Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

An adorable, sappy, punk rock, teenage romance that takes place in the span of one night. Nick is desperate, his ex-girlfriend the evil wench that broke his heart is at the club where his band is playing and he can't face her. She's already moved on, has a new boyfriend and he can't stop moping. When he sees her approaching him he turns to a random girl he doesn't know and pleads, "Will you please be my girlfriend for the next five minutes?" Thus starts a long night of punk music, burlesque nuns, disappointment, heartbreak, and ultimately, hope. I really hope the movie does this edgy provocative book justice because I really enjoyed it. The story is told in alternating viewpoints from both Nick and Norah.

I saw the movie a while ago before I knew it was a book; unsurprisingly, the book is much better. But what was surprising to me was how much more INTENSE the book is. It so beautifully captures the desperate feelings of how it feels to break up, to want someone, and especially, how it feels to throw yourself wholeheartedly into the mosh pit for an amazing song by a band you love. This book is so punk rock in a real, evocative way.

The plot structure of the book is far less madcap and zany than the movie--it's a love story, not a comedy. The two authors telling two characters' stories unfolds things in a way that is both breakneck and quiet. Really great book.

If you're reading this because you watched the film, prepare to be surprised. They're both great, but totally different. Though it has the same fun (if slightly manic) tone, the book is a lot edgier than the film, with some darker elements too. Which is all good, if you ask me.

I love how much David Levithan obviously loves language, and plays with it continuously (probably more than Nick would actually be capable of doing, but who cares, it's fun). I love how the characters' internal monologues are so much more eloquent than their awkward utterances, and how quite often they do things or say things without really thinking about it at all, and their narration has to catch up and ask 'what the hell just happened there?'.

And of course, show more the music scene makes me so envious. New York-style all-night awesome music binges are about as different to where I grew up as Game of Thrones or something.The only consolation, that goes some way to salving my envy, is that Nick and Norah obviously do know how lucky they are. show less

This is a quick read that will suck you in, take the breath out of you, & leave you gasping. Nick & Norah, connected loosely by their ex-'s, meet at a club one night. Nick, in order to make his ex-girlfriend jealous, asks Norah to be his 5-minute girlfriend, they share a haphazard but luscious kiss, and things take off from there. The story takes place all in the span of a few hours, but it's action-packed & engaging.

I loved the chemistry between these two characters: the romantic tension and the foreplay-type physical stuff. I'm not sure how appealing it would be from a male perspective, but to a female, it was spot on and made me squirm.

It wasn't flawless, though. The F-bomb was used excessively -- very excessively, as in on almost show more every page, & often numerous times in succession. I could've done without that. And although I enjoyed the quick slapstick wit of both characters, Norah's self-serving attitude was a little annoying at times. These characters were supposedly in their late teens, but it really read more like a 20-somethings novel & would've been somewhat more believable had the characters been in that age group.

I've not seen the movie based on this book, but could totally picture this as a younger John Cusack-casted movie, even though he's not in this one at all. I'll be adding it to my "to be seen" movie list. show less

Earnest Nick, the 17-year-old self-described “nonqueer bassist in a queercore band,” asks sophisticated, privileged Norah to pretend to be his girlfriend long enough so that the girlfriend who freshly dumped him will not think that he’s still grieving — although he is.

What begins as a five-minute lark at a Lower East Side punk nightclub turns into a long night of punk rock music and self-discovery into the pink dawn of New York City. Can a Hoboken boy and an Englewood Cliffs girl (if ya know, ya know) — both coming off of bad breakups — find happiness through soulful music and each other? Odds are against them, but readers will stay glued to this gem to find out.

Anyone who can still remember the angst of high-school show more romances will identify with the yearning and constant second-guessing with a bit of nostalgia but mostly relief that it’s in the past.

But let me close with the best lines of this book. They don’t come from Nick; they don’t come from Norah. They come from Dev, the band’s singer, when he explains why the Beatles wrote the best love song ever:

“Because they nailed it. That’s what everyone wants. Not 24-7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche or a blow job or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can’t hide. Every single successful love song of the past fifty years can be traced back to ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’ And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding. Trust me. I’ve thought a lot about this.”

