Will Grayson, Will Grayson
One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.
Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both them legions of faithful fans.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson debuted at #3 on the New York Times bestseller list for children’s chapter books, the first book starring gay characters ever to appear on the list. WGWG has also been published in Australia and is forthcoming in many countries, including Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. If you would like to read this book in a language besides American English, go to the translations page.
If you’ve read the book and are fully prepared for spoilers, head on over to the Will Grayson, Will Grayson FAQ page for more.
Reviews (Spoiler Alert!)
“A terrific high-energy tale of teen love, lust, intrigue, anger, pain, and friendship threaded with generous measures of comedy.” -Booklist, Starred Review
“This quirky yet down-to-earth collaboration by two master YA storytellers will keep readers turning pages.” -School Library Journal, Starred Review
“An intellectually existential, electrically ebullient love story that brilliantly melds the ridiculous with the realistic.” –Kirkus, Starred Review
“The spectacular style that readers have come to expect from these two YA masters.” –VOYA
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I am so glad I did not skip over this book (read the whole thing in one go)! The back page summary and cover is seriously misleading- I initially thought the whole “same name” thing meant the characters would undergo psychological switching mind/body games. Thank god i did stick around to read it. i felt the summary barely had anything to do with the important issues in the book. (tries not to go into spoilers)
I personally liked the Will-with-the -lowercase-words’s characterization/story better although you did something really really weird with Gideon at the end (only in my opinion). but otherwise, i loved how you drew out the characters even though some of their external rants/epiphanies were kind of cheesy soap opera-y to read.
Some of the sentences/words were kind of oddly placed/spelled- I couldn’t tell if you deliberately did that to emphasize the whole modern-day confused-teenager-online thing or because it was a typo…
Anyways, loved it- especially since it is one of the very very few teenage gay books that I’ve read that I’ve been satisfied with.
I agree about the whole back cover being misleading thing. It took me about 4 chapters and many moments of confusion before I finally realized it was two different Will Graysons. lol
I loved the concept of the book, but the one thing that irritated me was the lower-case. Aaaaaah! It was hard for me to read it, but I got used to it after awhile. I think different fonts would’ve been a better idea than lower-case.
I have to say, I loved the lower case as a way to distinguish between the sad, low (hence the lower-case) Will Grayson and the not as sad but just as equal bad-attitude.
It might be a good idea to add the Smart Mouths episode that you were on to promote your book to the book-page-thingy. I found ti really interesting and informative :)
I recommended this book to a friend of mine, and after reading it, he said he was comfortable enough to tell me he was gay. Now we can joke about the book together and I don’t feel so awkward. It was a truly amazing book and your (and David’s) best so far! Keep it up!!
I absolutely LOVE this book. One of my all-time favorites. I’m currently working on writing music for “Summer of Gay.” That’s how obsessed I am.
I freaked out when i found out that neutral milk hotel is a real band. I love their music and understand completely why John put them in WG/WG. my favorite song is the same song that will grayson says is his favorite.
Holland, 1945: http://tinyurl.com/holland-1945
it took me a while to understand that each chapter was for the different will graysons
once i understood the book was way easier to understand
i really loved how you made around tiny and the will graysons
loved the last line
like looking for alaska it in my top 5 books
John-
Okay, i know everyone is saying that it took them a while to get into this book, but for me it was different. I read the back cover and i didnt suspect any body/mind switching or anything… I figured an author as wonderful as you wouldnt go for something as cliche as that. While this book is not my favorite of yours, it is in my top ten list of favorite books. (As are all of your other novels, Looking For Alaska being #1) Thank you for taking the time to write books to entertain moody, angst-ridden 15 year olds such as myself, and thank you for capturing the life of teenagers perfectly. Hopefully adults will read your books and realize that teenagers are strange beings that need to let out their emotions in any way possible.
Your avid reader,
Matti
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