Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green & David Leviathan

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green & David Leviathan. Pub. Text Publishing, 2010.

I thought that Going Bovine by Libba Bray was about as out there as you can get. I was wrong. This co-written novel is off this planet.

I have read books by David Leviathan before notably Boy Meets Boy and Nick & Norah, in which he portrays both gay and heterosexual relationships and is really saying that they are parallel and comparable. Him and John Green do the same in this novel.

The first chapter by John Green  portrays Will Grayson as a boy who is scared to be hurt in the emotional stakes and plays his cards pretty close to his chest. His best friend is an ostentatiously gay, Tiny, a big boy who is able to get away with his behaviour without being physically abused because he is huge and his parents are filthy rich. Tiny has many relationships that all start with huge passion and end a few days later or sometimes hours later in grief.

The second chapter by David Leviathon portrays his Will Grayson as an anal retentive gay with a shocking attitude, a filthy mouth and  bitter. He has a girl friend Maura, who is as bitter as he is. This Will Grayson is having an on-line relationship with Isaac,  is madly in love and wants to meet him.

When “straight” Will Grayson is turned away from the door at a concert for being too young he goes into a porn shop across the road which happens to be the address that the “gay” Will Grayson is to meet Isaac.

When both Will Grayson boys meet their lives change for ever. Brilliant. But does the book end well? Some will think so but like me others will not be so sure. Make your own mind up, but it is definitely worth reading.

What really makes this book great is the dialogue. It is sharp, it is bitchy, it is funny, it is cruel, it is intelligent, it is cool, it is hip, it is everything you want to say yourself, but the words never come. You will smile and laugh at the interaction between the characters.

The contrasting heterosexual relationship in this book is between “straight” Will Grayson and Jane. It is a “slow burn” relationship in which Will cannot make up his mind and when Jane is interested in someone else things rapidly change. Compare this to the gay relationship which is fast, furious, passionate and over before it’s begun.

Green and Leviathan have written a winner but not everybody is going to think so. The language will deter some, but heavens it is life. Definitely Senior secondary in appeal.