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Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green, David Levithan
12 reviews
auggie_reads's review against another edition
3.5
It was beautiful, but I wish they wouldn’t be so fatphobic. Tiny being fat has nothing to do with the story but his insecurities, which could’ve been shown without his closest friends & boyfriend constantly shaming him for it. There’s also a lot of gay stereotypes in the story, which I minded less, since it’s been really clarified that gay is okay, and honestly, I wish they at least did the same with him being fat or actually do what they should’ve done and erased the constant fat shaming and fatphobia and fat jokes, because it’s just not funny. Could honestly have been a 5 star without all the bigotry.
(Also the erasure of anyone other than homosexuals and lesbians when talking about the gay-straight alliance sucks. Jane could’ve easily been bi, pan, ace, etc. instead, when Will finds out she’s not a lesbian, it’s immediately a “she’s straight so I can date her” kind of thing, which drives me nuts.)
(Also the erasure of anyone other than homosexuals and lesbians when talking about the gay-straight alliance sucks. Jane could’ve easily been bi, pan, ace, etc. instead, when Will finds out she’s not a lesbian, it’s immediately a “she’s straight so I can date her” kind of thing, which drives me nuts.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Fatphobia, and Abandonment
Moderate: Toxic friendship and Vomit
venti's review against another edition
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
such a gross misrepresentation of youth……. also tiny was fucking awful. why center your novel around loving the one guy who is basically awful to everyone??
2.5/5, would’ve been 3 if the two will graysons fell in love lmao
2.5/5, would’ve been 3 if the two will graysons fell in love lmao
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Fatphobia
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
kes_'s review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Cursing, Vomit, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness
Minor: Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Acephobia/Arophobia
b27hany's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
4.0
Both Will Graysons are fruity prove me wrong
Content Warnings
Minor: Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Cursing
el13's review against another edition
2.0
witty & endearing, but reading it as an adult was fine. i really liked the diversity & complexity of characters here.
however, david levithan borderline romanticizes a school shooter in the making soooo that's not cool
however, david levithan borderline romanticizes a school shooter in the making soooo that's not cool
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Self harm, Body shaming, Bullying, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
abby_reads_books's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, and Outing
Minor: Alcohol, Stalking, and Toxic friendship
paigieodo's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Man. This book is kind of a mess. 3 stars because it was fun and cute and there were many parts that I thought were so wonderful. I did really enjoy a lot of it. But also 3 stars because all of the other parts were not very good at all. All of the characters are indistinguishable. I would not be able to tell you who said or thought what if it weren't for the dialogue tags. They all talk in The John Green Way, which also happens to be the exact way that David Levithan writes characters, believe it or not. It's cute. And sometimes very heart-warming. Other times just straight up not good at all in kind of an embarrassing way. Occasionally, it would say something very hopeful and honest about love and relationships (more so the parts written by Green over the parts written by Levithan, sorry David). The ending was just honest-to-god terrible. A fun romp though. I don't recommend but I don't not-recommend, either.
Content Warnings
Minor: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
liesbethvv's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
4.0
I read this book in between much heavier books and it brought such a welcome change. Both Will’s are a delight to see grow and somehow even support each other even though they are very different.
And of course, the larger than life character of Tiny, whose musical I would love to see in real life.
Another great John Green book and a good introduction to David Levithan.
One thing that bugged me, was the extreme mentions of Tiny being huge. I mean, I get the character development, but it seems strange that friends would talk to and about each other like that. If you are sensitive to fatphobia, I would not recommend this book.
And of course, the larger than life character of Tiny, whose musical I would love to see in real life.
Another great John Green book and a good introduction to David Levithan.
One thing that bugged me, was the extreme mentions of Tiny being huge. I mean, I get the character development, but it seems strange that friends would talk to and about each other like that. If you are sensitive to fatphobia, I would not recommend this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, and Gaslighting