Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

This is one of those books where I was actually glad that I saw the movie first. The movie was pretty good, I enjoyed it. So I got the book. Which I also loved. But it was like I was reading two completely different stories. Which is probably a good thing. I was completely sucked into this book from the first page where Nick describes playing the bass. "I am the clockwork, I am the one who takes this thing called music and lines it up with this thing called time. I am the ticking, I am the pulsing, I am underneath ever part of this moment." And I was hooked. This book did not let me down. I love the characters, the writing, the switching of narratives from Nick to Norah and back again. But if I'd read it first, I'd have hated the movie. show more It could never do this story justice. show less

It does a pretty good job of being contemporary considering it’s written by two people a little older than me, about two people younger than me.

The story takes place over a Saturday night in contemporary NYC. Nick is a musician in a queercore band, and Norah is at his show, keeping an eye on her drunk friend. They’ve never met, but Nick’s ex girlfriend is Norah’s frienemy. I guess they live in a really small world.

NNIP is excellent at evoking a certain age, in a certain time and place, and yet it has a certain universal feel to it- well, semi universal. There are elements that remind me of my own late teens- wandering around in the middle of the night with a bunch of annoying people you’re only hanging out with because show more they’re weird like you, listening to loud music that is sometimes good but more often not, and thinking you’re totally deep and special and then your feet hurt and this Mormon guy offered to lick your ear and you’re like “that’s it, I am going home” but no one else wants to so you’re looking around for someone with a car, anyone sober with a car provided it’s not Earlicker and why did you wear these shoes again and now you’re in a van following the band while Ziggy plays guitar on cd. Later you will all end up sprawled across the bandstand in some park, rambling on about life, the universe and everything.

You don't have to keep reading this review if that explained it well enough.

Did I mention all the run on "and" sentences in NNIP? The authors hang out with too many ex fan fic writers. They also have an amusing combination of last names, but that is neither here nor there.

There are wonderful discourses on pop music (for example, a whole explanation of why "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is important) with a particular focus on punk. If this book isn't a reflection of the author's lives, at least they've read the same books I have.

Nick and Norah are out all night and take us on a tour of weird spots in NYC after dark, such as...a burlesque show involving The Sound of Music, a borsht joint and the ice room at a hotel.

It's interesting that none of the kids are actual New Yorkers, they are all from suburban New Jersey..."B&T" (bridge and tunnel) kids as they are apparently called. Everyone seems to have fake IDs or miraculously doesn't get carded, and none of them have parents who care that they've been out all night in NYC.

I like Nick. He’s just so pathetic, and he has interesting, eclectic taste in music.

I don’t like Norah. I just don’t. If I knew her in real life, she’s exactly the kind of person I’d avoid. Here’s why:

She is one of those very wealthy, utterly spoiled, people who is trying too hard to disassociate herself from that while simultaneously not even realizing just how much of her freedom to do the things she does is a result of being wealthy and spoiled. I have no problem with wealthy or spoiled people, I wish I was wealthy and (more) spoiled, I have a problem with people who don’t even realize that they are, and then have the nerve to think they’re just normal and lecture other people on morality and money. (I hate those people who love to tell you, money is the root of all that kills, they have never been poor they have never had the joy of a welfare Christmas). Sure, you can go party all night at gritty punk clubs in NYC if you’ve got the comforting knowledge that you can always call Daddy’s car service.

She doesn’t like The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, or The Beatles. She totally disses two of my absolute all time favorite bands. Patti Smith I can take or leave, but she has no right to say that the woman doesn’t deserve to be as influential as she was. Her reason for disliking The Velvets is that Lou Reed is not a nice person. Yeah, because someone’s unsuccessful personal life is supposed to be what you use to judge their music with. In that case, how many musicians suddenly wouldn’t qualify as important or talented? You’d think she’d consider that, since she goes on about how when your dad’s in the music biz, you get to know what the musicians are really like and they’re all screwed up. She liked Nick's Sinatra mix cd- has she read that man's biography? Cause I have, and he wasn't a whole lot better than Mr. Reed. Lou Reed was also not the only member of the Velvets, so why is she making the rest of them pay for the personality flaws of one of them? And…I thought the “Crazy Lou” character was a version of Lou Reed. An aging Jewish fixture of the punk scene in NYC named “Crazy Lou” who is apparently well known enough that a record exec’s daughter calls him “Uncle” (and “Uncle Lou” is an affectionate nickname among certain music fans). Come on, I can’t be the only person whose brain went there immediately. Maybe I am. The Beatles are anything but overrated and I don’t think I need to defend my opinion there. This wouldn’t be an issue if the book was not on some level about music. Oh, I have to add that she dislikes Bob Dylan too, that's strike four, Norah.

