that new relationships bring along with them. The story is told through Paul’s eyes and he is a joy to read. He’s upbeat and popular and has been openly gay since kindergarten. When he first sees new kid Noah, he is smitten. He is in insta-LOVE. I’ll give him a pass only because he’s still a kid and it is cute when you’re a sophomore in high school and everything is so dramatic. His intense feelings for Noah scare him and he does not want to screw it up. I’ll leave it up to you to guess what happens next because I’m not a book ruiner. At least not today.
This book is about much more than his feelings for Noah and I enjoyed that about it most. Paul is struggling with childhood friendships that are changing and evolving. Through it all he remains caring and thoughtful and I never felt the urge to spank his fictional bum. Despite the unreal feel of his town, the rest of the story seemed natural and realistic.
I listened to this book as a full cast audiobook. The actors who voiced Paul and Joanie were spot on and sounded the right age but unfortunately some of the other voices (mostly Kyle & Noah) came across as extremely stilted and forced and threw me out of the story more times than I care to recall. And although all of the mom’s in the story were voiced by different women, they all managed to sound exactly the same to me. They were super perky. Even Kyle’s not-so-thrilled mom sounded like a slightly more subdued version of the others. Ah well, at least these kids had mothers. Most of the kids in YA books seem to raise themselves because their parents died in some tragedy and I always find that unbelievable.
This is a happy little book that will leave you feeling not at all sorry that you read it. It’s not memorable enough for five stars but I’d give it at least a four, maybe even a 4.5. -
Every single time I read this title it makes me think of:
My random musings on Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.
This is one of those stories that I look at and do the internal yaying about .... and then read and am left wondering why I didn't love it?! Why am I left questioning whether this book is helpful, harmful or offensive..... and why does it prey on my mind so badly?!
This is a Gay Teen Utopia about a boy named Paul who falls in love with a boy named Noah, and all the blathering craziness that happens when teen brains, love, friendship and fear collide. And there are several lovely cohesive quotes that I truly enjoyed.
However, I cannot help but think this could be really harmful.... and yes, I know utopia is a thing and that many people enjoy the escapism of it, and I don't doubt this would be the same... because there is always a falling back into reality that happens after reading a topia - be that dys or U - and that being a gay teen is difficult as fuck without living in la-la land for a few days only to be right-hooked back to reality.
I just don't know....
RRRRRRRRR. I make a loud game-show-buzzer noise. "I'm sorry," I say "we don't recognize 'fine' as an acceptable answer. We see it as a conversational cop-out. So please, try again"
I guess my problem is that I wish this utopia were real, or that reality was gentler regarding teenage homosexuality at very least, and it upset me so much to think that the "harder situation" in this book was peanuts compared to how hard most gay teen situations are.
Don't get me wrong though, this book is adorable :) -
This book is ridiculously important to me. I friend of mine gave from university gave it to me, back when we were both messed up 18 year olds with no clue who we were, what we wanted or how to get it. "You have to read this!" he said. And I know it's about teenagers, really, not young men who were supposed to be adults. But it was the first time, really, we'd ever read something that was just about two boys falling in love, where it wasn't angsty, hostile or doomed to death and failure.
So I'm in no position to judge whether this is actually, objectively, any good. It's charming, insubstantial and kind of delightful. Although it's mundane to a fault - it really is just about two boys falling in love, one boy nearly messing it up, and one boy sorting it out again - it's essentially set in a semi-utopian post-homophobia bubble. The Homecoming Queen and the star quarterback, for example, are the same person - a fabulous drag-queen called Infinite Darlene, who naturally finds life a bit difficult sometimes:Infinite Darlene doesn't have it easy. Being both star quarterback and homecoming queen has its conflicts. And sometimes it's hard for her to fit in. The other drag queens in our school rarely sit with her at lunch; they say she doesn't take good enough care of her nails and that she looks a little too buff in a tank top. The football players are a little more accepting, although there was a spot of trouble last year when Chuck, the second-string quarterback fell in love with her and got depressed when she said he wasn't her type.
Hee!
-
I have no idea what happened to a review I wrote for the FABULOUS book - years ago.
I still own the physical book.
For those who missed reading it — it’s not too late — a wonderful memorable book. -
This book takes place in a sort of gay-utopia. Everyone is gay or bisexual or at least bicurious. The school's star quarterback/prom queen is a drag queen. The only intolerant folks are cartoonishly evil in their religiousness, but they are an anomaly in a town where it is apparently appropriate for a kindergarten teacher to write "Paul is definitely gay" on a student's report card (????). Not only is it a gay-utopia, but it is an everything else-utopia as well: the school janitors are rich but work because they just looooove cleaning schools, the cheerleading squad is so special that they ride motorcycles instead of just doing cheers (wtf), and the local fast foot joint has been taken over by vegans. I kind of like the idea of a book set in a world where kids don't have to worry about hiding or being bullied for their sexuality, but the author just goes over the top in every possible way, surpassing magical realism into complete ridiculousness.
