Helpful Score: 7
What an absolutely excellent book. It takes place in a wonderfully Utopian little town, where pretty much everyone is okay with... well... most everything, as long as it's not hurtful. It's certainly playful and fantastic(the cheerleaders ride harleys) but the relationships are very believable. It's an imagined world that should be, and it's a good one. The writing is poetic, full of music references, and it's just generally a great read.
Helpful Score: 1
My daughter wants to read this book so I read it first to make sure it was ok. Even though I don't really like it, I think it's ok for her to read if she wants. There are no sex scenes, only kissing.
I have been wanting to read this book forever. Ive read a couple other books by Levithan (Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Every Day) and really enjoyed them. They are always quirky and fun reads that are heartfelt and entertaining. This book fit that perfectly. Its quirky, fun, heartfelt, and a good commentary on life in general.
Paul has known he was gay since Kindergarten, hes had a couple of boyfriends but he knows he has met his soulmate in Noah. Him and Noah are perfect together, with Noah at his side life makes sense. Then Paul blows it when he comforts his ex-boyfriend Karl with a kiss. As if things aren't bad enough Pauls best friend Jodi has started going out with a colossal jerk and wont even talk to Paul now. Thrown into the mix is poor Tony, Tony is trying to help everyone when really its him that needs help. Tonys parents are absolutely convinced that he will go to hell if they cant cure his gayness and he is so sick of dealing with that.
This is an absolutely hilarious and heartfelt read. It takes a humorous and endearing look at high school life and life in general. I was seriously laughing my butt off at a number of points in this book. Some of it is just so outlandishly funny.
Paul goes to a very quirky high school. No one has ever given him trouble about his gayness, the cheerleaders ride Harleys, and the star quarterback (who used to be Daryl) is now called Infinite Darlene and is also the Prom Queen. It is a crazy high school. Its also surprisingly endearing because despite all the quirkiness it just works so well for all involved. Yes there is a lot of drama here, a lot of high school angst...but its dealt with in such a humorous way and with so much grace that it is just a wonderful read.
Paul is an incredibly unique character, he is solid in his identity in a way most people never are. His friends love him for it and are a bit jealous. Paul is always trying to fix everything for everyone, and is a bit blind when it comes to taking care of his own issues. His family is wonderfully supportive and funny too.
There are a lot of wonderful characters in here. They are all interesting, intriguing, and inherently trying to be good people.
As everything starts to fall apart for Paul be finally begins to doubt himself and despair...of course this is when his friends step it up and support him the most. Paul finds maybe that first everything had to fall apart before it could be put back together in a way that totally makes more sense.
Tony definitely deserves a shout out as an excellent side character in this book. He is secure in who his is but tired of his parents not accepting that. He makes some incredibly mature decisions throughout the book and really was an absolutely wonderfully wise and supportive character throughout the story.
Overall an absolutely fun and entertaining read. This is a funny, quirky, hilarious, and heartfelt book about a crazy high school where everyone is just trying to figure out who they are as people and find a way to be happy. This book is about love, friendship, life, and of course all the hilarity that ensues. Its one of those books that just makes you feel happy and good to read. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Paul has known he was gay since Kindergarten, hes had a couple of boyfriends but he knows he has met his soulmate in Noah. Him and Noah are perfect together, with Noah at his side life makes sense. Then Paul blows it when he comforts his ex-boyfriend Karl with a kiss. As if things aren't bad enough Pauls best friend Jodi has started going out with a colossal jerk and wont even talk to Paul now. Thrown into the mix is poor Tony, Tony is trying to help everyone when really its him that needs help. Tonys parents are absolutely convinced that he will go to hell if they cant cure his gayness and he is so sick of dealing with that.
This is an absolutely hilarious and heartfelt read. It takes a humorous and endearing look at high school life and life in general. I was seriously laughing my butt off at a number of points in this book. Some of it is just so outlandishly funny.
