May 20, 2010

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON is unfairly underrated

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

When I finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson a few weeks ago, I turned the last page, proclaimed my love for John Green for the thirteen thousandth time and finally rolled out of bed to put the book on my shelf.  As I got out of bed, I pondered the significance of the book and its message, quickly coming to this conclusion: WG, WG is on the most important YA books I have ever read.  Here's why:

1. Few people liked the gay WG.  They didn't like his voice, they didn't like his ideas, they couldn't handle Levithan taking creative license and throwing grammar out the window.  I am not sure if Gay WG was meant to be liked.  It doesn't matter to me because what I did find in Gay WG was reality.  He speaks as a real sixteen year old gay kid does.  He has bad qualities, yay, otherwise, I'd would've been bored to death.  He is full of grudges, naiveties, and most other teen-angst issues.  Overall, he entertained me.  Deep down, he touched me emotionally and brought a lot of memories I suppressed as a teen back to the surface.

2. Straight WG's voice was simple and powerful, in true John Green form.  And, in true John Green form, I immediately fell in love with him.  Straight WG keeps the novel grounded, while finding release and letting go of his inhibitions.

3. WG, WG is first and foremost, not a love story, but a coming of age story.  I think people were expecting this big gay love-fest.  It is not that.  It does have a musical and a big gay character though.  And I literally mean big.

4. Tiny Cooper - a gay cross between Mikey from Recess and Fat Albert - is an amazing YA character, he is straight WG's best friend.  I suppose some will find him annoying, cliche, and stereotypical, I do too, but that's what I love about him, he knows these things.  He wants you to know how gay he is. It annoys straight WG, which makes for some of the best internal monologuing ever written, intermixed with some of the best YA dialogue ever written.

This book is fanfreakingtastic.  I dare all cynics to give it a shot.  There can be no 'I just couldn't get into it' excuses.  Read it, finish it, and hate it - I totally dare you.




Tina has some words on WG, WG too!  I think we all know she's much more eloquent than I, so go check out her love.

23 comments:

  1. Okay, you made me want to read this book even more (and it was already pretty high up on my list). Must get a copy!

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  2. WOW! I am adding this to my library list!

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  3. Okay, finally posted. I'm don't agree that I'm more eloquent, but I appreciate you saying so. But we can all agree that you are eloquently loquacious (one of my son's vocab words!)! And I wish I were just like you. I admire you to death.

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  4. I am positively dying to read this book!! I think we have very similar tastes, Jon. :-)

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  5. I've been itching to get my hands on this book!

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  6. Anna - Sorry. Not. :P

    Dena - Awesome!

    Tina - Likewise, my friend!

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  7. Shannon - That's an awesome compliment!

    Sarah - Well, scratch that itch and read it already!

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  8. I'll take your dare, darn-it. This has been on my list forevA!!!

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  9. I am SO embarrassed to say I haven't read a John Green book yet. I will put this on my To Read list. I do have An Abundance of Katherine's in my house and haven't read that either.

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  10. I liked your summary of it and how it made you feel. I don't read many YA books. If it doesn't have pictures, pop-ups, or little fuzzy things to feel, I probably haven't read it. Glad you enjoyed it! :)

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  11. Seriously, a cross between a gay Mikey from recess and Fat Albert....I am sold!!!

    (I looooove me some Recess!! the most true kids' TV show evah!

    Shelley

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  12. Happy Friday, Jon! I have an award for you at my blog today! :-)

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  13. Well you convinced me about Green with 'Looking for Alaska' so I guess I must try this too.

    Honestly, I love to hear how passionate you are about this. It's just great :)

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  14. Yes, yes I will! My list is way too long (see my blog if you don't believe me!), but I want to read this book! Also, though I haven't read it, An Abundance of Katherines speaks to me as it fairly accurately describes my life. :)

    And...bean burrito. Cause I saw that Dena was here. ;)

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  15. Christina - I am glad you are taking the dare because I totally hate double-dog-daring people.

    Kelly - You should be ashamed :P

    Rena - I understand what you mean. YA dialogue, for me, is the warm fuzzy stuff.

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  16. Shelley - I LOVE RECESS TOO! I used to watch that every Sat AM when I was little. The kindergarteners that looked like natives and King Bob. It was pure awesomeness.

    Shannon - You're awesome.

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  17. Crystal - I was under the impression that LFA wasn't that great to you. I will say that it is Green's darkest work, so the others will be better to you. Me, I like dark.

    Dena - You're too silly. In case you missed the WIBIJ response - YUM!

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  18. TINA!! - OMG, I love beef tacos! Just not when I am puking them up for eight hours straight and then calling you mommy at 8AM.

    Kris - You piqued my interest with you comment about AN ABUNDANCE OF KATH'S... and ubr ew on the burrito comment.

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  19. I really liked LFA actually, even though parts of it I didn't. It wasn't the kind of book I'd want to read again though. But yes, I liked it. I reviewed it on my goodreads thingy go look :) Just a short one.

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  20. YES! This book is fan-frakkin-tastic! I made my Mom and sister both read it and Mom made sure the high school librarian knew about it (Mom teaches in an elementary school). I bought Abundance of Katherines at the same time and loved that one too (obviously, because John Green is made of awesome).

    I did like straight WG's voice better, but still thought David Levithan's WG was realistic. The best part was that yes, the book had gay characters, but that wasn't the defining point.

    And Recess was one of the best shows ever made!

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  21. Yes yes yes! On all counts. One of the most significant YA books of our time, I think. A groundbreaking book. And it so happens that this is the only book I've ever reviewed on my blog since I started blogging last fall (I know the blog says I started April, but I didn't actually get started until Fall--anyway). It's amazing, and I'll make it my life's goal to be BFFs with JG and DL ;)

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:D