As far as the characters themselves, most are one-dimensional stereotypes (girl who is obsessed with her boyfriend, self-loathing closet case, sensitive artist whose work comes from his very soul), but the main problem is that the protagonist is so unlikeable. If this book were about Kyle becoming comfortable with his sexuality I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. If it were about Tony standing up to his parents I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. If it were about Amber, the girl who joins a lot of clubs and once dated a witch I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. Hell, if it were still about Noah and Paul, but from Noah's point of view, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. But Paul... as a character to like and sympathize with, he just doesn't work for me. Am I supposed to feel bad for him because he screwed things up with his boyfriend by doing the exact thing that his boyfriend told him he was afraid of due to what happened with his last boyfriend? Am I supposed to be rooting for them to get back together because of the frankly somewhat creepy things Paul is doing to try to win him back? Am I supposed to feel sympathy for Paul because his life has been so great that he can't quite understand when other people don't have it as great as he does? Forget it.
There were some moments in this novel that I genuinely enjoyed: I liked when Paul thought about seeing a football player's funeral and all of his teammates talking about how much they loved him and Paul wondering if they had ever said to him while he was alive. I liked when Paul and Tony went for a walk in the woods. I liked when Paul found out Amber was more than just a "club kid." But overall this book was a mass of cliches and characters who just tried to be far more clever than they actually are. -
"How come I've never seen him before?"
"Maybe you were just waiting for the right time to notice".
Siento que este libro realmente no conectó conmigo en lo más mínimo y que fue muy poco memorable, pues varios días después de terminarlo no recordaba muy bien la trama. Siento que David Levithan introdujo a un gran cast de personajes, algunos adorables y otros bastante de relleno, y eso hizo que un libro, que ya es corto en sí mismo, se me hiciera lento y largo.
La historia de amor que nos cuentan aquí es tierna y de las que los personajes saben que hay que atesorar, que son una en un millón, y por eso luchan por hacer que funcione hasta el final. Paul y Noah son adorables.
¿Qué es lo lindo de esta novela? La ambientación y la idea de un pueblo en donde casi todas las personas aceptan la diversidad. Me pareció que Levithan quiso crear una pequeña utopía en Boy Meets Boy.
Ahora, más allá de este highligh de la ambientación y la relación adorable, el libro no me dio mucho más y pasó sin pena ni gloria por mi vida. -
I have said this several times over, but hell--let me just shout it out once more—I love David Levithan! His descriptions, words, stories, and characters bring a smile to my face and an extra sparkle to my heart. The way Levithan infuses his pages with warmth, love, and hope inspires me to move, create, blast the radio, dance around like a fool, and love with all my heart. But this time out, I did hit a bump or two along the way.
Boy Meets Boy is the story of when Paul meets Noah. Sounds simple, right? Nothing is simple in Paul’s world or town. A quirky, bold, energetic, almost magical place where the quarterback is also the homecoming queen, cheerleaders are badass bikers, and living openly gay is the norm. Paul guides us through his town, high school, and misadventures in love and friendship with humor, style, love, and huge heart. This story presents a seemingly perfect world on the surface, but a place where friends still hurt each other, past pains continue to haunt, parents disappoint, and some kids remain in the closet confused or afraid. A lot goes on in the halls of the high school, the janitor closet, and under the bleachers for Paul. :D Dances to plan, old loves, new loves, kissing, mistakes, confusion, betrayals and hurt feelings. Who will win Paul’s heart? Can Paul win back the boy he hurt?
This book had so much to love! Levithan painted a world filled with places, emotions, and individuals that made me smile. A world filled with paddleboats, dancing, diners, note passing in the halls, music in the air, ice cream parlors, breakfast for dinner, love, friendship, and paint speckled boys. BUT all that fun and quirkiness felt forced and overwhelming at times. The humor and style overpowered the message, connection, and emotion for me—almost as if Levithan was trying too hard to be quirky and fun. I do have to share my favorite bit though. Paul’s way of showing his feelings for Noah at one point left me “aww”-ing and in awe! The gifts of time and words made me want to reach in the pages and squeeze Paul to bits with the biggest hug ever! Yes, me the non-hugger. Haha…See! See what Levithan does to me.
My heart smiled and embraced the love and friendship of this tale, but I also rolled my eyes a few times. The meaning or moment just seemed to go one step too far for me. Like the ending—there were several things I admired and adored about the ending, but one or two things I did not. SO when I have a disappointing read with one of my favorite authors, I back up and look at it again. See if I missed something (I did). The book dedication jumped out at me the second time around! Whether you read this book or not, I urge, beg, and hope you listen to Patty Griffin’s song—“Tony”. It helped me understand just how much Mr. Levithan wanted to inspire, support, and encourage teenagers to hold on and be there for each other in life with this story. Paul’s best friend Tony stole the show here and my heart. I would recommend this book for his story and Paul & Tony’s friendship alone. You can feel how much friends mean to Mr. Levithan here and in all his work. The man knows how to write a fun, wacky world, but he also knows what to truly treasure in life. It was just hard to see that message through all the hip window dressing, style, and humor in this book.
Soooo…even though I walked away from this tale a bit disappointed, I would still recommend this book ten times over. You might find just what you need here.
Favorite Levithan words:
Debauchery
Pair-a-noia
Woundedness
Vermilion
Thanks, Christina! I always have so much fun passing notes back and forth with you in the GR halls. :) -
Sometimes after reading a book, I find myself wishing I had read this book in my early teens instead of now. This is either because I didn't like it but feel like I would have at age 14 or because it's the type of book I that my teenage self really could have used. This book falls into the latter category.
I think what makes Boy Meets Boy so amazing is that it's a book about being gay without the story being incredibly sad or focused on coming out. It's a funny, happy book with a nice, relatable plot which also has a large amount of LGBT characters. This doesn't happen often and it's really refreshing even now, when the book has been out for a while.
We still need more media like this, but I'm truly glad this book exists for LGBT teens who want to see themselves in a story.
The writing style was also really fun and it was very easy to read, I'll definitely check out the author's other books. -
O Paul πηγαίνει σε ένα ιδανικό σχολείο που ο καθένας μπορεί να είναι ελεύθερος με τον εαυτό του και τα συναισθήματα που νιώθει. Δεν χρειάζεται να φοβάται αν είναι γκέι, τρανσέξουαλ, drag queen, στρέιτ, μπαισεξουαλ, όλοι έχουν ένα μέρος που ανήκουν εκεί. Φυσικά όμως όλα δεν είναι τόσο ουτοπικά οι περισσότεροι γονείς δεν το δέχονται ειδικά του Tony που του απαγορεύουν να κάνει παρέα με τον φίλο του τον Paul επειδή είναι ομοφυλόφιλος.
Ουσιαστικά έχουμε μια ιστορία αγάπης και το πως πρέπει οι άνθρωποι της Lgbtq κοινότητας να αντιμετωπίζονται με σεβασμό και ίσα δικαιώματα. Ήταν ομορφα γραμμένο σημείωσα πάρα πολλά στιχάκια αλλά μου φάνηκε κάπως ελλιπή και μικρό σε έκταση για να δεθώ πιο βαθιά με τους χαρακτήρες και την ιστορία τους. -
I adored this book so much. I read it in one sitting and I didn't stop reading until 2am this morning! It was an easy-going read with a not-so-brilliant plot but amazing characters. I forgot just how much I loved Levithan's writing.
-
dnf @ 20% for now
I might go back and finish this but I really am not liking the audiobook so I can't finish it via that method right now. I like the concept of this book but I'm not sure about it right now, but its short so I might save it for a readathon or something and read it in physical format -
Another enforced read, courtesy of YA Lit. I think this book was maybe a 2.5 on the scale, but I chose to round down since there were a few things that really bugged me about it. On the positive, there are parts of the book that manage to really resonate. When the book stops trying to be cool, it's not bad at all. I liked the character of Noah, who seemed nicely human in spite of the role he had as the perfect guy. At times I also enjoyed Paul, the main character; he was honest, he screwed up and admitted to the fact, and was flawed in the ways that all teenagers are.
However, there are some pretty big "howevers" to those positive things. First and foremost was the author. He had a decent story, decent characters, and the advantage of writing about something (gay teenagers in suburban America) that hasn't already been done a million times. But he still manages to completely mess up the book by being to noticable. I don't blame him for writing some of the things he did - we all write stupid extra paragraphs with no relation to the plot that happen to amuse us. I do blame him and his editor for letting them stay in the published version. For instance, and I quote:
"The janitor's closet has the usual brooms, mops, and buckets. At its center, though, is a state-of-the-art computer. Our janitorial staff is one of the richest in the country becuase of their day-trading skills. They could have retired long ago, but they all have a compulsion to clean schools." (p. 102)
Seriously? The book is FULL of these obnoxious, indulgent little bits that instantly made you remember you're reading a story, rather than let you drift into it and forget that it's all pretend. I was pretty aggrevated by the time I reached the end.
Secondly, there is the issue of Infinite Darlene and what she represents in the story. Infinite Darlene is one of the school's apparently many transvestites who happens to be both the star quarterback and the homecoming queen. And, no one seems to think twice about it. The book is full of situations that seem pretty un-realistic, whatever your opinon about whether in a perfect world they would be realistic or not. The way the characters' school and community are depicted comes off feeling incredibly contrived; maybe the author meant to write the book as a utopia or a "look how things could be". I don't know. It didn't have enough of a feel of a fable for that style to me, so it just ended up feeling fake. It almost seems like if the author set the book in (my understanding of) the real world, it would have both made more sense and carried more weight. -
DNF at page 125.
I tried. I tried so much to finish this book, but I just could not turn another page.
I'm not saying it's a bad book, it's really good, but it's just not for me. I can't bring myself to feel anything for these characters or the story, no matter how much I forced myself to read.
