Customer Reviews

Boy Meets Boy

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Pure and simple this book is a fantasy book. It is a book that takes every gay or lesbian "what-if-my-school-was-like" and rolls it all up into one very engaging and humourus story.

In the center of everything there is 15-year-old Paul. Has has known that he was gay every since kindergarden when his teacher told him so. But where Paul lives it is not only acceptable to be gay, but most of the town is. As we follow Paul throughout the turbulent month of November, he takes as on an incredible journey of friendship, self-discovery, and acceptance.

This book reads like Gilmore Girls on Steroids... At one moment, you can't help but to drop the book because you are laughing so hard, the next moment your face turns all red and your excited, and the next page your starting to tear up. The characters are real, yet they may feel like cartoons at times: Infinite Darlene ('nuf said if you read the book).

This is a wonderful book, and a great read for anybody. But I do have to tell that it is a fantasy... it is what people would hope the world will be like, but to contrast this "whimsical" place (as the author discribes it), there is a neighboring town, and is not very libral, and is where much of the acceptance plays a part.

Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of most gay fiction. Personally, I'm tired of stories which insist on revolving around either coming out or AIDS, the two topics every author in the field seems determined to address if only to exorcise their own personal demons. Well, David Levithan either dealt with those issues long ago or has, like me, had quite enough of the pontification and opted to take a different route by actually creating a novel that is entertaining! There's no denying that to enter Livithan's world, one must be prepared to suspend your disbelief for a while. It can, at first, be jarring to discover that these high schoolers live in a world where being gay is not only normal and accepted but, for the most part, not even something worth giving much thought to. But oh, what rich and wonderful characters populate the halls of Levithan's high school. Would that the world could actually be filled with the charming, witty, soulful creatures the author has created. If we lived in so perfect a world, Levithan's work would be required reading in every classroom, perhaps allowing everyone to see that love is love, no matter with whom it is shared. Want a read that will leave you charmed and - dare I say it? - swooning? Pick this up immediately. Better yet, pick up two copies, because this is the kind of book you'll want to share with friends, although you won't even consider letting your copy stray far from home which is, after all, where the heart lives.

i originally picked up this book in the shop just because i liked the cover, but i ended up staying up late to finish it. i was hooked from the second page and since then i've read it countless times!

the town Paul - the main character - lives in is something of a fairytale place, the kind of place most people -me included - would like to live in, or even just like to exist. It's a place where tolerance is everything, in and out of high school, where the schools star quarterback is also the homecoming queen and the Gay-Straight Alliance attracts more members the the hockey team.

so, it edges on the unrealistic, who cares? it's a feelgood book, that will have you smiling to yourself all day when you have finsihed it. not to say it's all smiles, i nearly cried at one point, but the resolution is great and - without giving anything away, the ending rocked. a lot.

Levithan's rich and colourful storytelling made me feel like i knew all the characters well, even if he only mentions a little about them. This book should be standard year 8/9 classroom reading material, and i would reccommend it to anyone - young or old, straight or gay - who wants an uplifting and insightful love story.

go on, read it!

This was the first gay novel that I ever read--I mush tell you that it was right around the same time I came out and was looking for something to relate to. Well, one morning me and two of my friends wore in the library at my high school ( I was a freshman) and I was scanning the shelf's when I came about this. After my friends finally persuaded me to check it out, I did. Im so glad that they did, becouse i didn't have the balls to. I even had a load of interests about it. So that morning I began to read it and 'bout two weeks later I finished it. WOW. I loved it so much. Since then I've read lots of other gay teen novels but haven't quite been able to find a book to stand up to its wit and humor, it love, and its originality. The only book that can acculy stand next to it is Brent Hartinger's two out of four gay high school book series: Geography Club and The Order Of Poison oak. But there still a long way from this novel. It has a reality of its own.
NOTE:who ever is looking for novel to relate too like struggles, homophobia and other, this is not it. Sadly its pure fantasy.

Mr. Levithan is an editor at knopf who was looking for the "Dream Novel" to publish. Well after a long time of waiting he decided to write his own DREAM NOVEL. This is it.

Hopefully one day it won't be jest fantasy, it'll be a realty for all who will grow up with this novel. I hope one day it will be like this in all high schools.

[...]

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. Remember those tiny valentine candies with words on them? Three of those candy hearts with "boy" "meets" "boy" on them adorn the cover of David Levithan's gentle, sweet novel about Paul, a gay sophomore in high school and his friends. You can hardly call this a coming out novel since Paul, who is also the narrator, was outed by his kindergarten teacher when she wrote on his report card: "Paul is definitely gay and has very good sense of self." He ran for and was elected class president in the third grade on an openly gay ticket. In eighth grade Paul saw PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, and he met his good friend Tony at the Strand Book Store as they both were looking for a used copy of THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRANES. One of Paul's friends in high school is a drag queen/homecoming queen/star quarterback who is faced with the real dilemma of how the homecoming queen can introduce herself/himself as quarterback at a pep rally. Cheerleaders ride motorcycles. Because of the National Boy Scouts' stand on gays, the local chapter has disbanded and is now an organization called "Joy Scouts." P-FLAG is more important than the PTA. The land of Oz? Maybe. Tony's parents may come as close to being wicked witches as anyone in this almost perfect world the author creates since they are fundamentalists who only let him study with Paul in their kitchen in plain sight of them.

The shy Mr. Levithan-- even when you go to his website, you don't learn a lot about him-- has written a seamless beautiful novel about a lucky, well-adjusted gay adolescent. In describing something he saw on television about a teen football player who had died in an auto accident, Paul remembers that some of his "big hulking" friends were in tears because they had loved him so much. "I started crying, too, and I wondered if these guys had told the football player they loved him while he was alive, or whether it was only with death that this strange word, love, could be used. I vowed then and there that I would never hesitate to speak up to the people I loved. They deserved to know they gave meaning to my life. They deserved to know I thought the world of them." Wouldn't a son like that warm any parent's heart?

