Realm of Possibility (2004)

Twenty teen voices sound off in twenty eclectic poems, and the effect is a rousing chorus of love and life in one high school community. The monologues gently unfold interwoven stories of friendship, romance, grief, unrequited crushes, and sexual experimentation that exhibit an authentic sense of teen angst but also convey remarkable optimism. The diverse characters constantly challenge their stereotypes: the buff jock who shows genuine tenderness toward his troubled girlfriend, the mean girl who has an epiphany of emotional intelligence, the devout gospel singer who connects with the loner goth. Strong gay and lesbian characters, too, pour their hearts into distinctive free verse, and it is in fact the touching portrait of a gay couple celebrating their first anniversary that anchors the narrative.

My VOYA ratings: 5Q (“Hard to imagine it being better written”) and 3P (“Will appeal with pushing”). With such an impressive variety of characters and relationships and poetic styles, young readers will be hard pressed not to identify and empathize with someone in this book. While its free verse form may deter those who are not into poetry, the stellar quality of the writing and characterization makes it worth pushing.

I looked forward to finally reading David Levithan but was unsure what to expect from a novel in verse. Well, I loved this one. "Escapade," a poem that pays subtle homage to the friendship of Weetzie and Dirk of Weetzie Bat fame, also makes a direct reference to My So-Called Life, and indeed, I detected an overall vibe similar to the most empowering moments of that show. My only complaint was that the chapter and section titles made it difficult to track who's who. A comprehensive table of contents at the beginning would have been easier to refer to than the five separate lists of names before each section. ( )

3Q, 4P
This book was pretty lovely, which is the word I used to describe his other book Boy Meets Boy when I read that last summer. The teenage world both these stories inhabit are filled with acceptance and love. There's also pain and angst (moreso in this collection than in BMB), but it's almost always internally originated - there is little bullying to be found, despite the fact that he writes about a lot of LGBTQ characters. It's lovely.

This book was basically made up of 20 different stories from 20 different characters. Each character only has one section to tell his or her story, but their names and situations intertwine throughout the others. Some seem like letters, some seem like journal entries, but all are poetry. Each voice is distinct. The characters are about as fleshed out as you could hope for only really being around for maybe ten pages each.

The format, however, was a bit clunky. There are five sections, each with four characters. The characters are listed at the very beginning of the section, but not on the character stories themselves. I was constantly flipping back and forth from the title page to the chapter, trying to figure out who was speaking. Usually it took me a page or two to get acquainted or reacquainted to the character, if he or she had been introduced before. If I were recommending this to anyone, I would suggest he or she take brief notes at the end of each chapter, with the character name and his or her basic plot-line. That would have helped a lot.

Reviews for this book seem mostly positive. All the reviews I have seen of Levithan's work praise his ability to describe a world full of tolerance and love without making it seem unrealistic or saccharine. This book would definitely help bring to light the differences that may be present between us, but don't have to divide us. Because of the intertwining story lines, it definitely feels like a book about community. ( )

Written through the voice of twenty high schoolers, we are given a glimpse into how their lives interconnect and see their unique views on the same occurrences. Written poetically, with each characters "chapter" written in a different format, some in song lyrics, some as lists and one written alphabetically, Levithan is able to give us a realistic view into the minds and actions of young adults. Although the format might be off-putting to some, it is a wonderful display of how poetry can be transformed in our everyday lives, not the stuffy poems one is used to analyzing to death in school. Not a book for everyone, but those who read it, should find it enjoyable and unique- a good change of pace from the typical novel. ( )

Just lovely. I read it twice, right in a row; the second time I made notes to keep track of how the characters were connected. Absolutely would have loved this when I was in high school (I still like it a lot now!). ( )

Some of the short stories were good reads, but a lot less engaging then Levithan's other stories. Some of the poetry was good, some was just there. I think this is more suitable for Y-erA audiences than his other work. ( )