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When two teens, one gay and one straight, meet accidentally and discover that they share the same name, their lives become intertwined as one begins dating the other's best friend, who produces a play revealing his relationship with them both.Tags
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"it's like, you know how sometimes you see a really sexy baby? wait, that sounds f***ed up."
This quote is almost all you need to know of this book. It's ridiculous. It's hilarious. It made me laugh out loud many, many times with how zany the characters are. It also contains tons of foul language. Like, an inordinate amount of swearing. This is the kind of book you get censored from a friend.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson alternates between two narrators named Will Grayson. The first Will (capitalized Will) has two rules: don't care too much, and shut up. He will adore a girl and flirt with her, but he will not kiss her or ask her out because, oh wait, he doesn't actually like her. That's against the rules. will #2, who doesn't use show more capitals, is clinically depressed and gay. He is perfectly okay with being gay, he just doesn't feel like letting anyone know. Anyone, that is, except for his online boyfriend Isaac. He's never heard Isaac's voice but has definitely been talking to him long enough to know that he is really a teenage boy.
The Wills run into each other by a crazy coincidence one night. Both of them become caught up with First Will's [quite a bit]larger-than-life and immensely gay best friend Tiny Cooper and his magnum opus- a musical about how gay he is. This book really spares no stereotypes, no truths, no gayness. Somehow there's enough openly gay guys in Tiny's high school for him to fall in love with a new one at least once a week. The whole idea of being a homosexual teen is treated humorously, sensitively, and mockingly all at once. The book sort of pokes fun at those who would be okay with being teased, and also respects the frustration of those who don't really feel like coming out of the closet yet.
ALSO
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL IS A REAL BAND
HOLLAND, 1945 IS AN ACTUAL SONG YOU CAN LISTEN TO
IT'S VERY WEIRD
Message of the book: You can't usually pick your friends, you can't always pick your nose, but sometimes you have to pick your friend's nose. Also, triple-check the birthdate on your fake ID.
Loved how funny this book is, stars knocked down for the profuseness of obscene language. Up to you to make your own choice. show less
I loved this book! At times very funny and yet also deeply moving, you really get to like to the characters and feel for them when things go wrong. I loved the cleverness of having two main characters with the same name, who don't even meet until a few chapters in. Best friend Tiny is the most memorable character I've met in a long time: "not the world's gayest person, and he is not the world's largest person" but "the world's largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world's gayest person who is really, really large." HA! How can you not want to read more about this guy? And when you find out that this eternally sweet and optimistic guy is trying to produce a musical about his life story, oh it's fun. But the book is show more mostly about the two Wills, and how they meet, and how they try to get through life in high school with and without friends, and try to find love (not with each other). Just a really charming book, along with some deeper stuff about life that kind of sneaks up on you. My new favorite John Green book, and David Levithan book too. :-) show less
This is another book that started very strong but petered at the end. Our first Will Grayson is a high school student who feels ambivalent about his friendship with Tiny, a very large gay teen with a larger-than-life personality. Tiny is determined to put on a musical about his life, and has written Will into the show as a "fictional" character named something like "Phil Wrayson." In the meantime, Tiny is trying to set Will up with Jane, but Will is finding it difficult to let go of his "keep his head down" policy of getting through life (not that his life seems particularly difficult).
Alternating chapters follow another boy named Will Grayson; this one is gay, has a single mother who can't make ends meet on her own, and suffers from show more clinical depression and thoughts of suicide. His only refuge is his online relationship with a boy named Isaac.When he finally works up the nerve to meet Isaac in person, he finds out that his so-called friend Maura has been catfishing him. But some good comes out of it, in that he meets the other Will Grayson and by extension Tiny, for whom he immediately falls.
