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A review by nancyboy
Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan
5.0
I love Boy Meets Boy. I disagree with most of the top reviews of this novel. I love that it’s a gay utopia, it’s a big fuck you to the rest of society, especially considering that it came out in 2003.
I feel like nobody talks about this but there a trans women in this book, THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 2003, THIS IS CRAZY! David Levithan, thank you so much. Sure, you could say, maybe you could say the reputations isn’t the most realistic, not in a negative way, just as in all the jocks want to fuck her. And sure, Levithan doesn’t use the word trans, but you do know that she has transitioned, though that might be just because this book was published in 2003. But look, us trans folk have been through a lot, especially trans women, so can we just have this victory. I don’t care that it isn’t realistic, just let me pretend that society was this accepting of trans folk.
I love Levithan’s prose, they are exquisite. I love how Paul sees the world, especially, he talks about love and infatuation. Describing love is hard, to one person it might sound cliché and to another it might speak to them so deeply. Levithan’s words spoke to me, I love how Paul describes giving a part of his soul to Noah. Also, the part at the end where Paul shows Noah his love. It was just beautiful! I would go into more detail but that would just spoil the novel.
Calling Boy meets Boy a gay utopia kind of does it a disservice. Levithan does deal with queerphobia and a lot of aspects of being queer. Maybe not in as much depth as other novels. However, for the most part this book is about love, and I didn’t feel like it needed to deal with anything else. I love the setting that Levithan creates. I love how the school is quirky and unrealistic in a lot of ways.
One of my favourite themes of the novel is courage and bravery, and how it does take some much courage to be yourself and to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, especially if you’re queer. Levithan also deals with how people perceive courage and how the person who is being called courageous doesn’t feel very brave. This hit too close to home, this is some shit that I’m dealing with. Many times throughout my life, people have called be brave for coming out as trans, and I honestly feel like such a coward. I never feel brave, and some part of me wants to prove them wrong. You don’t know the amount of times I have decided to write an entire essay explaining to someone that I’m not brave, but I should just shut up and take the compliment. I hate that I’m such a coward, I wish I was braver, I wish I could stand up for myself more often. Dude, I love to wish that I’m a lot of things that I’m not, it’s kind of unhealthy if I’m being perfectly honest. I really related to what Levithan was saying, and maybe it’s some shit that I need to hear.
One thing that I hate is Paul’s coming out story. I hate when a coming out story starts with; I was four years old and I just KNEW I was different. Fuck off mate. No, you fucking didn’t, okay maybe you did. But it’s such an unrealistic coming out experience.
This happens all the time with news covering trans coming out stories, they always “just knew” when they were a small kid that they were trans. And I’m like dude I didn’t even know you could be trans until I was 14. I mean sure I knew something was up, but I didn’t know I was trans. I just thought I was ugly my whole life until I realised that you didn’t have identify as the gender you were assigned at birth, and honestly what a MOMENT. But then again when I heard the word trans I did just know I was trans, I just spent the next few years denying it, as you do. However, the year before I did have a bit of a mental breakdown the year before at the school formal, I just through it was my social anxiety at the time. I also was kind of coming to terms with the fact that I was queer. So, in a lot of ways, I didn’t just “know” it took time, a lot of time, to figure out who I was. But that goes with everyone, not just queer people.
Levithan does bring up the fact that Paul just knows who he is, and everyone is a bit jealous of that. In some ways, I am jealous of Paul’s ability to just know himself, just like the rest of the characters. I do think it was very intentional decision for it to be unrealistic on Levithan’s part. Again, I think it’s a big fuck you to society, in saying that Paul is different, he has always been different, and nothing you say is going to stop that. Paul is going to live his best queer life, no matter what. However, some part of me wanted it to be more realistic, I just rolling my eyes when Paul’s kindergarten teacher just “knew” he was gay. I’m like fuck off mate, really? We’re going with this backstory? Okay. Sure. Whatever. I’ll get over it.
