Review: Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Image from Goodreads

Title: Two Boys Kissing
Author: David Levithan
Publisher: Egmont
Publication Date: 27 March 2014
Source: Review Copy
Rating: 3/5

Synopsis from Goodreads

The two boys kissing are Craig and Harry. They’re hoping to set the world record for the longest kiss. They’re not a couple, but they used to be.

Peter and Neil are a couple. Their kisses are different. Avery and Ryan have only just met and are trying to figure out what happens next. Cooper is alone. He’s not sure how he feels.

As the marathon progresses, these boys, their friends and families evaluate the changing nature of feelings, behaviour and this crazy thing called love.

REVIEW BY BETH

I read quite a few reviews of this novel before writing my own because I didn’t really know where to begin. This is a novel which has been heralded and praised for its honesty whilst also breaking through boundaries and really saying something which needs to be said about homosexuality for young people. These are all things I can’t disagree with.

I could not absorb myself in this story, there is something about the way Leviathan writes (maybe generally, maybe just in this novel) which didn’t pull me in and I found myself left out in the cold as the novel develops and runs away with itself, failing to take me along with it.

The premise is superb, the narrators are the ghosts or simply the voices of gay men who have died of AIDS. Their omnipresence is a clever tool and as they look upon the stories of the other characters struggling with their sexuality at the pivotal point in their youth that can make or break a person, I do have to admit I was impressed by the simple idea that Leviathan had put together. Sensationally thought out and even more so when you realise it’s inspired by the Guinness World Record breaking kiss, carried out by two male students.

The style of Leviathan writes in just didn’t do it for me, although I did want to know what was going to happen to Harry and Craig and the other characters developed throughout the novel I wasn’t drawn to them in a way I hoped I would be with such a promising and inspiring idea.

I still think Leviathan’s work is valuable and many readers will probably be able to connect with it in a way I couldn’t.