Will Grayson, Will Grayson in Q&A with David Levithan

Jan 29, 2010 elissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my_10s_reads, youngadult, listened-to, glbtq, 2010favorites

4 1/2 stars. Excellent, hilarious (in a many times over laugh out loud kind of way), and thought-provoking story about friendship. I love both Will Graysons and Tiny Cooper. I had the pleasure of finally allowing myself to finish this while flying home from seeing my cousin/friend. Not likely that this will leave my 2010 favorites shelf. There are not many books that I was this excited about in 2010.

Notes from the day after I started reading this: Thank you so much to Molly for sending me the A ...more

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May 26, 2011 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, contemporary-fiction, reread, glbtq, best-books-i-read-in-2011, feminist

Review from 7/26/15

According to Goodreads, I’ve read this novel already, but I remember none of it before reading or while reading. I’ve read most of John Green’s books and most of David Levithan’s books, so I don’t know why I wouldn’t have read this.

Will Grayson is best friends with Tiny Cooper. Tiny’s nickname is ironic; he is immense in size, personality, talent. And Will hides behind him. Will is straight and Tiny is gay, excuse me, fabulous. But it is only when Will meets the other Will Gr Review from 7/26/15

According to Goodreads, I’ve read this novel already, but I remember none of it before reading or while reading. I’ve read most of John Green’s books and most of David Levithan’s books, so I don’t know why I wouldn’t have read this.

Will Grayson is best friends with Tiny Cooper. Tiny’s nickname is ironic; he is immense in size, personality, talent. And Will hides behind him. Will is straight and Tiny is gay, excuse me, fabulous. But it is only when Will meets the other Will Grayson, who is gay, that Tiny falls in love. Did I mention Tiny has written, scored, choreographed, directed, made costumes, oh and is starring in a musical his high school is putting on about his life, sort of.

“i write this whole musical that’s basically about love, and the main character in it – besides me, of course—is phil wrayson, who needs to figure some things out, but is all- in-all a pretty wonderful guy, and does will get that? no. he freaks out. i do everything i can to be a good boyfriend with you—no appreciation, only grief. I try to make this musical so it can create something, to show that we all have something to sing – no appreciation, only grief. This musical is a gift, will. my gift to the world.” (245)

Yes, the lack of capitalization for such literate, intelligent characters, Schroedinger’s cat is a plot point, is twee. It makes me want to read David Levithan’s new book that came out earlier this year Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story. I requested this book from interlibrary loan.

Review from 8/15/11

One Will Grayson is from Naperville, is depressed, poor, being raised by a single mom and gay. The other Will Grayson is from Evanston, exists in the orbit of his over-the-top gay best friend Tiny Cooper, is rich, has two caring parents and straight. Both are high school students and this book is about how they come to know each other. I loved this book!
Will of Naperville: “i’d love to live in his musical cartoon world, where witches like maura get vanquished with one heroic word, and all the forest creatures are happy when two gay guys walk hand-in-hand through the meadow, and gideon is the himbo suitor you know the princess can’t marry, because her heart belongs to the beast. i’m sure it’s a lovely world, where these things happen. a rich, spoiled, colorful world, maybe one day I’ll get to visit, but I doubt it. Worlds like that don’t issue visas to fuckups like me.” (p. 242-3)

Will from Evanston: “You are a terrible best friend,” I tell him. “Terrible! You totally ditch me every time you have a boyfriend, and then you come crawling back when you’re heartbroken. You don’t listen to me. You don’t even seem to like me. You get obsessed with the play and totally ignore me except to insult me to our friend behind my back, and you exploit your life and the people you say you care about so that your little play can make people love you and think how awesome you are and how wondrously gay you are, but you know what? Being gay is not an excuse for being a dick.” (p.258-9) ...more

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Dec 25, 2009 Claudia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya-books

I loved it...I love how the Will Graysons conspire to create an amazing event at the end. The last 20 minutes I was laughing out loud, and then crying. I distracted one girl sooo much, she grabbed the book and is reading it now. I haven't been able to collect my quotes yet. SO I'll update this review later. Still intrigued about their collaborative process.

Tiny's so right: it's about love. ...more

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Aug 26, 2010 Nikki (Wicked Awesome Books) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, read-in-2010, contemporary, humor, own

John Green and David Levithan are basically literary YA gods as it is, but when you put them together, you get something that is essentially perfection.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is easily my feel-good book of the year. It’s witty, hilarious, comically outlandish, yet tender, charming, and full of heart. The two Will Grayson’s are so different from one another and have such distinctive voices that I found myself tearing through the pages to see just what was happening with each of them.

