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chrispybacon's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Teenagers Will Grayson and Will Grayson live in different areas but through a string of coincidences they both meet in the most John Green-esque way at a porn store. Both of them are too young to enter but find themselves there anyway. Although Will and Will live completely different lives they have one thing in common: They are massive arseholes.
John Green's Will might not only be the most boring teenage boy I've read about since any John Green novel ever, he is also an absolute bastard. His best friend is Tiny Cooper who is a ray of sunshine, talented, studious, tall, smart and celebrates his gayness. Of course, for the most part of the novel the only things that matter to Will Grayson is that Tiny is gay and overweight. Whenever Will talks about Tiny, he has to mention that Tiny is 'fat'. This is generally said in negative connotations because even tho Tiny is Will's best (and honestly only) friend, Will hates him. Will would ditch Tiny in an instant if he got the chance and he admits to doing so in the past. Later he gets a girlfriend and becomes a little nicer, deciding that actually Tiny is his best friend.
David Levithan's Will is depressed. He is busy being angry at the world and hating the only person (Maura, who is even worse and can rot in hell) who is willing to put up with him. Although not even Will deserves what Maura puts him through, he still sucks. His depression is not a free-out-of-jail-card to mistreat his peers, but that is all Will does. He meets Tiny and is not even truly in love with him. He too keeps bringing up Tiny's bigness and that he does not understand how he is attracted to someone who should disgust him.
The blatant fatphobia ruined the whole book for me. Both Wills coming to terms with their lives and apologizing for their behaviour to Tiny can't fix this for me, especially not when the last sentence is again a reference to his weight: "He may be heavy, but right now he floats." GET OVER IT ALREADY FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
Apart from that the pacing was bad. 34% of the novel passes by without Will and Will meeting - an event that may change both their lives, because Levithan's Will thus meets Tiny, but overall these two do not interact much at all, nor do they seem to like each other much. The musical in the end then takes up 10% of the story and it is in this 10% Will and Will need to be shown that yes, Tiny is a person with feelings and more substance than being gay and overweight (and yet, the last sentence...). Personally, I found reading about the musical a bit boring, I did not need any descriptions of the costumes or what the chorus sang or what the stage sets looked like.
Another aspect that I hated was that Levithan decided to write everything in lowercase. I read the additional content of my edition on why he did it but I still hated it so much. It was also necessary of course, because both Wills were so blatantly boring with nothing interesting going on in their lives except the drama created by their own assholery that a difference in formatting was needed to keep them apart. I still mixed them up a few times.
To conclude, thank god it is over. I will never read this again.
John Green's Will might not only be the most boring teenage boy I've read about since any John Green novel ever, he is also an absolute bastard. His best friend is Tiny Cooper who is a ray of sunshine, talented, studious, tall, smart and celebrates his gayness. Of course, for the most part of the novel the only things that matter to Will Grayson is that Tiny is gay and overweight. Whenever Will talks about Tiny, he has to mention that Tiny is 'fat'. This is generally said in negative connotations because even tho Tiny is Will's best (and honestly only) friend, Will hates him. Will would ditch Tiny in an instant if he got the chance and he admits to doing so in the past. Later he gets a girlfriend and becomes a little nicer, deciding that actually Tiny is his best friend.
David Levithan's Will is depressed. He is busy being angry at the world and hating the only person (Maura, who is even worse and can rot in hell) who is willing to put up with him. Although not even Will deserves what Maura puts him through, he still sucks. His depression is not a free-out-of-jail-card to mistreat his peers, but that is all Will does. He meets Tiny and is not even truly in love with him. He too keeps bringing up Tiny's bigness and that he does not understand how he is attracted to someone who should disgust him.
The blatant fatphobia ruined the whole book for me. Both Wills coming to terms with their lives and apologizing for their behaviour to Tiny can't fix this for me, especially not when the last sentence is again a reference to his weight: "He may be heavy, but right now he floats." GET OVER IT ALREADY FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
Apart from that the pacing was bad. 34% of the novel passes by without Will and Will meeting - an event that may change both their lives, because Levithan's Will thus meets Tiny, but overall these two do not interact much at all, nor do they seem to like each other much. The musical in the end then takes up 10% of the story and it is in this 10% Will and Will need to be shown that yes, Tiny is a person with feelings and more substance than being gay and overweight (and yet, the last sentence...). Personally, I found reading about the musical a bit boring, I did not need any descriptions of the costumes or what the chorus sang or what the stage sets looked like.
Another aspect that I hated was that Levithan decided to write everything in lowercase. I read the additional content of my edition on why he did it but I still hated it so much. It was also necessary of course, because both Wills were so blatantly boring with nothing interesting going on in their lives except the drama created by their own assholery that a difference in formatting was needed to keep them apart. I still mixed them up a few times.
To conclude, thank god it is over. I will never read this again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Bullying, Mental illness, Outing, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol
wheatlyre's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Homophobia, and Outing
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Self harm, and Addiction
nxclx's review against another edition
emotional
funny
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
3.5
Second? Third? Time reading this? Not sure. I remember the beginning pretty well but not the end. I enjoyed it, but did notice the quirks of the characters were a little out there, as a lot of YA books do, but I like how the Will Grayson's seem to switch places as the book progresses, and both grow from it. Tiny seems to be the centerfold for both of them, however, which is also why I'm reading it again, so I can read the companion novel: Hold Me Closer.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, and Vomit
Minor: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
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