Review: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Release Date: May 10th 2005
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 185
Source: My Collection
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This is the story of Paul, a sophomore at a high school like no other: The cheerleaders ride Harleys, the homecoming queen used to be a guy named Daryl (she now prefers Infinite Darlene and is also the star quarterback), and the gay-straight alliance was formed to help the straight kids learn how to dance.

When Paul meets Noah, he thinks he’s found the one his heart is made for. Until he blows it. The school bookie says the odds are 12-to-1 against him getting Noah back, but Paul’s not giving up without playing his love really loud. His best friend Joni might be drifting away, his other best friend Tony might be dealing with ultra-religious parents, and his ex-boyfriend Kyle might not be going away anytime soon, but sometimes everything needs to fall apart before it can really fit together right.

This is a happy-meaningful romantic comedy about finding love, losing love, and doing what it takes to get love back in a crazy-wonderful world.

 

 

So right off the bat my husband was making bets on whether I would finish this book or not. As I’ve said numerous times, I don’t like to read the synopsis. If I had read the synopsis I might not have actually picked up the book but there were things that definitely came as a surprise to me and I just couldn’t believe it at all. That’s one problem with this book. It is unbelievable.

The cheerleaders ride Harleys in the gym for the pep rally. They are jumping off ramps and everything. The star quarterback, former name Daryl, is a drag queen now named Infinite Darlene, he wears the full get up to school and is voted the homecoming queen. Everyone on the football team is fine with this and the backup quarter back even falls in love with him but is denied. They also dance in bookstores and have a dance that involves dancing with the picture of a dead lady.   

Now my school was pretty large compared to the one in this book but I don’t think a Homecoming drag queen quarterback would hold over well in my school. There is no bullying in this book like there would be in a lot of the real life situations. There would definitely not be a whole bunch of cheerleaders on Harleys, let alone would they be allowed to enter the school with them.

This book involves some insta-love too which is awful. The more I read books with it the more I hate it. Everything that revolves around the two boys is perfect at the beginning. There is a whole gymnasium full of kids and there just happens to be an empty seat right next to the boy who he likes and he just happens to be sitting directly across from him in the gym. Now of course there is some drama because a little love triangle thing is thrown in and the main character makes a couple of stupid mistakes. However in this book everything turns out almost perfect in the end.

I guess I should also talk about the characters. We have our main character Paul, he is a sophomore at high school and he has life pretty easy, at least according to pretty much everyone else. His kindergarten teach wrote “definitely gay” on his report card. I’m pretty sure she would get sued or fired in real life.  Infinite Darlene, who I already mentioned is the star quarterback and homecoming queen. She also likes to gossip. Joni, is Paul’s best friend since grade school. She helped him when class president by making signs that said “Vote for me... I’m Gay.” (There is no need for the “It gets better” program in this world.) Tony, Paul’s other best friend from another school. His parents are extremely religious and refuse to let him hang out with anyone besides a girl. I liked his character the best because he seemed the most real. He had real world problems. We have the ex-boyfriend Kyle, who can’t decide whether he likes guys or girls and is confused about that fact that it is ok to like both. Then we have Noah, the possible new boyfriend. This is the insta-love part. Noah has been hurt before so is very apprehensive when it comes to Paul and the possibility of a new relationship.

Even with my problems with this book it was still a fun, quick read. If you like cute, fluffy, and over-the-top then you will probably like this book. I still enjoyed it.

 

My Rating: