Skip to main content

Book Review: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Book Review: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan



Quote: He leans in and kisses. He says he's missed me too.
I know this is right. I know he's not going to be amazing all the time, but there's more amazingness in him than in anyone else I've known. He makes me want to be amazing too.


June was an interesting month, I read up various kinds of books from non-fiction to rom-com to writing for children despite my lack of reviews here. I wanted to do a pride month reading list, but I got occupied. So I want to end the month with an LGBTQIA book.
Paul grew up gay in a town that's accepting, where the gender boundaries have blurred. The homecoming queen is star Quarterback and a drag-queen by day. Paul is popular, loved and has two best friends Joni the quintessential girl best friend prone to fall for red-flag boys, and Tony a gay boy living with his conservative family. And there is Kyle Paul's ex-boyfriend
Paul meets Noah in a bookstore, a newbie sophomore, falls for him head over heels.
The book stands out, the constant complain the LGBTQIA community has about books and movies about us is: it always ends in tragedy. Happiness is that rare bird that queer community just hopes for.
The book follows the usual pattern of love at first sight, misunderstanding and depression caused by irritating and cheating exes, the break up of the lead couple and how they get back together against the backdrop of a school dance.
The book was written in 2003, hence the lack of texting, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and use of internet came as readership shock to me. Noah and Paul exchanging notes during breaks, planning on weekend dates and writing letters were both heartwarming and annoying.
Till the end of the book I was worried for Joni, she falls for Chuck, not the best guy around who slowly eats away her circle of friends as he sticks around her, like thick as thieves. I would've loved if she came to her senses, but hormones always win.
Noah's character needed more pages, instead, we get more of Kyle bugging Paul. Kyle is the typical red-flag boyfriend of the queer community, an emotional vampire. I loved Tony's arc the most, in a world that's against him, he is fighting every day for his right to love.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire.

Book Review: When The River Sleeps by Easterine Kire. Quote: Perhaps the answer lay not in striving but in being. In simply accepting that the loneliness would never be eliminated fully, but that one could deal with it by learning to treat it like a companion and no longer an adversary. Ville a hunter wakes up from a dream, ventures out to search for the heart-stone; that holds the power of the river that's asleep. And this stone is guarded by wailing-angry-widow-spirits. Many attempts have been made at magical realism in Indian English writing, and I didn't like them. My personal opinion is that magical realism needs a deep connection with nature, maybe never explicitly explored in the text, but the traces of that connection always shows in the words written. And I have always argued that North East India is the most fertile ground to plant the seeds of magical realism in. Easterine Kire, pens our deep connection with nature for the national readership to gawk...
Post a Comment
Read more

Word Addict...

                Witch that resides in my heart becomes rest less every-time I loiter down the only bookshop (actually there are many,only two of them have readable books) in my Town. The witch again goes wild, when her stumbling feet walks down College Street in Kolkata. My every visit to Kolkata compels the witch to go there and I feel immense joy running down my blood vessels         I chanced upon Penguin  blogspot  about the modern methods of buying books how times have changed and how the writer feels about it... I was having personal thoughts to write about my evolution as a book addict , and the blog post  helped me to write my own..                  Being a girl I know shopping is the best therapy to distress soul, but for me book buying is the biggest therapy which irritates my family. I still remember my first visit to College S...
1 comment
Read more

Book Review: #Orangetoons by Shreya Sen

Book Review: #Orangetoons by Shreya Sen Quote:You are anyways going to carry the baggage right? So how about caring nice things in it? Just the perfect little pocket size comics you need before you end your day and curl up under your dohar. Hilariously illustrated, gives you what was once known as pearls of wisdom and what we would call as: two penny thoughts every millennial carries in her purse. Superbly relatable if you wear glasses and have untamed hair and have a thing for boxers. I deliberately did not photograph the inside of this tiny book. But it is a good example on how to do your independent or self-publishing gig right, the size, the colour and the binding are to the point and nothing extravagant or flashy. A lesson for young creators of comics can learn from, keep it short and simple. Just get your own copy from @shreyasensagoli. I especially loved the art with the caption: Allow objects to change if you wish to preserve them!
Post a Comment
Read more