Audiobook Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Cover and info from Goodreads.

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Author: John Green & David Levithan

Reading Level: Older Teens, (Amazon says Grade 9 & Up)

Genre: Young Adult

Source: audible.com

Fav Quote(s): "All sorts of yayness floods my brain. Love is such a drug." by John Green. 

“Need is never a good basis for any relationship. It has to be much more than that.” by David Levithan.

Hubs and I listened to the audiobook of Will Grayson, Will Grayson on our way to YALLFest this past weekend. It was just the perfect length to get us to Charleston and back, so about 7 hours. We were excited to have Will Grayson as our book of choice because we like John Green audiobooks (a post in which I discussed our love for The Fault in Our Stars) and were en route to meet David Levithan at YALLFest. So this seemed like a good choice for us! I really didn't know anything about this book before we began listening.

At first I thought it might be kind of odd listening to a book written by two different authors. The way the book is set up it totally works. Both main characters are named Will Grayson. Authors John Green and David Levithan alternate their Will's from chapter to chapter. So the first chapter is from John's Will and the second is David's Will and so forth and so on. The narrators of the audiobook did a fantatic job. Their voices were different and really helped us understand though the names were the same the Wills were different characters.

The story was wonderful. Both Wills are teenage boys and they end up having a chance meeting at a very unlikely place. Through circumstances their lives become somewhat intertwined. Both Wills grew in the course of the book and it ended with each being a better version of themselves. Will Grayson deals a bit with cyber bullying, homophobia, and mental illness. It's got some tough issues going on. But the issues a dealt with as much humor as possible and it is beautifully done.

Clayton's (aka, hubs) thoughts, "People want to be liked and respected for who they are, not what they are. Overall, Will Grayson deals with a lot topics kids these days are having to deal with. But it's done in a humorous way."

I did think there was a bit of over usage of "adult language" for my taste. I think the story would have been just as good if not better without a lot of it. I understand Will Grayson, Will Grayson is supposed to be from teenage boys' mindsets so I get the cussing, it was just more than I, personally, like to see in a YA novel. Also, if you are sensitive to the topic of homosexuality, be advised there are a handful openly "out" characters in this novel. And this novel stresses the equal treatment of people both straight and gay. Whether you have an opinion on the topic or not, I think we can all agree that bullying anyone for any reason is not acceptable. This did not affect the story in a negative way for me just wanted to mention that in spirit of full disclosure.

I give Will Grayson, Will Grayson 4 out of 5 stars. It's a great story. I was crying at the very end. I think sometimes, we all just want to know we are loved and appreciated.