What bothered me about this book is that the ending is terribly confusing in terms of what actually happens; it seems as though our second Will Grayson manages to find a bunch more Will Graysons and get them to Tiny's opening night within the span of an hour or two at most, so they can yell out encouragement to Tiny, whose confidence has finally been shaken. I think it would be impossible to track down a bunch of Will Graysons and convince them to drop everything to go to some high school play within minutes to do this. It's possible that second Will Grayson just asked people to pretend their names are also Will Grayson, but that's not the impression I got.
Also, it was kind of indicated that second Will Grayson had blown things with Tiny, and that this grand gesture on his part actually serves to set Tiny up with his next boyfriend.
Also, I'm really tired of movies and books in which teens are left to their own devices with no supervision whatsoever, even in school activities. High schools do not let students put on original plays without someone keeping track of the content of the play. They simply do not. Meanwhile, Tiny is writing and rewriting his show up to the last second, and there's not a faculty member to be found anywhere near the production that I could see. Would Not Happen. show less
Alternating chapters follow another boy named Will Grayson; this one is gay, has a single mother who can't make ends meet on her own, and suffers from show more clinical depression and thoughts of suicide. His only refuge is his online relationship with a boy named Isaac.
What bothered me about this book is that the ending is terribly confusing in terms of what actually happens; it seems as though our second Will Grayson manages to find a bunch more Will Graysons and get them to Tiny's opening night within the span of an hour or two at most, so they can yell out encouragement to Tiny, whose confidence has finally been shaken. I think it would be impossible to track down a bunch of Will Graysons and convince them to drop everything to go to some high school play within minutes to do this. It's possible that second Will Grayson just asked people to pretend their names are also Will Grayson, but that's not the impression I got.
Also, it was kind of indicated that second Will Grayson had blown things with Tiny, and that this grand gesture on his part actually serves to set Tiny up with his next boyfriend.
Also, I'm really tired of movies and books in which teens are left to their own devices with no supervision whatsoever, even in school activities. High schools do not let students put on original plays without someone keeping track of the content of the play. They simply do not. Meanwhile, Tiny is writing and rewriting his show up to the last second, and there's not a faculty member to be found anywhere near the production that I could see. Would Not Happen.
What if you met someone who had the same name as you? And what if your best friend, Tiny Cooper (who “…is not the world’s gayest person, and he is not the world’s largest person, but I believe he may be the world’s largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world’s gayest person who is really, really large”) is writing a musical about his life, in which you have a starring role? And what if said best friend started dating the guy who has the same name as you?
Welcome to the world of Will Grayson (and Will Grayson), two different boys with the same name who happen to meet each other in a Chicago porn shop (long story …). A world of bad fake IDs, great bands (and crappy bands), friendship, musical theatre, and show more figuring out if you really LIKE this girl (0r guy) or just like her (him).
Written in alternating chapters from the points of view of both Will Graysons by authors John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines) and David Levithan (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Boy Meets Boy), this is a funny but ultimately serious look at what love really means. show less
Welcome to the world of Will Grayson (and Will Grayson), two different boys with the same name who happen to meet each other in a Chicago porn shop (long story …). A world of bad fake IDs, great bands (and crappy bands), friendship, musical theatre, and show more figuring out if you really LIKE this girl (0r guy) or just like her (him).
Written in alternating chapters from the points of view of both Will Graysons by authors John Green (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines) and David Levithan (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Boy Meets Boy), this is a funny but ultimately serious look at what love really means. show less
I liked this one, but I had some issues. I really liked how Green tried to emphasize that there are many kinds of love and that platonic love is as important as romance. I felt like it was almost a fantasy in the way a gay kid in the midwest can stage a super gay musical at school and everyone loves it. I kind of dream of living in that world, you know?
Maybe I'm just getting old, but the teens in this book were pretty vulgar. I guess some of it felt a little forced to me, like "oh we're so edgy that we're going to write these kids totally filthy dirty and we don't give a damn! woo!" or something. Also it felt very "written" to me--I didn't always feel that these were believable teen characters but the voices of adults writing what they show more wished they'd said as teenagers.