Will Gray John Green and David Levithan are basically literary YA gods as it is, but when you put them together, you get something that is essentially perfection.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is easily my feel-good book of the year. It’s witty, hilarious, comically outlandish, yet tender, charming, and full of heart. The two Will Grayson’s are so different from one another and have such distinctive voices that I found myself tearing through the pages to see just what was happening with each of them.

Will Grayson #1, the Will who has a not so tiny best friend named Tiny, comes off as that always in the background kind of guy. He tries to stick to everyone’s periphery, but has a hard time doing that with such a huge and flamboyant best friend. His girl issues, friend issues, and fake ID issues are told in such a matter of fact way that I couldn’t help but feel for him, but laugh at the same time. Out of the two Wills, this one is my favorite.

Will Grayson #2, the Will with no real friends and a gay secret, comes off as just depressed and almost pitiful. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him, but this Will does not take pity. His anger and self-hatred comes off so raw that it’s impossible to not feel something for him.

As the story progresses, the pent up emotions that both Will’s harbor begin to boil to the surface and explode with the opening of Tiny’s biggest gay musical in history. As far as characters go, this book has them in droves. Will Grayson and Will Grayson and interesting and unique, but the supporting characters are all very strong and well-fleshed out as well. Tiny, the gay football player, Jane, the pretentiously cute girl, Isaac, the online gay buddy, and even depressing, ‘I want to be more than just friends’ Maura, all have something that makes them stick out. Their personalities are as large as Tiny and they refuse to go unnoticed.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is an incredibly well-written gem that sticks out in the mountain of YA books out today. This more than lives up to the hype with zingers on every single page and characters that I’m not likely to ever forget. I had a goofy grin plastered on my face nearly the entire time I was reading this and that’s doesn’t happen too often.

Opening line: When I was little, my dad used to tell me, “Will, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.” ~ pg. 3

Favorite line(s): this is why we call people exes, i guess – because the paths that cross in the middle end up separating at the end. it’s too easy to see an X as a cross-out. it’s not, because there’s no way to cross out something like that. the X is a diagram of two paths. ~ pg. 277 ...more

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Nov 02, 2010 Gilly rated it liked it

YA Fiction. The problem with writing collaborations is when you like one writer much better than the other. This book was written in alternating chapters, front the point of view of two different characters, both coincidentally named Will Grayson. I liked what I'm pretty sure were David Levithan's chapters, but the ones I believe were John Green's were written all in lowercase, which drives me nuts to begin with, and I just never liked his character as much. ...more

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Sep 07, 2010 Ocean rated it it was amazing

the first of two amazing queer ya lit novels centered around musicals that i read this summer. i couldn't put this damn thing down! i speed-read! i loved it! loved it. maybe you will too. ...more

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Mar 29, 2010 Jesse Richman rated it really liked it

Docked a star for whiffing on the ending, and for not quite measuring up to the best of either author's catalogue. Then again, we're dealing with probably my two favorite authors of the last decade (and certainly my two favorite YA authors of it) so that's a minor quibble at best. Rather splendid in all. ...more

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Mar 01, 2010 sabienne rated it liked it

It took me another very well rounded out book to realised what I felt missed in this one. I feel like this was a world I couldn't step into, somehow everything felt flat. I don't know if that's just my state of mind, but nonetheless, the characters didn't feel three dimensional to me, even if the places did.

However, I did like this book a lot. It's lovely and a breeze to read, and I could have a nice long cry during the ending part. ...more

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Aug 17, 2010 nikki marie rated it it was amazing

Most inspiring, memorable, laugh-out-loud, tear-jerking, book ever. I'm not very good with words, but thin of everything good for a book, and you have the book, "Will Grayson, Will Grayson." It takes a lot to please me, and...I was beyond pleased. I am still in a kind of awe-struck feeling. I would right more, but..again, to awe-struck. It is a must read. ...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Tameka rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-library, 2010, favorite-books-ever

I freaking loved this book!

I love the characters, the dialogue, the plot, the premise, and the non preachy message of hope, love, and acceptance.

This book is SO not about what you think it's about. I laughed out loud so many times. I teared up so many times. It is just pure awesome. ...more

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Jan 03, 2010 David rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-books

Will Grayson is multiple characters in this book about ... Love. And that's not to say he's especially narcissistic, but that's part of this book. Two authors, two Will Graysons, one moving book. ...more

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