Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy
Author: David Levithan

Release Date: 9th September 2003

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
Love is never easy. Especially if you're Paul. He's a sophomore at a high school like no other - and these are his friends:

Infinite Darlene, the homecoming queen and star quarterback.
Joni, Paul's best friend who may not be his best friend any more.
Tony, his other best friend, who can't leave the house unless his parents think he's going on a date... with a girl.
Kyle, the ex-boyfriend who won't go away.
Rip, the school bookie, who sets the odd...
And Noah. The Boy. The one who changes everything.

In A Nutshell:
Boy Meets Boy is one of my favourite David Levithan novels. Realistic and funny, I constantly had a smile on my face.

My Review:
Boy Meets Boy is set in a town and high school that is completely comfortable and open about everything, especially the gay kids. While I have certainly never come across a place so overwhelmingly supportive, I hope one day a place a country could exist like this and not just in the pages of such a fabulous novel.

The story centres around Paul, a guy who, by all accounts, has grown up pretty self-assured. He’s known he is gay since he was five and is extremely open and comfortable with who he is (read chapter two; hilarious and probably one of my favourite parts of the story for the ‘messages’ shared.). He has an eclectic group of friends and they have all the same troubles as every other teenager.

Boy Meets Boy is one of my favourite David Levithan novels. Realistic and funny, I constantly had a smile on my face. I loved the characters with all their quirks and extravagance, their insecurities and disagreements, desires and persistence.

Tony, who lives in another town, just wants to be able to go on a date with a boy without lying to his religious parents. Noah, who has been hurt before, wants to give a relationship another chance. Paul, he just wants his feelings reciprocated while his friend Joni, who has dated Ted on and off for years, suddenly decides the ‘off’ should be permanent. She starts dating Chuck, completely throwing off the group dynamics, especially when she starts ditching her life-long friends in favour of Chuck (I’m sure everyone has experienced that!). And Kyle is confused but thinks he has figured out what he wants.

When Paul meets Noah, the world is all rainbows and sunshine, until Paul screws it up. What I like about this story is that it is so realistic (aside from the fact there is no homophobia in their world). Life is messy and complicated and people make mistakes. When Paul accidentally makes a mess of things, Noah doesn’t easily forgive him; Paul has to make an effort to rebuild a relationship and the trust that they once had.

A loveable high school story about love, life, acceptance and the bonds of friendship.

“Do you really exist?” I blurt out.

“Not at all,” he says with a smile. “I’ve known that since I was four.”

“What happened when you were four?”

“Well I had this theory. Although I guess I was too young to know it was a theory. You see, I had this imaginary friend. She followed me everywhere – we had to set a place for her at the dinner table, she and I talked all the time – the whole deal. Then it occurred to me that she wasn’t the imaginary friend at all. I figured that I was the imaginary friend, and she was the one who was real. It made perfect sense to me. My parents disagreed, but I still secretly feel that I’m right.”