The book closes-- and I have not given away the plot by any means-- with Paul thinking to himself: "What a wonderful world." What a wonderful book!

This is such a funny, touching and sweet coming of age story. Its got appropriate sexual story lines without being pornographic. The world they live in is pure fantasy and it would be wonderful if every teenager lived in the world of Boy Meets Boy. But a great read for teenagers and nostalgic memories.

Before buying a book, I usually like to read a few pages. I got so stuck in this book, that I had read nearly half the book before even leaving the bookstore. That night, I stayed up until (to the annoyance of my parents) 1:30 to finish it.

I thought it was an overall good book. It was pretty easy reading, but it did something that few books do to me, which is leave me in a good mood. Some authors, I have found, talk about being gay like a huge secret, or some sort of disease. Levithan talks about it freely. And, though I myself am not gay, I began correcting my friends when they would talk about being gay versus being "normal."

This book is a good reminder that there is no such thing as "normal" or "the right way." It all depends on the person.

I would recommend Boy Meets Boy to someone looking for a pick-me-up, and a thoroughly entertaining book. (In my opinion)

Is there a homosexual alive who wouldn't trade in their grammar, middle, and high school experience for Paul's? I imagine there is, but I think most would rather have Paul's. He lives in a city that is so remarkably socially liberal that a kindergarten teacher writes on Paul's report card, "Paul is definitely gay and has a very good sense of self". Seeing that, Paul asks his parents about it, and instead of the parents falling apart crying, denouncing their child as an abomination, or immediately shipping him off to an all boy's school (I just LOVE that solution - if parents knew what goes on in those schools...anyway...), Paul's mother announces to her husband that their son has learned a new word. And that's that.

Straight and gay aren't polarizing terms; they're merely identifiers, much like colors: that mug is yellow, and the sky is blue. There aren't gay clubs because they aren't necessary. People aren't afraid to be who they are.

I think, ultimately, that's the appeal of this book. Granted, the writing is solid, the characters very believable and entertaining (Infinite Darlene, the homecoming queen *and* the star quarterback deserves a book of her own), but when you get right down to it, this world, this Utopia creates not only a desire in those who read it to have lived it, but a desire in those who read it to make this community a reality someday. Thousands of teen suicides every year would simply disappear. Nobody would have to pretend to like girls or boys to hide their secrets. It's a wonderful world, as Levithan himself says.

Which reminds me - one thing that Levithan did throughout the book that was entertaining was that he used lyrics of songs in his sentences. I finished the book last week, didn't make notes, so the only one I recall is at the very end of the book, where Levithan craftily weaves his ending into the lyrics of What a Wonderful World. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a bit misty-eyed. This world that Paul lives in is one I'd give my right hand to live in.

Working for an LGBT youth group, I've read 'em all! And up until recently LGBT teen fiction was filled with drugs, suicide, and despair. Thank goodness there are now authors out there who know that today's youth aren't all suffering like they did. Geography Club was the first book that was well written to break this mold, but now there's Boy Meets Boy. I liken BMB to a teen's version of the hit movie, Big Eden, where we all know its not real, but its nice to escape to another world. In Levithan's world being gay is just another part of who we are, and the only thing unusual about the trans football star is that she fills the school halls with drama...not so unusual on second thought.

This book is hard to put down, and while there aren't any big surprises, its well written and a nice story. The characters weren't deep but were certainly deep enough to make you care about them, and yes I even cried once or twice. Fun cover, fun story, fun read.

Already honored as an ALA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults, An ALA Quick Pick, A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, and A Lambda Literary Award Winner, David Levithan's BOY MEETS BOY lives up to its reputation as a groundbreaking gay-themed novel for young adults. The tension created between the characters is top-notch, and the writing quality something after which every writer strives.

Paul has known he was gay since his Kindergarten teacher wrote it in his report card: "PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS A VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF." Since then, his life hasn't been as difficult as it probably should have been. The town he lives in is supportive, his family loves him for who he is, and Joni (straight as a toothpick) and Tony (also gay--they're just friends) are his best friends forever. Joni's mom and dad are like a second set of parents to Paul, and he's practically got Joni's house memorized he's spent so much time there. Tony's life hasn't been easy. Because of his church-going parents, he's had to lie to them for years so he could sneak out to have any kind of fun. And fun they had.

Everything changes when Paul meets Noah, the new kid at school. Noah's parents don't know he's gay. From the moment Noah invites Paul into his private art studio, things heat up between the two of them. At the same time they're hitting it off, Paul's old boyfriend Kyle wants to get back together. Tony's trying to figure out how to tell his parents who he really is. And Infinite Darling, the drag queen quarterback and homecoming queen, can't seem to mind her own business because her friends are her business.

Unfortunately, the characters (Noah excluded) are largely one-dimensional. It's as though the kids attending this school are completely obsessed with and defined by their sexuality, while Noah's character is the only one with any depth to him. The rest of them seem only interested in figuring out their gender and sexual orientation, begging the question--"If these kids don't want people to define them by their sexuality, then why don't they define themselves by something else?" Chalk it up as a missed opportunity to have characters who happen to be gay, instead of gay characters.

That said, Paul's story is about love. About how "part of love is letting a person be who they want to be." How "if you want to be loved," you've got to "be lovable." It's about a kid who everyone else thinks has it all together, and the truth is that when compared to most kids like him, he probably does. Even still, he can't help but "want to feel like life matters," like the courage of his friends will somehow make a difference, like for once, he'll be able to have and to hold something real. Which is all he really wanted in the first place.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens