Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a concept book. The issues he is struggling with – including weight, social acceptance, homosexuality in the locker room, relationships (both platonic and romantic) – are glossed over. And the parts we do see are stereotypically flamboyant gayness. But because the story – his story – isn’t told from his point of view, we don’t get to see a lot of him. Neither Will Grayson is especially interesting. When it finally does, the two Wills spend less than one evening together before they go their separate ways, pretty much for the rest of the book. Because the reader spends 109 pages wondering how long it will be before the promised meeting takes place. Anyone who has ever read my book reviews before will know I like to call this sort of thing a writer’s trick. But Will Grayson and the other Will Grayson don’t actually meet until page 110.
Still the blurb focuses misleadingly on how the two Will Graysons meet each other and discover they share the same name (and not much else). Tiny is Will Grayson #1’s best friend and Will Grayson #2’s potential love interest. Both Wills are just supporting characters in a tale about the overweight, gay football player and musical enthusiast, Tiny Cooper. It’s not even the other Will Grayson’s story.
Perhaps a little strangely then, this isn’t actually Will Grayson’s story. Will Grayson #2 is gay, desperately in love with his internet boyfriend and managing his depression diagnosis with medication and his mother’s help. Will Grayson #1 is straight, single and attempting not to care about anything as a means of protecting himself from getting hurt.
The novel is narrated in alternate chapters by Will Grayson #1 and Will Grayson #2 (thus the title), two teenage boys struggling through their formative high school years. Unfortunately (I genuinely mean that, I am genuinely disappointed that I didn’t like this book more), I am adding Will Grayson, Will Grayson to the list. There are a lot of things that I just don’t understand why other people like them: Justin Beiber, Justin Beiber’s music, Justin Bieber’s hair, Game of Thrones. Follow me on Twitter My Tweets Tags 2 Stars 2.5 Stars 3 Stars 4 stars 5 Stars A Book About Writing Adaptation Advice Amazon Australian Author Australian Fiction Author Black Spot Blog Post Book Book Review Books Chapter One Character Characters Death Development Dialogue Diary Dictionary Editing Employment Enemies Closer English Family Fiction Genre Goodreads Growth History Ideas Inspiration Job Liberty's Secret LinkedIn Marketing Master's Non-Fiction Novel Plot Poems Poetry Poets Practise Project December Project January Project October Publishing Reading Romance Rules Sequel Short Story Sisters Song Lyrics Spelling Stereotypes Study Text Prize Tips Top Ten Trine University Word Count Work Writer Writers Writing Writing Journal Young Adult Archives
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