Overall, I give the book 3.5 to 4 stars. I definitely recommend if this book interest you at all. I’m hyped to read some more Levithan’s book in the future
I feel like nobody talks about this but there a trans women in this book, THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 2003, THIS IS CRAZY! David Levithan, thank you so much. Sure, you could say, maybe you could say the reputations isn’t the most realistic, not in a negative way, just as in all the jocks want to fuck her. And sure, Levithan doesn’t use the word trans, but you do know that she has transitioned, though that might be just because this book was published in 2003. But look, us trans folk have been through a lot, especially trans women, so can we just have this victory. I don’t care that it isn’t realistic, just let me pretend that society was this accepting of trans folk.
I love Levithan’s prose, they are exquisite. I love how Paul sees the world, especially, he talks about love and infatuation. Describing love is hard, to one person it might sound cliché and to another it might speak to them so deeply. Levithan’s words spoke to me, I love how Paul describes giving a part of his soul to Noah. Also, the part at the end where Paul shows Noah his love. It was just beautiful! I would go into more detail but that would just spoil the novel.
Calling Boy meets Boy a gay utopia kind of does it a disservice. Levithan does deal with queerphobia and a lot of aspects of being queer. Maybe not in as much depth as other novels. However, for the most part this book is about love, and I didn’t feel like it needed to deal with anything else. I love the setting that Levithan creates. I love how the school is quirky and unrealistic in a lot of ways.
One of my favourite themes of the novel is courage and bravery, and how it does take some much courage to be yourself and to stand up for yourself and what you believe in, especially if you’re queer. Levithan also deals with how people perceive courage and how the person who is being called courageous doesn’t feel very brave. This hit too close to home, this is some shit that I’m dealing with. Many times throughout my life, people have called be brave for coming out as trans, and I honestly feel like such a coward. I never feel brave, and some part of me wants to prove them wrong. You don’t know the amount of times I have decided to write an entire essay explaining to someone that I’m not brave, but I should just shut up and take the compliment. I hate that I’m such a coward, I wish I was braver, I wish I could stand up for myself more often. Dude, I love to wish that I’m a lot of things that I’m not, it’s kind of unhealthy if I’m being perfectly honest. I really related to what Levithan was saying, and maybe it’s some shit that I need to hear.
One thing that I hate is Paul’s coming out story. I hate when a coming out story starts with; I was four years old and I just KNEW I was different. Fuck off mate. No, you fucking didn’t, okay maybe you did. But it’s such an unrealistic coming out experience.
This happens all the time with news covering trans coming out stories, they always “just knew” when they were a small kid that they were trans. And I’m like dude I didn’t even know you could be trans until I was 14. I mean sure I knew something was up, but I didn’t know I was trans. I just thought I was ugly my whole life until I realised that you didn’t have identify as the gender you were assigned at birth, and honestly what a MOMENT. But then again when I heard the word trans I did just know I was trans, I just spent the next few years denying it, as you do. However, the year before I did have a bit of a mental breakdown the year before at the school formal, I just through it was my social anxiety at the time. I also was kind of coming to terms with the fact that I was queer. So, in a lot of ways, I didn’t just “know” it took time, a lot of time, to figure out who I was. But that goes with everyone, not just queer people.
Levithan does bring up the fact that Paul just knows who he is, and everyone is a bit jealous of that. In some ways, I am jealous of Paul’s ability to just know himself, just like the rest of the characters. I do think it was very intentional decision for it to be unrealistic on Levithan’s part. Again, I think it’s a big fuck you to society, in saying that Paul is different, he has always been different, and nothing you say is going to stop that. Paul is going to live his best queer life, no matter what. However, some part of me wanted it to be more realistic, I just rolling my eyes when Paul’s kindergarten teacher just “knew” he was gay. I’m like fuck off mate, really? We’re going with this backstory? Okay. Sure. Whatever. I’ll get over it.
Overall, I give the book 3.5 to 4 stars. I definitely recommend if this book interest you at all. I’m hyped to read some more Levithan’s book in the future