Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Apr 02, 2015 Shelley rated it really liked it

Shelves: courtship-romance, youth, 2015, queer

Aww, I love you, Tiny Cooper! This is the whole musical Tiny wrote and performed in Will Grayson/Will Grayson. There's no surprises here, if you read that, but it's fleshed out, includes lyrics and stage directions, and is generally 100% charming. I loved the song about Tiny's parents inviting him into their religion (my parents have the same one, but I never got into it), and there's this one line, "It's a perfect picture of what we musical devotees believe - that the right song at the right ti ...more

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Jan 02, 2015 Molly rated it really liked it

Shelves: 4-stars, recommended, i-want-to-like-you, on-the-classroom-shelf, ya-lit, humor, stage, first-reads, read-in-2015

(I won an ARC of this book thanks to Goodreads' First Reads giveaways. Yay!)

There's a sort of trend in YA right now of...let's call them companion stories. They tend to fall into one of two types: either a retelling of the series from another character's (usually the love interest) perspective, or a backstory on a supporting character (again, generally the love interest). I've never had much interest in reading these companions, because they seem like either a ploy to milk more money out of a se (I won an ARC of this book thanks to Goodreads' First Reads giveaways. Yay!)

There's a sort of trend in YA right now of...let's call them companion stories. They tend to fall into one of two types: either a retelling of the series from another character's (usually the love interest) perspective, or a backstory on a supporting character (again, generally the love interest). I've never had much interest in reading these companions, because they seem like either a ploy to milk more money out of a series, or just unnecessary (angsty) backstory that has no bearing on the original story itself. I was never SO compelled by, say, Four, that I wanted to reread Divergent from his pov. But then, David Levithan and John Green wrote Will Grayson Will Grayson, and introduced the world to Tiny Cooper.

This kind of falls somewhere between those two types of companion stories. At the end of WGWG, Tiny stages a huge musical production: his life story, entitled Hold Me Closer. We don't get to see much of it in the novel (after all, it's the Wills' story), but I was immediately charmed by both the character and his big, fabulous musical. And this is that musical: libretto, stage directions, notes from Tiny, all of it.

It's pretty delightful, and full of hilarious side notes on producing the show. I had to stop writing down lines that cracked me up, but this one stuck out as my favorite, and it pretty much sets the tone:
Sparkles, people. Do not get stingy with the sparkles. The reason drag queens love them so much is that you can get them for cheap.
Fabulous.

Let's be honest here: if you read the original, you probably fell in love with Tiny Cooper, and will probably enjoy this. I can't imagine anyone just deciding to read this book on a whim, without having read WGWG. In fact (and this is sort of the problem), I'm not sure this story would have made much sense if you hadn't read the original novel. Beyond Tiny, there's not a ton of character development. And a lot of major plot points from the novel are glossed over because, as Tiny says, "that's Will's story." I'd be interested to hear the perspective of someone who read this first.

Ultimately, this is delightful and charming and funny...but I'm also glad my copy was free. I may have bought a cheap ebook version at some point, but I'm not sure it's worth it to shell out $17.99 for the hardback. I've also never been a huge fan of reading scripts. For some reason, I can't quite disappear into the story in script form the way I can with a novel. Nonetheless, it made me smile, and reading it is a good way to spend an unexpected morning off. I wish it came with a soundtrack! ...more

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Aug 27, 2015 Lua rated it really liked it

Shelves: ccpl

Always fun to find a book that references my uncle, the songwriter Hugh Martin, and one of his songs (pages 94 & 96 in my copy)! This is a good follow-up to Will Grayson, Will Grayson, which was a favorite of mine earlier this year.

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Mar 31, 2015 Abby Johnson rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, diverse, teen

I think you'll definitely want to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson before reading this book. It's a fun companion book. ...more

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Aug 26, 2015 Dana Berglund rated it liked it

Shelves: youngadult, queer

Sweet, fun book that is the big, gay play written by Tiny in Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Im not sure that it would work without having read the original book. As a companion to WGWG, it is a quick and enjoyable read.

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