However, I love that this book challenges the notion that gay and straight kids can't be friends, and that guy friends can't love each other deeply. Green's characters are always smart, and Tiny Dancer the musical sounded amazing. show less
Maybe I'm just getting old, but the teens in this book were pretty vulgar. I guess some of it felt a little forced to me, like "oh we're so edgy that we're going to write these kids totally filthy dirty and we don't give a damn! woo!" or something. Also it felt very "written" to me--I didn't always feel that these were believable teen characters but the voices of adults writing what they show more wished they'd said as teenagers.
However, I love that this book challenges the notion that gay and straight kids can't be friends, and that guy friends can't love each other deeply. Green's characters are always smart, and Tiny Dancer the musical sounded amazing. show less
The story of two teenaged boys named Will Grayson, told in alternating first person chapters. Each Will Grayson is dealing with questions about friendships, relationships, and sexuality. Their chance meeting helps spur each of them toward better understanding of himself. Green and Levithan both handle voice brilliantly (each of them wrote the chapters about one of the Wills), and the interior emotional life of young men is tenderly but realistically rendered. All of the main characters leap off the page (Tiny Cooper, who I think is both someone we all probably knew in high school or college and someone unique and all his own, is unforgettable), and the climax, where the coincidence of the two Will Graysons meeting plays a part, is show more moving and perfect. Recommended unreservedly and most especially to anyone who wonders why adults should bother with YA. show less
The story alternates between the two Will Graysons' points of view, and Levithan and Green really managed to pull this off well. The voices are distinct, each Will is well developed, the two are very different from each other, and the authors even used different format styles for each Will's chapter (will's chapters are entirely in lower case). In other words, keeping up with who's narrating is not a problem.
Will Grayson is straight, a wee bit morose, and best friends with Tiny Cooper who is the opposite of morose. A very large, very gay high schooler, Tiny is also a big time romantic, overly altruistic to those around him, and a football player. The big event in this book is the musical, Tiny Dancer, which was written, produced, show more directed, and starred in by Tiny himself. Oh, and the musical is about the life (well, the various and sundry love interests) of Tiny.
will grayson is gay (but he hasn't come out), depressed, and solitary. He lives in the suburbs with his mother (not the best relationship), and his only real contact with other people is the online relationship he has going with a boy named Isaac. Isaac is the only one will can really talk to, in part because he's the only one who knows will is gay. When the two finally decide to meet face-to-face, will heads in to the city, and in a serendipitous event, he runs in to Will Grayson and Tiny Cooper.
Writing those two paragraphs felt like trimming myself down to one paragraph. Each Will Grayson reads like a complete person, and I didn't really go much beyond the surface of what's going on and who they are in these tiny little paragraphs. I was really impressed while reading with the depth and complexity of the characters. Even while reading about Person 1 at Event A, I knew that Persons 2-5 were busy elsewhere, living even when I couldn't "see" what they were doing. Hmmm...I hope that made sense. It's not often that I feel the "realness" of characters quite so much.
The set up of the story is clever without feeling contrived, and I have to admit that I was expecting contrived - two Will Graysons accidentally meet up? That definitely has the makings of a kitschy feel to it. But the story, throughout, remained very sincere in my opinion. I didn't really have to stretch my mind for believability (until the end, but more on that later). Another point in favor of the story is the hilarity. I laughed. On a lounge chair, by the pool, with family and a whole bunch of strangers around. What can I say? It was a funny book.
I did have a few twitchy moments while reading. For one, the book revolves around Tiny Cooper, not the Will Graysons. This seemed very odd to me, considering the title of the book and the narrators most definitely point to the Wills being protagonists. And they were for the most part, but essentially the plot line centers on Tiny. The end, which is the second twitchy part for me, supports this strangeness as it fully focuses on Tiny. It was also the only part of the book I found pretty much unbelievable. It was almost but not quite an eye-rolling moment.
