Will Grayson, Will Grayson

I've heard great things about John Green for the last few years and it took me until last summer to read one of his books.  He is awesome.  I've had Will Grayson, Will Grayson for quite some time and haven't gotten around to reading it, but this weekend I wanted a quick read before I start my next one and decided the time was right.

“When things break, it's not the actual breaking that prevents them from getting back together again. It's because a little piece gets lost - the two remaining ends couldn't fit together even if they wanted to. The whole shape has changed.”  

It started off a little shaky and I was worried that it just wasn't as magical as the other books and then will grayson was introduced.  See, in the first chapter you meet Will Grayson but in the second you meet will grayson.  Confused? Yeah, so were they when they met. :P

“I feel like my life is so scattered right now. Like it's all the small pieces of paper and someone's turned on the fan. But, talking to you makes me feel like the fan's been turned off for a little bit. Like things could actually make sense. You completely unscatter me, and I appreciate that so much.”  

The good and bad thing about discussing books with other people is that they open your mind to other viewpoints.  If, by chance I hadn't talked to my book club about how teenagers do NOT talk like this nor act like this and all of John Green's characters talk / act the same I would have been able to fully enjoy the whole thing, but those thoughts creep in.  However, I shoved them to the side and was like, "WHY WEREN'T THEY MY FRIENDS IN HIGH SCHOOL??????"

“maybe tonight you're scared of falling, and maybe there's somebody here or somewhere else you're thinking about, worrying over, fretting over, trying to figure out if you want to fall, or how and when you're gonna land, and i gotta tell you, friends, to stop thinking about the landing, because it's all about falling.”  

So, while yes, the same type of characters show up in John Green novels, and no, they aren't your typical teenager.  I do love them.  It's a weakness.  And I related to Will Grayson and will grayson, which is funny since they were alike yet very different. There were parts of each W(w)ill that I saw parts of my teenage self.  And that is how you connect.  That is why people will read the same characters with magnificent vocabularies. 

“You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once-requited love cannot. ”  

And I cannot do it justice with my horrific attempt at an explanation but I will say I'd highly recommend it if you liked Looking for Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars. 

“Also, I feel that crying is almost--like, aside from deaths of relatives or whatever-- totally avoidable if you follow two very simple rules: 1.Don't care too much. 2. Shut up. Everything unfortunate that has ever happened to me has stemmed from failure to follow one of the rules.”  

Goodreads Description: One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

Hilarious, poignant, and deeply insightful, John Green and David Levithan’s collaborative novel is brimming with a double helping of the heart and humor that have won both of them legions of faithful fans.

Have you read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan?