Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan

Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, LBGTQ, Romance

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Publication: August 27, 2013, by Knopf Books

Format: Hardcover Edition (borrowed)




Goodreads Summary: New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

Review:

"We were once like you, only our world wasn't like yours. You have no idea how close to death you came. A generation or two earlier, you might be here with us. We resent you. You astonish us."

  I must say that this wasn't David Levithan's best novel, but I still loved it. Every book he writes is with such passion and always ends up unique. This man is literally one of my favourite authors. I would read his shopping list.

   I just found out that this story is actually based on true events! That even adds more awesomeness to the awesome factor. This story was truly beautiful. It's about different people, different gay couples who are insecure about themselves and their relationships. One of the couples, Harry and Craig, are about to take part in a thirty-two hour kissing marathon to set a new world record. This is their story where they find more about themselves and love.

    

       

     This book made me squeal a lot, very often. It was very cute, but dark at the same time. In this book, David Levithan is representing many teenage lives out there who are insecure with who they are and their sexual identity. He has mastered the truths and the thoughts of these people. The idea was literally perfect.

      But I wouldn't call this my favourite Levithan book. It did have its cons, and that basically was all about the plot. This was a 200 paged book, and not too much was happening, except finding the meaning in these people's thoughts and behaviour and about their relationships. This was a very, very light read and there wasn't too much going on. This is one of the lightest contemporaries I've read to date.

      "We do not want to haunt you too somberly. We don't want our legacy to be gravitas. You wouldn't want to live your life like that, and you won't want to be remembered like that, either. Your mistake would be to find our commonality in our dying. The living part mattered more. We taught you how to dance."

       I loved the characters. Craig and Henry would have to be my favourite, since their relationship was the cutest and most strongest. Ryan would take place in second, with his wittiness and sass. But really, all of David's characters end up relatable to whom they are like, and I really believe that few gravitate to your highest liking.

       This was a very quick, but inspirational and beautiful read. I absolutely recommend it, and if you're a fan of LBGTQ like I am, then this might become your new personal favourite.

        Other Gorgeous Quotes:

        "People like to say being gay isn't like skin color, isn't anything physical. They tell us we always have the option of hiding. But if that's true, why do they always find us?"

         "When Neil is through, Peter smiles and holds up his hand, gesturing Neil to wait there, to not say a word. He picks out two books from the YA section, then runs to the fiction section for a third. He is still smiling when he returns to Neil and shows his selections one by one."

         "This is what we don't admit about first kisses: One of the most gratifying things about them is that they are proof, actual proof, that the other wants to kiss us. We are desirable. We desire. Every kiss that matters contains a recognition at its core."

          "It does not bring back the twelve-year-old who put a gun to his head. It does not bring back the fourteen-year-old who hung himself. It does not bring back the nineteen-year-old strung up on the side of an empty highway and left to die. It does not bring back the thirteen-year-old who took a stomach full of pills. It does not bring back any of us. But it does bring back Cooper."

             "There will come a time--perhaps even by the time you read this--that people will no longer be on Facebook. There will come a time when the stars of your favorite teen TV show will be sixty. There will come a time when you have the same unalienable rights as your straightest friend. (Probably before any of the stars of your favorite teen TV show turn sixty.) There will come a time when the gay prom won't have to be separate. There will come a time when you will look at someone younger than you and feel that he or she will know more than you ever did. There will come a time when you will worry about being forgotten. There will come a time when the gospel will be rewritten. If you play your cards right, the next generation will have so much more than you did."

             "There is the sudden. There is the eventual. And in between, there is the living."

              "We do not start as dust. We do not end as dust. We make more than dust."

"This is the power of a kiss:

It does not have the power to kill you. But it has the power to bring you

to life."