Overall though, these two points didn't really detract from my love of the book. Reading this reminded my of my love for John Green and David Levithan and was a slap in the face about reading more books by authors I enjoy instead of my strange tendency to read new authors all the time. show less
Will Grayson is straight, a wee bit morose, and best friends with Tiny Cooper who is the opposite of morose. A very large, very gay high schooler, Tiny is also a big time romantic, overly altruistic to those around him, and a football player. The big event in this book is the musical, Tiny Dancer, which was written, produced, show more directed, and starred in by Tiny himself. Oh, and the musical is about the life (well, the various and sundry love interests) of Tiny.
will grayson is gay (but he hasn't come out), depressed, and solitary. He lives in the suburbs with his mother (not the best relationship), and his only real contact with other people is the online relationship he has going with a boy named Isaac. Isaac is the only one will can really talk to, in part because he's the only one who knows will is gay. When the two finally decide to meet face-to-face, will heads in to the city, and in a serendipitous event, he runs in to Will Grayson and Tiny Cooper.
Writing those two paragraphs felt like trimming myself down to one paragraph. Each Will Grayson reads like a complete person, and I didn't really go much beyond the surface of what's going on and who they are in these tiny little paragraphs. I was really impressed while reading with the depth and complexity of the characters. Even while reading about Person 1 at Event A, I knew that Persons 2-5 were busy elsewhere, living even when I couldn't "see" what they were doing. Hmmm...I hope that made sense. It's not often that I feel the "realness" of characters quite so much.
The set up of the story is clever without feeling contrived, and I have to admit that I was expecting contrived - two Will Graysons accidentally meet up? That definitely has the makings of a kitschy feel to it. But the story, throughout, remained very sincere in my opinion. I didn't really have to stretch my mind for believability (until the end, but more on that later). Another point in favor of the story is the hilarity. I laughed. On a lounge chair, by the pool, with family and a whole bunch of strangers around. What can I say? It was a funny book.
I did have a few twitchy moments while reading. For one, the book revolves around Tiny Cooper, not the Will Graysons. This seemed very odd to me, considering the title of the book and the narrators most definitely point to the Wills being protagonists. And they were for the most part, but essentially the plot line centers on Tiny. The end, which is the second twitchy part for me, supports this strangeness as it fully focuses on Tiny. It was also the only part of the book I found pretty much unbelievable. It was almost but not quite an eye-rolling moment.
Overall though, these two points didn't really detract from my love of the book. Reading this reminded my of my love for John Green and David Levithan and was a slap in the face about reading more books by authors I enjoy instead of my strange tendency to read new authors all the time. show less
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ThingScore 90
Romans over homoseksuelen kennen doorgaans een noodlottig einde. Er gaat iemand dood of er wordt iemand terminaal ziek. Dat moet een van de redenen zijn waarom homoboekhandels tegenwoordig veel porno verkopen om het hoofd boven water te houden, van de romans raken hun klanten depressief. Bij de jeugdroman Will Grayson, Will Grayson van de Amerikanen John Green en David Levithan is het totaal show more omgedraaid. Het boek is prachtig, met vaart en humor beschreven, alleen het einde is van zo’n suikerzoet Hollywoodgehalte dat het glazuur je van de tanden springt. Doodzonde. (En dan komt er ook nog een toegift: ‘We geven toe dat Gods liefde je nooit kan worden afgenomen, omdat je bent wie je bent doordat God je heeft gemaakt.’) show less
added by PGCM
John Green en David Levithan – Will Grayson, Will Grayson
dinsdag 11 januari 2011 om 17u00
Wie vreesde dat de laatste goeie roman over jongeren al was geschreven, moet Will Grayson, will grayson van het duo John Green-David Levithan maar eens lezen.
