No light young-adult fic here: Green and Levithan delivers a haunting yet humorous look on life
I was first attracted to this book because I would read anything John Green writes. Even oatmeal cookie recipes. And once again, John Green, this time along with David Levithan, did not disappoint.
In this dual-authored book, Green handles the odd-numbered chapters chronicling the adventures of a more privileged Will Grayson, whilst Levithan pens the even-numbered chapters detailing mostly the morbid thoughts of the second will grayson. Both characters have next to nothing in common, aside from their name, age range, and the dramatic adolescent/life issues they wrestle with. Green's Will Grayson predictably has Green's poetic voice, and narrates with striking... See More
quotes such as:
"This is why we call people exes, I guess--because the paths that cross in the middle end up separating at the end. It's too easy to see an X as a cross-out. It's not, because there's no way to cross out something like that. The X is a diagram of two paths."
Leave it to John Green to make ocean-deep metaphors out of a letter of the ol' alphabet. Rest assured, if you're a fan of unexpected, witty, and beautiful metaphors Green is famous for, at least half of this book is already a winner. Now on to the other half.
Note how I've written the second titular character's name in my second paragraph with only lower cases. This is a reflection of how Levithan writes through all of his chapter. Everything. Is. In. Lower. Case. Now, if you're a grammar nazi like myself, the first few of Levithan's chapters might tempt you to take out a pen and personally scribe upper case letter on the begining of every sentence and name. It might even annoy you, which it certainly did to me. I was about three Levithan-chapters in when I realized that the lower cases may express Levithan's will grayson's view of life; everything is monotone, dull, unexciting. He even writes his own name in all lower cases, perhaps as a sign of how little and unimportant he sees himself to be. It is then that I realize and begin to appreciate that while Green's metaphors jump out the page and announces itself, Levithan's blend into the words and grammar of his prose, sitting so silently in the background that you really have to pause and look for it. In essence, Levithan's very way of writing is a personification of his will grayson. And that won the second half of the book for me.
I may not have LOVED this book, but I really really really really really liked it. The story handles the delicate issues of mortality, sexuality, relationships, and views of self beautifully. Amongst other things, it's funny and thought-provoking, two wining combinations for me for any literature piece. Mind you, I wouldn't classify it as an easy-read; if that's what you're looking for, look away from this book. But if you're in the market for a book that will make you think about life, and make you snort with laughter along the way, then I would definitely recommend this book.
Between 4−5 stars rating, 22 September 2014