Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan, 310 pages
This book's been on my 'too read' list since it came out. After Tiger recently reviewed it, I decided I needed to finally read it. I rarely read young adult novels, but I do enjoy them in general.
The overall story was entertaining and the message being conveyed came through loud and clear. However, I had a couple issues with this book.
1. I really thought the authors tried to cram too many types of characters into one book. Gay, goth, terribly depressed, super fat kid, etc. Maybe it's just me, but I felt they could have spent less effort on that and more on just developing a couple more intricately.
2. Although the above details were mentioned, there wasn't much to really give you a feel for how the characters looked. Everyone might not care about this, but I like to have a little something to give me a picture in my head of the characters. For some reason, I pictured nothing.
There are so many books out there now for teens that deal with being gay. I don't know if this is because so many teens are coming out or if it was just a niche that needed to be filled, but I think it's a good thing. When I was in high school, there were kids who were gay, but they did not come out until they left high school and the town, for good. I grew up in a very rural area though, so I know this was a factor. I wonder, however, if it might have been a little different if books such as these were accessible for those teens to read and relate to.
Anyway, though I thought a few things could be improved upon, I did still enjoy reading this, and it was a quick read, as teen novels tend to be.
