Two Boys Kissing – David Levithan
100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: After one of their friends is assaulted for being gay, former boyfriends Harry and Craig decide to break the world record for kissing to raise awareness about issues facing members of the LBTQIA+ community.
Expectation: A heartwarming coming of age story about overcoming adversity and supporting one another.
Reality: Darker and more poignant than expected, but a tad uneven and overstuffed even for its slim length. However, when the story soars, it’s transformative.
Recommended For: Fans of YA without the manufactured drama.
Why I Read It: It had been on my TBR list for more than three years.
My Take:
David Levithan’s “Two Boys Kissing” presents an interesting dichotomy of young adult fiction. It is a cut above most stories by tackling serious issues in a meaningful and organic way, yet it still can’t escape the genre trapping of overstuffing a story.
Given its slim length, this is a worthwhile read for fans of the genre or queer fiction. I was honestly surprised by the depth of emotion Leviathan was able to infuse into a few storylines, but I also would love to take a scalpel to the novel to make it a perfect, rather than merely good, read.
Taking place over a few days, the six or so main characters are all experiencing an identity crisis related to being queer. Centering on Harry and Craig, former boyfriends and best friends, as they attempt to break the world record for kissing, it’s this action the rest of the characters circle around.
Those folks include:
Tariq, recently beaten by a mob slinging gay slurs, Harry’s and Craig’s marathon kiss is to show support for him;
Avery and Ryan two teens in a neighboring town that meet at a gay prom and develop a burgeoning relationship;
Neil and Peter, another couple that isn’t exactly on the same page; and
Cooper who is accidentally outed through his computer activity and subsequently flees his parents’ house.
Each character is observed by a Greek chorus of gay men that died during the height of the AIDS crisis, and they provide commentary and dispense advice, even though their words are merely in the ether.
Far and away, the most compelling parts of the novel are Cooper’s subplot and the Greek chorus. Everything else — yes, even Harry and Craig — could be cut. It’s not that these characters aren’t interesting, they just aren’t as interesting as how the chorus reacts to what’s happening with Cooper.
Levithan has each of the characters experience milestone events — bullying, first love (found and lost), pain (both physical and mental), forgiveness and coming out — yet almost each of these elements is rendered in Cooper’s plot alone, effectively making the other characters useless.
There’s nothing wrong with bringing forward different perspectives of the same situation, but they were not different enough to keep me fully engaged. The key difference here is Avery and Ryan since Avery is transgender. Simply, whenever the Greek chorus or Cooper wasn’t on the page, I found myself less interested in the story.
As I’m getting up in years, I appreciated Levithan’s commentary from the chorus. He made these nameless men relatable in a way many adults reading YA don’t usually find. There were maxims, regrets, hopes and history shared. It is the perfect love letter to a lost generation.
Cooper also provided the most real portrayal of what a lack of acceptance and support can do to a queer person. The last 30-pages of the novel, almost solely focused on Cooper and the chorus, utterly broke me. Without that section, I probably would’ve rated this book lower.
I tackled this as a hybrid read and listen. More than likely I would’ve finished the eBook on its own, but life got busy, and it is easier for me to listen when that happens. The author narrated the audiobook, and it was rather subpar. I can’t help but wonder what a full cast of voice professionals could’ve done with the various storylines.
Since I have no frame of reference, I can’t say if all Levithan’s works are a tad uneven or if this is the outlier. Still, I’d be interested in reading another novel by him as he’s shown to be an expert at capturing real emotion and introspection.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Formats: Hybrid read/listen (library loan and personal library)
Dates read: July 10 – July 27, 2022
Multi-tasking: Good to go, but without chapters and multiple characters – plus a rather blasé narration by the author – it is difficult to keep track of the storylines at times.
