Reviews tagging 'Death'

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

9 reviews

betweentheshelves's review against another edition

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is my second time reading this, and I opted to listen to it this time. Which was an excellent choice! David Levithan is such a poetic writer, hitting such strong emotional beats in this book. And in light of so many kids and YA LGBTQ+ books getting silenced, the narration lens just hits so much harder. The older queer generation is imagining a world where the younger queer generation gets to be free. Or at least, freer than they were. And yes, that's the case in some instances. But it's also not the case as people are continuously trying to silence their voices.

This just makes me think about the fact that there was an article I read in the last year or so that said that we're in a sort of golden age for queer literature. Could that be the case? Maybe, I don't much pay attention to any sort of adult publishing market. But even if it is--queer literature has still been a major target in the rash of book bans that have been happening in the US over the last 4ish years. Not the only target, but you know. Definitely a major one. And it's books like this they want to get rid of; books that show queer teens that they're not alone. That show how hard it can be to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community. And I don't much think we're in a golden era of queer literature when there is a whole audience of queer books getting silenced.

Also: David Levithan has been publishing queer YA books for years. Since the early 2000s. Way before there was a boom in LGBTQ+ YA publishing (which still needs work!). And I'm pretty sure he's championed for way more queer books as an editor. I've read almost all of his books and it's his prose that always hits home for me. He's got a knack for writing emotional, poetic lines. Seriously.

Anyway, that was a bit of a rant, my apologies. But this book is lovely. It will spark excellent discussion at our Banned Book Club. And I'm glad I got to visit it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Self harm

thatchickengirl23's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Terminal illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death

Minor: Excrement

asipofcozy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

For such a short book, I took my time reading it. I can't even count the number of tabs and annotations I made. This book was impactful in so many ways. I found a piece of myself in the characters, in the situations they faced, in the narrator's past, and in their own personal struggles. I found that missing piece that I have been looking for all this time.

There were moments have tears, joy, inspiration, hope, and love. There were moments of sadness, despair, and loneliness. That fear of death and the fear of life. It was all here in a tiny book that I believe the world needs to read, that schools need to adopt into their curriculum. Maybe then, there would be less hatred and more understanding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Mental illness, Self harm, and Eating disorder

Minor: Death, Racism, and Outing

malenaa14's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Suicide, Death, Terminal illness, and Homophobia

oakleylynch's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Hate crime, Bullying, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cursing, Grief, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

ilona's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Outing, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Death and Terminal illness

Minor: Transphobia

erikalv97's review

emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Medical content, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

mothman19's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia

Moderate: Death and Hate crime

luisalopes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I'd like to say that this was the first book by David Levithan I've ever read. It touched my very soul. As someone who's been struggling with feeling like an outsider since I was little, never feeling quite understood, validated, and depressed, it was the first time I ever felt like an author had looked right into my very core, touched it with all the care in the world and warmed it up by telling me "it's okay to be you; please give yourself the chance to see how far you'll go". He's been my all around-favourite author ever since. I haven't read many of his books, but if anyone ever asks me, I'll read every single thing he puts out there for this book alone. I might like it or not, no book seems to come close to what Two Boys Kissing did for me as an LGBTQ+ teen nearing adulthood, but I sure won't forget what the author did for me. I cannot express my gratitude, no matter how much I try.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and Death

As a book about contemporary struggles LGBTQ+ youth faces, especially gay couples, there are some mentions of suicidal thoughts, self-destructive behaviour, descriptions of extreme discomfort

(one of the main couples is trying to break the world's longest kiss record and they have to keep kissing for hours and hours, so it gets pretty uncomfortable and emotionally draining)

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