Book Review: Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Synopsis

“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.”

Jen’s Review

Moving. Mind opening. Wonderful.

Two Boys Kissing is a book that takes a controversial subject matter and casts a new, hopeful light on it. It’s a book that drives a stake of understanding, compassion and feeling into the heart of the reader. It’s a book that makes people stop and think in a different way. It’s a book that has the power to change minds–hearts–lives.

“Things are not magical because they’ve been conjured for us by some outside force. They are magical because we create them.”

Two Boys Kissing is more than a story about two boys kissing. It’s a story about love. And life. And appreciating love and life. “There is the sudden. There is the eventual. And in between, there is the living.” Gay or straight, we all journey through life experiencing many of the same things: joy and heartache, bravery and fear, acceptance and rejection, triumph and failure, love and hate, past and future, noise and silence, light and dark, ups and downs…We are all human. We are all alive. And we should appreciate that very basic, wondrous fact. No matter who you are, you are alive. You are here.

Now, I didn’t want this review to be a personal rant on the topic of homosexuality. We all have our own opinions on this subject, just like the characters in this book. Some of us support it. Some of us don’t. All I can say is I simply hope people will take the time to read Two Boys Kissing so they can gain perspective, and, hopefully, understanding. For me, I will say the biggest takeaway was this: Love is love, no matter what shape or form it comes in…Oh, and this has definitely become one of my personal mottos:

“Your humor is your compass and your shield. You can hone it into a weapon or you can pull its strands out to make your very own cotton-candy blanket. You can’t exist on a diet of humor alone, but you can’t exist on a diet without it, either.”

Jen’s Rating

Read more about Two Boys Kissing here. 

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