Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

Title: Boy Meets Boy
Author: David Levithan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Released: September 9th 2003
Pages: 185 (Hardback)
Buy: Amazon

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.



I've had this novel sat on my shelf for a while, and I finally got around to it because my friend brought it up in conversation. The first Levithan novel I ever read was his collaboration with John Green for Will Grayson Will Grayson - and from there on in, I honestly fell in love with his writing. I think what I've always liked about it is that it isn't overly serious - sometimes he won't use capital letters, or phrase the speech as messenger chats - and for this novel, it wasn't even based around a realistic town. He has fun when he writes, so therefore you have fun reading it.

Boy Meets Boy follows Paul, a guy who has been openly gay for pretty much his whole life, when he meets Noah, the new hot guy in town. Aside from trying to decide on his relationship status, Paul also has friendship fall-outs and friend's who are coming to terms with their own sexuality. This novel is definitely based around friendship and the difficulties people face when it comes to acceptance from their friends and families.

Firstly, I have to say that I thought the idea of Paul's town to be brilliant. The whole idea behind it is that it's a  LGBT-friendly town, where homophobic behavior is something of the past. Levithan has created it so that homosexual couples are encouraged and embraced, and that basically everyone is accepted. It's kind of ideal - I'd love for there to be a world where everyone is this accepted, and hopefully one day, it will be. I liked the setting a lot - it was easy-going and lovely, and I found it easy to settle into the flow of the novel.

I also adored the characters! What Levithan never does is go on and on about how someone looks - he'll mention the hair colour or eye colour, but he won't overdo it, which leaves a lot to the imagination, which enables you to use your imagination to enhance the character's as you like. I found that I was able to relate to each of them for very different reasons - even the one's we'd consider the 'bad guys'. It was nice to have a small glimpse at the different stories of so many different people. Levithan managed a lot for such a small novel.

I think what I liked most about the novel overall was how simple but lovely it was. Not much happened, and maybe it wasn't completely realistic and believable - but hey, it was nice and light, and I think sometimes you just need a book like this. I also think it's encouraging that more and more people and reading and writing LGBT books. Who knows - maybe one day Paul's town will become a reality? If you like romantic novels revolved around LGBT, you must get this!
Rating: 4/5