Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Authors: John Green and David Levithan
Edition: Penguin Books Ltd, 2013

Rating: ★★★

Review

I've been thinking about what to write about this book for a day or two now and haven't been sure how to go about it. For me, three stars is 'yeah, it was good. There was nothing wrong with it. I didn't love it. It was fine.' How do I expand on that? I'm writing this review right now and I'm still not sure so I'm just going to plough on, and hope something comes out. 

I'm going to start with Tiny Cooper because, let's face it, he's pretty hard to ignore. I had no problems with his character, no problems with his extravagance until it started to encroach on the story. There were times it felt like the story was Tiny's and with a title like Will Grayson, Will Grayson, it upset me a little. I needed Tiny to remain a supporting role and let the Wills come centre stage. 

I was a little disappointed that the two Wills didn't become the friends I was expecting before reading the book. I suppose I sort of assumed that was what the story was going to be: two boys, who happen to have the same name, meet and change the lives of one another. Which, I guess, does happen to some extent, I just thought that the impact would be more significant. It was Tiny – unsurprisingly – that affected the Wills the most. 

Focusing on the first Will Grayson, I did love how subtly his story changed focus. To begin with I was solely invested in Will's relationship with Jane, but after a while it became more about Will coming to terms with the fact that the 'rules' he lives by weren't working the way he thought they were. (Side note: Will's outlook reminded me a little bit of Greg from Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) 

Jumping across to the second Will Grayson, allergic-to-capital-letters Will, I really liked him and his quiet kind of demeanour. I also liked the way it only briefly mentioned his depression. Having read a few books with mental illness as the main theme lately, it was nice to have a story where this took a back seat. After all, lives do go on, despite mental illness. 

I was a bit shocked when I first got to Will #2. No capital letters? Are you crazy?! This is so gonna bug me. That was my original reaction but after a while I barely even noticed it, in fact I think it really helped me to see what kind of person he was; quiet and observant. The normalcy of the Will #1 chapters made him really sound like he wanted to be telling you his story.

I think my favourite thing about Will Grayson, Will Grayson was the element of friendship that really came through at the end. Each character had some issue they were dealing with and they each needed the others in order to do so, bringing them together, although some closer than others. 

I've given it three stars because I did enjoy it, I enjoyed a lot of it but there was a bit too much of Tiny for my liking and not enough of Will and Will interaction (although I'm maybe to blame for getting the wrong idea.)

Favourite Quote
"When things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. It's because a little piece gets lost – the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to."