Paul goes to a very quirky high school. No one has ever given him trouble about his gayness, the cheerleaders ride Harleys, and the star quarterback (who used to be Daryl) is now called Infinite Darlene and is also the Prom Queen. It is a crazy high school. Its also surprisingly endearing because despite all the quirkiness it just works so well for all involved. Yes there is a lot of drama here, a lot of high school angst...but its dealt with in such a humorous way and with so much grace that it is just a wonderful read.
Paul is an incredibly unique character, he is solid in his identity in a way most people never are. His friends love him for it and are a bit jealous. Paul is always trying to fix everything for everyone, and is a bit blind when it comes to taking care of his own issues. His family is wonderfully supportive and funny too.
There are a lot of wonderful characters in here. They are all interesting, intriguing, and inherently trying to be good people.
As everything starts to fall apart for Paul be finally begins to doubt himself and despair...of course this is when his friends step it up and support him the most. Paul finds maybe that first everything had to fall apart before it could be put back together in a way that totally makes more sense.
Tony definitely deserves a shout out as an excellent side character in this book. He is secure in who his is but tired of his parents not accepting that. He makes some incredibly mature decisions throughout the book and really was an absolutely wonderfully wise and supportive character throughout the story.
Overall an absolutely fun and entertaining read. This is a funny, quirky, hilarious, and heartfelt book about a crazy high school where everyone is just trying to figure out who they are as people and find a way to be happy. This book is about love, friendship, life, and of course all the hilarity that ensues. Its one of those books that just makes you feel happy and good to read. I highly recommend this book to everyone.
Gracefully fulfilled my sudden appetite for a mushy book on adolescent love.
Loved this book. It's an easy read but it has wonderful characters and the lessons of life that they learn. I wanted it to go on. It's one of those books that you hate to see end!
When I read the synopsis for this book I thought I would hate it. It is listed as fantasy and young adult. It is a touching wonderful book that describes the gay high schoolers experience in a compassionate and moving way. While it is set in an imaginary school with some farfetched themes - this is not at all the meat of the story. I recommend the audio version - is is very well narrated. This book should be mandatory reading for everyone. It is non judgemental - in a world where it could be. I loved this book - what a surprise.
The first thing I gotta say is, I'm mad at myself for not reading this the moment it arrived in the mail!
The other first thing I gotta say is, I want to go to this high school!!! There should be a television show about this high school because I would watch the hell out of it!
This book was just beautiful. I loved the story and the characters. It's about Paul, who is best friends with Joni and Tony, ex-boyfriends with Kyle, and very interested in the new boy, Noah.
Let's talk about Paul. This kid is really put together. And what I mean is, he comes from a loving home with understanding and fun-loving parents and a pretty cool older brother. They all accept Paul and his friends for who and what they are, no questions asked. Besides typical teenaged angst, Paul is very secure in who he is. He's out, he's dated boys in junior high and high school; he's even had his heart-broken. He's the kid all parents wish their kids could be, without him seeming ridiculously fake. He's a good person with family and friends. He goes to school and does well, he participates in school plays and helps to plan school functions. He's supportive of his friends. And, most important, he makes mistakes.
Then we have Tony who is gay and sort of out, but he has devout Christian parents who pray for his soul and fear that he is headed straight for hell if he doesn't get back on the right path. But the catch is, they truly, truly love their child. They haven't thrown him out or tried to send him to a facility to geared to force him straight. But they do continuously pray for his salvation, they are strict about what activities he can participate in, they (sort of) screen his friends and get super excited whenever a girl is mentioned. Tony is so sad and I just want to hug him and adopt him as my own child. His parents mean well, but they haven't gotten to the point where (good parents) realize that loving your child means letting them be who they are and not who you wish they would be.
There's Joni, who loses her damn mind a few chapters into the book. She becomes the epitome of love making you ditch your family and friends and making you do stupid things. She, in my opinion, is a bad friend, and she gets no redemption from me.
Kyle is Paul's ex who broke up with him when being gay and in a relationship freaked him out. He gets halfway to redemption in my book because (and I can only imagine) having an identity crisis at 15-16 years old is insane and would make you do crazy, stupid things that teenagers often do, and then later regret.
And Noah is the new boy in town who is sweet and artsy and has been hurt before. I just wanted to hug him as well because he has the travelling-for-work-parents. They're never really home and have moved him and his sister around quite a bit. He doesn't even realize what he's looking for when he meets Paul and gets a little freaked-out himself. Only he handles his freak-out much better than Kyle did.
Infinite Darlene. She is a drag queen, the star quarter back, and the homecoming queen. Nough said.
There are more characters that I won't get into. But they are all wonderfully written. I feel like we were given a glimpse of who they all are as people and teenagers just struggling to get through high school life. The story is funny and sad and sweet and lovely. All-in-all this is a well-written tale of old love, new love, friendship, betrayal, growth and redemption. While I wish it was longer, the length was perfect. It left me wanting more, but I wasn't left unsatisfied.
The other first thing I gotta say is, I want to go to this high school!!! There should be a television show about this high school because I would watch the hell out of it!
This book was just beautiful. I loved the story and the characters. It's about Paul, who is best friends with Joni and Tony, ex-boyfriends with Kyle, and very interested in the new boy, Noah.
Let's talk about Paul. This kid is really put together. And what I mean is, he comes from a loving home with understanding and fun-loving parents and a pretty cool older brother. They all accept Paul and his friends for who and what they are, no questions asked. Besides typical teenaged angst, Paul is very secure in who he is. He's out, he's dated boys in junior high and high school; he's even had his heart-broken. He's the kid all parents wish their kids could be, without him seeming ridiculously fake. He's a good person with family and friends. He goes to school and does well, he participates in school plays and helps to plan school functions. He's supportive of his friends. And, most important, he makes mistakes.
Then we have Tony who is gay and sort of out, but he has devout Christian parents who pray for his soul and fear that he is headed straight for hell if he doesn't get back on the right path. But the catch is, they truly, truly love their child. They haven't thrown him out or tried to send him to a facility to geared to force him straight. But they do continuously pray for his salvation, they are strict about what activities he can participate in, they (sort of) screen his friends and get super excited whenever a girl is mentioned. Tony is so sad and I just want to hug him and adopt him as my own child. His parents mean well, but they haven't gotten to the point where (good parents) realize that loving your child means letting them be who they are and not who you wish they would be.
There's Joni, who loses her damn mind a few chapters into the book. She becomes the epitome of love making you ditch your family and friends and making you do stupid things. She, in my opinion, is a bad friend, and she gets no redemption from me.
Kyle is Paul's ex who broke up with him when being gay and in a relationship freaked him out. He gets halfway to redemption in my book because (and I can only imagine) having an identity crisis at 15-16 years old is insane and would make you do crazy, stupid things that teenagers often do, and then later regret.
And Noah is the new boy in town who is sweet and artsy and has been hurt before. I just wanted to hug him as well because he has the travelling-for-work-parents. They're never really home and have moved him and his sister around quite a bit. He doesn't even realize what he's looking for when he meets Paul and gets a little freaked-out himself. Only he handles his freak-out much better than Kyle did.
Infinite Darlene. She is a drag queen, the star quarter back, and the homecoming queen. Nough said.
There are more characters that I won't get into. But they are all wonderfully written. I feel like we were given a glimpse of who they all are as people and teenagers just struggling to get through high school life. The story is funny and sad and sweet and lovely. All-in-all this is a well-written tale of old love, new love, friendship, betrayal, growth and redemption. While I wish it was longer, the length was perfect. It left me wanting more, but I wasn't left unsatisfied.
It is a good book about gay boys. They're friends, and gotten in relationships with each other. It's good.
From the reviews, I didn't think I would like this book, I was thinking it would be to sappy or something.
Or something it is - what a fantastic book, romantic and realistic and fun.
Or something it is - what a fantastic book, romantic and realistic and fun.
