Tweet

After reading The Fault in Our Stars I’ve been on a kick of reading anything and everything by John Green. I went onto another novel by John Green and David Levithan right away. Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a story that focuses on the lives of two teenagers named Will Grayson who have only one connection, aside from their name. They both have the fabulously gay Tiny Cooper in their lives. For the sake of confusion the Will Grayson’s will be labeled at Will Grayon1 and Will Grayson2.

I wouldn’t suggest this book for you if you’re homophobic. Its focus is mainly on the relation of Tiny Cooper and Will Grayson2. It also follows the stress of Will Grayson1 and Tiny’s friendship through the bumpy times of all of Tiny’s relationships and Tiny producing his own play about his life, love, and tolerance for LGBT community.

This is the first gay-themed YA novel end up on The New York Times best-seller list. It features a gay-friendly school and town and, obviously, gay characters including the very out-and-proud character named Tiny Cooper. Tiny is an inspirational character that breaks the typical gay-associated stereotypes by being both overweight and capable of having a romantic relationship. While nothing more than kissing happens physically, there’s a plethora of graphic language and sometimes questionable scenery, which some readers may find objectionable.

If you’re someone who is bothered by poor grammar I wouldn’t suggest it. Every chapter in Will Grayson2’s perspective isn’t capitalized to distinguish between the two Graysons.

It’s important to note that Will Grayson1 is straight. Will describes his best friend Tiny Cooper as “not the world’s gayest person, and he is not the world’s largest person, but I believe he may be the world’s largest person who is really, really gay, and also the world’s gayest person who is really, really large.” Tiny and Will Grayson1 have been friends for as long as he can remember. Their friendship defies Will’s father’s favorite joke, “You can pick you friends and you can pick your nose but you can’t pick your friends nose,” because after a night of moderate underage activities Tiny is unable to control himself and passes out. Will and his love interest Jane are forced to get him home and right before they leave Will hears Tiny struggling to breathe through all of the snot in his nose. Afraid that he is going to choke to death Will picks Tiny’s nose while he sleeps.

When we meet Will Grayson2 we are also introduced to his problems. He isn’t very social; he is struggling with coming out, and he has an over embracing friend named Maura. He knows he likes boys but he can’t bring himself to tell his mother and Maura, even though Maura begs to know his secret. He is in love with a boy he meets online named Isaac.

Long story short, Isaac turned out to actually be Maura and Will Grayson2 was heartbroken over the betrayal. He meets the other Will Grayson1 at a store and then he meets Tiny Cooper. Tiny and Grayson2 fall in love and Tiny decides to change the entire theme of his play from awareness to his love. Will Grayson2 breaks up with Tiny but the show must go on. At the end of the performance Will Grayson2 has planned a surprise. He felt so bad for breaking up with Tiny that he found all of the Will Grayson’s in the area and had them all attend the play that Tiny wrote about his life and his loves. After the final bow each Will Grayson stood up in the audience and exclaimed, “I’m Will Grayson and I appreciate you, Tiny Cooper!” The final Will Grayson turns out to be a cute boy that Will Grayson2 thought would be a good match for Tiny. The pair hit it off and then the book ends.

The story is really, really well put together. I love how each character is developed through the various hardships that they go through. The entire casts of characters are relatable; you can probably find something in each character that you have gone through personally. I highly recommend this novel because it’s a quick, easy read that is actually really entertaining.