As I finish the novel Boy Meets Boy, many questions come to mind. I really enjoying reading the novel and had a hard time putting it down. However, the overall reality of the novel was hard to imagine. It would be great to live in a town with such accepting views but this is not very common. The fact that the homecoming queen was also the start quarterback was hard to relate to. However I liked how the author did this because it opened my eyes, as I'm sure many others, to the fact that there are towns out there. Levithan quotes, "In our town, P-FLAG (parents and friends of Lesbians and Gays_ is as big a draw as the PTA)". I found one interview on the internet with david Levithan and he said that he is "often asked if the book is a work of fantasy or a work of reality, and the answer is right down the middle - it's about where we're going, and where we should be" (1).
I did however find it troubling how much the book was based on relationships. Although I understand this is the overall theme and relationships play a large role in high school, Paul seemed very dramatic throughout the novel. He would often make comments about how horrible his life was when he was torn between two different boys. Overall, I enjoyed Boy Meets Boy and thought it brought up many good questions for readers. I really enjoyed the quote at the end of the novel when Levithan says “Everyone steps forward. Girls and boys. Straight boys and a drag queen. My boyfriend. My ex-boyfriend. My brother. Me”. Boy Meets Boy brings up many good topics. I think this would be a great novel to incorporate into a classroom when discussing GLBTQ.
(1)http://www.davidlevithan.com/about_davidlevithan.html
1 comment:
I found it interesting that you found it strange that a book about GLBT wouldn't be about relationships! I expected this completely but what I didn't expect was to read about these relationships that break social norms and feel completely comfortable and natural reading about them. I have a lot of gay friends who are in relationships and so I have no problem and I have a lot of experience being around different types of relationships. However, I've never read a gay love scene in a book. I guess I admit I didn't really expect it to be so romantic...but it was! The only thing regarding relationships in the novel that bothered me was that Paul "cheated" on Noah with his ex and this fulfills a major stereotype of gay men: that they are sexual promiscuous, loose, and emotionally unattached. On the other hand, it happens all the time in gay and straight relationships when a person will get caught up in the feeling of "security" of the ex girl or boyfriend and make a mistake that Paul made and it shouldn't necessarily be narrowed down to the reason that he's gay.
I agree with you when you say that Paul was overly dramatic sometimes although I'm not exactly sure if dramatic is the right word. Sometimes he seemed a little self centered the way he was acting. If he considered how so many others in his position were not able to be secure with themselves or come out, then he had it so good. He was able to live an almost "normal" life and even maintain a somewhat stable love life! I did feel in general that occasionally the book was mucked up with a little too much drama from all of the characters. All in all, I feel that this book is an excellent model for other authors to get an idea of what catches readers' interests and how to talk about homosexuality and relationships in a comfortable, safe, and inoffensive way. This book does a great job with that in my opinion.
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