John Green en David Levithan – Will Grayson, will grayson
Uitgeverij: Lemniscaat
Aantal pagina’s: 277
Prijs: 16,95 euro
ISBN: show more 978-90-477-0327-3
Uitgeverij Lemniscaat houdt de vinger aan de pols van de betere Amerikaanse jongerenliteratuur. Bij bosjes worden recente Young Adult-romans vertaald. In deze actuele fictie krijg je niet zozeer 'probleemjongeren', maar wel stevige jongvolwassenen die evenzeer de greep op het leven verliezen als hun lot in eigen handen nemen.
De protagonisten zijn helemaal 'nu': well informed, opgegroeid in gebroken gezinnen, vroegrijp, en in die wirwar ook nog altijd op zoek naar de liefde die vriendschap heet (of andersom). De verhalen spelen zich af op school, in grootsteden, niet zelden hebben de levensechte personages megalomane projecten in hun hoofd.
Doordat veel scheppers van die jongerenpersonages zelf zijn opgegroeid met het internet, sms, msn, blogs, Facebook et cetera, worden communicatiemedia vlotjes in de verhalen geïntegreerd. Binnensboeks hoppen van het ene genre naar het andere is allang geen trend meer, het is bijna een must.
John Green en David Levithan zijn twee kleppers van de Amerikaanse Young Adult-school. Lemniscaat vertaalde een roman die ze samen schreven: Will Grayson/will grayson.
Dat samen knutselen aan jongerenverhalen is een betrekkelijk nieuw fenomeen. Uitgeverij Querido past het op een andere manier toe in haar reeks Slash-boeken, waarbij 'gevestigde auteurs' levensechte verhalen van jongeren optekenen, in samenspraak.
Bij Will Grayson/will grayson kozen Green en Levithan ervoor elk een personage met dezelfde naam uit te werken. In het ene hoofdstuk komt de ene Will Grayson (mét hoofdletters) aan het woord, in het andere doet de andere will grayson zijn verhaal (zonder hoofdletters). Tot ze - het klinkt geforceerd maar verloopt vrij natuurlijk - elkaar als bij toeval op een dag ontmoeten en hun levens verstrengeld raken.
Will Grayson 1 is een vrij normale adolescent: ietwat teruggetrokken, behoorlijk nuchter en onzeker, maar met het hart op de juiste plaats. Zijn identiteit wordt mede bepaald door zijn allerbeste vriend, Tiny Cooper: een onrustige, vitalistische en narcistische homo die 'out and proud' een musical over zichzelf en de liefde in elkaar bokst.
Will Grayson 2 is een ietwat geïsoleerde en zwartgallige jongeling. Hij zit als homo nog in de kast en kampt met een depressie. Zijn klankbord is de al even cynische Maura, die zich dan weer geen blijf weet met haar verliefdheid op haar homomaatje. show less
dinsdag 11 januari 2011 om 17u00
Wie vreesde dat de laatste goeie roman over jongeren al was geschreven, moet Will Grayson, will grayson van het duo John Green-David Levithan maar eens lezen.
John Green en David Levithan – Will Grayson, will grayson
Uitgeverij: Lemniscaat
Aantal pagina’s: 277
Prijs: 16,95 euro
ISBN: show more 978-90-477-0327-3
Uitgeverij Lemniscaat houdt de vinger aan de pols van de betere Amerikaanse jongerenliteratuur. Bij bosjes worden recente Young Adult-romans vertaald. In deze actuele fictie krijg je niet zozeer 'probleemjongeren', maar wel stevige jongvolwassenen die evenzeer de greep op het leven verliezen als hun lot in eigen handen nemen.
De protagonisten zijn helemaal 'nu': well informed, opgegroeid in gebroken gezinnen, vroegrijp, en in die wirwar ook nog altijd op zoek naar de liefde die vriendschap heet (of andersom). De verhalen spelen zich af op school, in grootsteden, niet zelden hebben de levensechte personages megalomane projecten in hun hoofd.
