I had some concerns going into reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson because I’m typically a fan of John Green’s writing, but I’m usually not a fan of David Levithan’s and I knew that they’d be alternating chapters. I’ve read a couple other YA novels where authors alternate chapters and I’ve found that sometimes the structure works, and sometimes it doesn’t. I was happily surprised to find that the alternating pattern worked so well in WG, WG. Both Wills had distinct and recognizable voices; I think that the voices were distinguishable enough that Levithan didn’t need to use the no-capitalization gimmick in his chapters. In some ways, the lack of capitalization worked with Levithan’s Grayson’s voice because so much of his story took place in chats and through texts (where non-standard grammar rules are the norm), but I felt that carrying it throughout the entire chapter wasn't necessary to distinguish the change in POV.
I started the book by identifying strongly with Green’s Grayson and his friends but found Levithan’s Grayson’s angst fairly off-putting and annoying. However, by the end of the book I ended up liking Green’s Grayson somewhat less, and Levithan’s Grayson a lot more than I had at the outset. I think that Levithan’s Grayson definitely displayed the most character growth throughout the course of the novel, his major turning point being the Grayson/Grayson intersection. Tiny Cooper was without a doubt my favorite character in the book. He fits pretty neatly into the “manic pixie dream girl” trope (except for turning the trope’s gender expectation on its head) which is generally a character type that I strongly dislike. I’m still trying to figure out why I liked Tiny so much when the character trope is one that I typically dislike; do I like him because of the genderbending nature of having a male character fill a typically female role? I’m not sure.
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