She randomly insults people for no reason (like saying that Nick discusses the concept of tikkun olam “eloquently for a goyim”) and carries on profanity laden conversations in convenience stores at the top of her lungs. Okay, the last one was kinda funny.

Now that I think of it, this could all be a sign of her "frigid" nature, in other words, they are meant to be seen as flaws. She's mean and opinionated as a defense mechanism.
It has one other flaw, which is just the same flaw most books about NYC have, in that it assumes we all know these places, and we *don't*. I had the same problem with The Nanny Diaries for example. The MC made a joke about how all the people in the club "looked like they'd bought their clothes on Insert Name of Street Here" as if we're all supposed to know why that's funny.

I have heard that this is headed for the big screen, and I think it'd make an excellent film. 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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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

After a set in one of the many clubs in New York, Nick sees his ex, the girl who stomped all over his heart and left him oozing pain, with another guy. In a spurt of insanity he asks the girl next to him to be his girlfriend for five minutes. Norah, in a similar moment of nuttiness, responds by making out with him. And thus begins a night of liking, lust, and fumbling to figure out if those five minutes started something far better than Nick or Norah could have ever anticipated.

Nick and Norah's night is a fun romp, an exploration of the emotional heights teens are forever subject to, and an outright love letter to the music scene, playlists, and the mix CD. The novel alternates between Nick and Norah's perspectives with Levithan writing show more the former and Cohn the latter. Although dual authorship can be tricky, the novel balances it well and both Nick and Norah's voices are distinct and interesting. The madness that comes from spending an all-nighter together is wonderfully rendered and I definitely enjoyed trailing after the pair as they figured out what they were doing with their lives and each other. show less

Summary: When Nick's newly-ex ex-girlfriend walks into the club where his band's playing with another guy, Nick chooses the only sensible alternative: turn to the random girl next to him and ask her to be his girlfriend for five minutes. Norah knows (and dislikes) Nick's ex-girlfriend, so she plays along... but that one first kiss leaves both of them reeling, and as the night progresses, they have to navigate the rocky terrain of old loves and new, as they roam the city and carefully find their way through one of the strangest first dates ever.

Review: Holy cow. Consider me well and truly blown away.

Cohn and Levithan have a magical talent that I'd heretofore thought was only the province of John Green: to get teenagerdom right. And that show more rightness may actually be a bit more impressive here: while I'm fairly similar to most of Green's protagonists, and can therefore identify with them really easily, I have almost zero in common with Nick or Norah. I am not heavy into any music scene, and if I were, it wouldn't be punk; I've never lived in New York City (or commuted there for a night out from Jersey); and even in high school, I would have much preferred a decent night's sleep to spending the entire night roaming the city.

Despite all that, I felt like this novel just got it - there were parts that were actually painful to read, not because they were bad or wrong, but because they were so right that they were touching raw emotional spots leftover from teenager-hood that I didn't realize I still had. And, even though I'm personally nothing like the protagonists, the emotions and sensations and experiences they go through are were so familiar that I'd wager they're universal. Initially, I scoffed at Nick's being so torn up after only a six-month relationship... and then I remembered the terrible angsty poetry I wrote at the demise of my first real (seven-month!) relationship. That's just one example, but it felt like on every page, there was something else I recognized from my own life, something else to bring this story home and make it real.

(As another example: Argh, the front-clasp bra. Did anyone get through their formative dating years without a bad experience with one of these?)

I initially had a little trouble with the writing style - Cohn's and Levithan's sections compliment each other well, and watching the same situation from each person's perspective is one of the joys of the book, but the rhythm is less "standard-fiction" and more "teenager's-train-of-thought", which took me a while to get used to, and I'd occasionally have to re-read sentences or paragraphs to make sure I'd gotten it. Still, I eventually got into the flow of things, and totally fell for this slim little book that contains love and heartbreak and depression and hope and all of the giddy awkward amazingness of being young. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Folks who are turned off by swearing and the idea that teenagers think about sex should probably steer clear, but otherwise, highly recommended for just about everyone. show less

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.