Music, Love, and a Fateful Porn Shop Meeting: Review of Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

John Green and David Levithan

YA Contemp Romance

2010

I'm guessing the cover, which is beautiful,
is showing city lights on the night the two Wills meet.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is the story of two boys, both named Will Grayson, and their struggle to learn to love others and themselves.  John Green and David Levithan each created a character and then had them meet- incidentally at porn shop that neither one was supposed to be at.  This chance encounter brings out different aspects of their personalities as their friends interact and as they compare themselves to each other.

The "first" Will Grayson is a quiet boy with a very loud, very openly gay, very huge best friend named Tiny.  Tiny is a giant football player who falls in and out of love several times each week, and he's working on a musical about his life called Tiny Dancer.  Tiny is the GSA president, and another member, Jane (who at first may be part of the gay or the straight side of the alliance, Will isn't sure), turns out to have awesome taste in music, be very smart, and totally cute to Will.  Can Will discover his place in this group of friends?  Will needs Tiny, but does Tiny need Will?

The "second" Will Grayson is a guy struggling to live with major depression.  Will lives with his mom, who loves him dearly, but clearly has her own problems as well.  He has few friends, none close, except for an online friend named Isaac.  Isaac and Will talk online every night, and they hope to one day meet.  Finally, Will plans to travel to meet Isaac...

I had a hard time getting into this book, but once I got past the first 50 pages, I loved it.  This is an excellent LGBT book about teens, but it's really just a book about LOVE.  Love between parents and kids, love between friends, love between boys and girls, and love between boys and boys.  What is love?  How do you know you are in love?  What will you do for someone who loves you?  Can you make someone love you?

While this book deals with the painful topic of major depression, both Wills are humorous which keeps this from being a depressing read.  There is a dark tone to it, but the use of music lightens things up periodically. The "first" Will Grayson and his friends are into punk/indie music, and they go to a couple of shows and talk about their favorite songs.  A sub-plot of the book is Tiny's production of his musical, including some lyrics, that are super funny while expressing issues and questions surrounding his sexuality and his desire for love (example: a baseball scene with the song "What's Second Base for a Gay Man?").

I LOVE the honesty of this book.  The "second" Will Grayson eloquently expresses his feelings and frustrations with his life and depression: "it's not fair, because i didn't ask for dad to leave, and i didn't ask to be depressed, and i didn't ask for us to have no money, and i didn't ask to want to f--k boys, and i didn't ask to be so stupid, and i didn't ask to have no real friends, and i didn't ask to have half the s--t that comes out of my mouth come out of my mouth.  all i wanted was one f--king break, one idiotic good thing, and that was clearly too much to ask for, too much to want (p. 148)."  Will feels a great sense of injustice that his life is so hard.  He knows he's hurting people, but he doesn't want to, he's just trying to survive with the life he has been given.  I think he wants space, too, space to be himself even if it bothers other people.  He wants those around him to realize that he's hurting and may hurt them, and to love him anyways.

There's a scene when the "first" Will is giving Tiny the silent treatment that I really found insightful.  "It's not even that I want to torture him anymore.  I'm just reveling in the glory of not having to hear the neediness and impotence of my own voice (p.158)."  If you've ever argued with someone who is more loud, more demanding, and more assertive that you, you might identify with Will here.  I know that I do.  There comes a point when you feel so helpless that you don't even want to try to get your point across, and there's power in NOT speaking, because the other person needs you to say something in order for him or her to shut you down.  Will is sick of his relationship with Tiny, and he wants to stop feeding his own need for Tiny.

Bottom line: GREAT read.  I'd highly recommend it to all high school students as well as anyone who likes diverse romance books or books about friendship.  I can't wait to read other books by Green and Levithan.

I checked this book out of my local library.