Still in high school, but Dev is wise beyond his years. We are want someone we’re comfortable with who wants to connect, vulnerability be damned.

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Nick, the only straight guy in the Queercore band The Fuck-Offs, spots his ex of three weeks in the crowd of one of his shows. Trying to avoid her/make her jealous, he asks the girl standing next to him to be his girlfriend for 5 minutes. Seeking to score a ride home for a drunk friend, Norah says yes. The situation gets more complicated though, when Norah spots her ex entering the club she's trying to leave. The two, joined by chance and broken hearts, wander through Manhattan, nearly hook-up and separate, get back together, meet exes and friends and cab drivers. The two realize, together, that their five-minute relationship may be much more than chance.

Nick and Norah are both believable, likable characters, each with their own set of show more baggage and hang-ups. Nick is a broken-hearted poet, and Norah is a smart girl who makes dumb decisions when it comes to friends and boyfriends. Norah is a little more fully realized than Nick, and a lot more loquacious. For a slim book, this requires a close reading. Norah's stream of consciousness doesn't include standard punctuation. Although a tiny bit unbelievable, as everybody is gorgeous and seems to have money to spare, this feels very organic. Nick and Norah's relationships, both with each other and their various friends and exes, seem realistic and even sweet. The language and frank discussion of sexuality in this book might make it inappropriate for younger readers, and may keep this title from getting the awards recognition it deserves. show less

I selected this book after taking one of those tests on Facebook that asked which female YA protagonist I was most like. The answer came out to be Norah from this book, so I thought I should read it. In fact, I am nothing like Norah, except perhaps for her lack of clothing style, but I loved the book anyway (or maybe, because of that!).

Nick is “the nonqueer bassist in a queercore band” and Norah is at the club where he is performing. He’s doing great until he sees Tris, the girl he was really into, who dumped him three weeks earlier. And to make matters worse, she came with another guy. Nick, who happens to be standing next to where Norah is sitting at the bar, turns to her and says: "I know this is going to sound strange, but show more would you mind being my girlfriend for the next five minutes?”

Sounds predictable, right? You know right away the five minutes is going to go on longer, and that the result of this meet-cute will probably be a hook up. But you would be wrong to dismiss the story so easily. The writing, deeply reflective of the punk rock scene, sparkles with energy.

Rachel Cohn takes the voice of the female protagonist and David Levithan of the male in this short novella, and they do a great job. The alternating chapters by each author/narrator riff off one another with chemistry that’s almost palpable, evincing cleverness, charm, and a remarkable and eclectic knowledge of the music scene. The variety of the sexual and gender identities and relationships woven so casually into the story is refreshing and uplifting for anyone tired of the same old rigid heterosexual lines in most books.

Discussion: This is teenage dialogue at its finest (although not necessarily at its most sanitized). I loved this reaction by Nick when he and Norah encounter Norah’s ex-boyfriend Tal:

"…this guy I’ve never seen before leans into Norah’s window and says, ‘Hey, baby, you ready to pick up where we left off?’

What. the. fuck?

Okay, maybe I hang with the queercore crowd and all, but still - I never, ever, in a million zillion years would have imagined that a guy would use the phrase ‘hey, baby’ and mean it. He says it like he’s whistling at some girl’s boobs as she walks down the street. Who does that?”

Norah in fact confirms she has been with a jerk when she freaks out after Nick is kind to her:

"I know you probably think I’m a horrid bitch from the planet Schizophrenia, but I'm honestly not trying to mess with your head. … I think you’re nice to me and that scares the fuck out of me. Because when a guy’s a jerk or an asshole, it’s easier because you know exactly where you stand. ….”

And at one point, when Norah leaves in a cab, Nick’s reaction is just the best. It’s worth reading for that chapter alone. And Norah’s feelings in the following chapter? Priceless.

Evaluation: This book is a quick read, but it’s full of memorable moments of feeling awkward, feeling hope, feeling hurt, feeling love, and feeling the magic that accompanies the discovery of someone new. If a lot of “language” doesn’t put you off, this book is terrific.

Note: A movie was made from this book in 2008 (that I did not see) starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings. show less