Doordat veel scheppers van die jongerenpersonages zelf zijn opgegroeid met het internet, sms, msn, blogs, Facebook et cetera, worden communicatiemedia vlotjes in de verhalen geïntegreerd. Binnensboeks hoppen van het ene genre naar het andere is allang geen trend meer, het is bijna een must.
John Green en David Levithan zijn twee kleppers van de Amerikaanse Young Adult-school. Lemniscaat vertaalde een roman die ze samen schreven: Will Grayson/will grayson.
Dat samen knutselen aan jongerenverhalen is een betrekkelijk nieuw fenomeen. Uitgeverij Querido past het op een andere manier toe in haar reeks Slash-boeken, waarbij 'gevestigde auteurs' levensechte verhalen van jongeren optekenen, in samenspraak.
Bij Will Grayson/will grayson kozen Green en Levithan ervoor elk een personage met dezelfde naam uit te werken. In het ene hoofdstuk komt de ene Will Grayson (mét hoofdletters) aan het woord, in het andere doet de andere will grayson zijn verhaal (zonder hoofdletters). Tot ze - het klinkt geforceerd maar verloopt vrij natuurlijk - elkaar als bij toeval op een dag ontmoeten en hun levens verstrengeld raken.
Will Grayson 1 is een vrij normale adolescent: ietwat teruggetrokken, behoorlijk nuchter en onzeker, maar met het hart op de juiste plaats. Zijn identiteit wordt mede bepaald door zijn allerbeste vriend, Tiny Cooper: een onrustige, vitalistische en narcistische homo die 'out and proud' een musical over zichzelf en de liefde in elkaar bokst.
Will Grayson 2 is een ietwat geïsoleerde en zwartgallige jongeling. Hij zit als homo nog in de kast en kampt met een depressie. Zijn klankbord is de al even cynische Maura, die zich dan weer geen blijf weet met haar verliefdheid op haar homomaatje. show less
added by PGCM
A wonderfully campy, sweet, romantic gesture in the spectacular style that readers have come to expect from these two YA masters.
added by khuggard
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Author Information
30+ Works 115,850 Members
John Green was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 24, 1977. He graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and religious studies. Before becoming a writer, he was a publishing assistant and production editor for Booklist, which is a book review journal. His first novel, Looking for Alaska, was published in 2005 and show more won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult literature in 2006. His other works include An Abundance of Katherines, a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book; Paper Towns, which won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the 2010 Corine Literature Prize; and The Fault in Our Stars, which was a New York Times Best Seller. He is also the co-author, with David Levithan, of Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Two of John Green's titles, The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, have been made into major motion pictures. His title, An Abundance of Katherines, made the New York Times Best Seller List. Paper Towns made The New Zealand Best Seller List 2015. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
John Green is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
64+ Works 36,196 Members
David Levithan was born in 1972. He graduated from Brown University in 1994 and is a senior editor at Scholastic. He has written numerous books including Boy Meets Boy, The Realm of Possibility, Every Day, and Another Day. (Bowker Author Biography)
Some Editions
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Awards
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson
- Original title
- Will Grayson, Will Grayson
- Original publication date
- 2010-04-06
- People/Characters
- Will Grayson; Tiny Cooper; Jane Turner; Maura
- Important places
- Chicago, Illinois, USA; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Naperville, Illinois, USA
- Dedication
- To David Leventhal
(for being so close)
-DL
To Tobias Huisman
-JG - First words
- 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."
- Quotations
- Tiny Cooper is not the world's gayest person, and he is not the world's largest person, but I believe he may be the world's largest person who is really, really gay, and also the the world's gayest person who is really, reall... (show all)y large.
There are probably some girls who don’t want guys to show up at their house randomly on a Tuesday night with questions about Edwin Schrodinger. I am sure such girls exist. But they don’t live at my house. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)he may be heavy, but right now he floats.
- Original language
- English; English US
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Statistics
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- Reviews
- 351
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- (3.86)
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- 18 — Catalan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 82
- ASINs
- 28