First there is a Before, and then there is an After. . . .
The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered... read full description
The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered... read full description
reviews
Feb 26, 2011
This is my first Levithan novel.... I know is probably a surprise to some of you. (sorry Khy... are you proud of me.. I read one!) But I have to say I'll definitely be picking up his novels... and even plan to do so in the near future, with Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Any way back to the novel at hand. This novel really stuck a cord with me. I honestly cried while reading most of it... ok, i cried through the entire thing actually. Thank god it wasn't all that long. I guess I just rem More...
Any way back to the novel at hand. This novel really stuck a cord with me. I honestly cried while reading most of it... ok, i cried through the entire thing actually. Thank god it wasn't all that long. I guess I just rem More...
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Feb 05, 2012
Sharlene
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Love is the Higher Law examines the lives of Claire, Jasper, and Peter, three New Yorkers whose young lives and relationships are formed and reshaped by the events and the aftermath of 9/11. Levithan is able to tell a lot of story in a such a short novel, and his characters and their emotions are very real. He writes for teens, who were the age of Claire's younger brother when 9/11 happened, but the tales of these three characters will resonate with every reader, for our lives were all changed
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Dec 22, 2011
Alex
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Considering how much I disliked Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Love Is The Higher Law is a strangely affecting book. There are many contributing factors, not least of which is the relative brevity of this definite novella; I read it on my way to work in the morning.
Levithan takes a tripartite approach to his story, examining the lives of three people touched by September 11 in different ways - intertwined in ways both obvious and less so. There's something here that's less of a love sto More...
Levithan takes a tripartite approach to his story, examining the lives of three people touched by September 11 in different ways - intertwined in ways both obvious and less so. There's something here that's less of a love sto More...
Nov 01, 2011
Jeni
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For most teenagers, their firsthand memories of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, are fuzzy, unless they happened to live near New York or Washington, D.C., that day. Consider that today’s high school sophomores would have just begun kindergarten when the attacks occurred, and high school seniors were second-graders at the time. Today, teens’ first memories of that day may well be the reactions of their teachers upon hearing of the tragedy, then struggling to explain to their students an event so
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Oct 19, 2011
01abbeyn
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Love is the Higher Law was written about the September 11th terrorist attacks. My first thought of it was reading everything into detail about what really happened on that day. Was came to my surprise was that it told a non-fictional story about three young adults who were, somewhat, effected by the attack. It gave three different points of view throughout each chapter and ended up connecting all three characters into a sort of bond.
Something I was not so happy with about with this b More...
Something I was not so happy with about with this b More...
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Sep 29, 2011
Doreen
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Three young adults who live in New York City share their thoughts with each other - and with us - on September 11, 2011 and in the year and a half following. Claire is in high school, but leaves to pick up her younger brother and try to get home (upper Manhattan). Peter is waiting for Tower Records to open so he can buy a CD. And Jasper, in Brooklyn, is sound asleep til about noon, when he wakes up to find that his world has changed. The author, who also lived through the horrific sights, smells
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Aug 11, 2011
Barky
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 18, 2011
MyTeenReads
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This is a book by my favorite author that I never got around to reading! Love Is The Higher Law by David Levithan isn't my favorite book by him, but I did enjoy it.
It's about three teenagers (one of them is out of high school) who are living in New York when the tragedies of 9/11 occur. The story goes through the year and how it affects the characters and how they change the way that they think and live their lives.
Claire, Jasper, and Peter are all very different. Clair More...
It's about three teenagers (one of them is out of high school) who are living in New York when the tragedies of 9/11 occur. The story goes through the year and how it affects the characters and how they change the way that they think and live their lives.
Claire, Jasper, and Peter are all very different. Clair More...
Apr 24, 2011
Jess - The Tales Compendium
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Love is the Higher Law is a story about three teenager from New York City who were not directly affected by September 11th but whose lives were forever changed.
As many of you know, I have recently returned from visiting New York. While I was there, I visited the 9/11 Tribute Centre which was extremely moving and I was affected way more than I thought I would be. Reading the beginning of the book, which describes the morning of 9/11 from the perspective of our three teenagers, I actua More...
As many of you know, I have recently returned from visiting New York. While I was there, I visited the 9/11 Tribute Centre which was extremely moving and I was affected way more than I thought I would be. Reading the beginning of the book, which describes the morning of 9/11 from the perspective of our three teenagers, I actua More...
Jan 01, 2011
Cherylann
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When this book showed up under my Christmas tree (thanks Santa Bill), I suddenly remembered that I had wanted to read it. (And I hate that there's so much I want to read that I actually forget what's on my list.) This book was - in a word - AMAZING. There are many, many reasons why, so I will narrow it to three.
1) LGBT - Levithan is probably best known for Boy Meets Boy. In Love is the Higher Law, as in other books by Levithan, he has gay characters. What I love about this novel is t More...
1) LGBT - Levithan is probably best known for Boy Meets Boy. In Love is the Higher Law, as in other books by Levithan, he has gay characters. What I love about this novel is t More...
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Sep 04, 2010
Michelle
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I wanted to like this book. I really really did. When I saw it in a Waiting for Wednesday post on a blog I immediately added it to my “must have” list of books to get when it released. I’d yet to see any young adult fiction that was directly plotted around the events of September 11th and it’s description definitely pulled me in and intrigued me. What’s more, I knew that it would be handled with taste and class by Levithan given his New York City roots.
This review is, of course, More...
This review is, of course, More...
May 24, 2010
Julia
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Written because Levithan’s 15 year old primary audience was 6 years old when the Towers fell, he has three teens tell about their experiences on that day and immediately after. Claire is a senior in HS and goes across the street to help in her second grade brother’s class. Peter, a friend of Claire’s, skipped school that morning to pick up Bob Dylan’s new album. Jasper, whose college didn’t start for two weeks, slept through it.
“The terrorists – those nineteen people, did the worst More...
“The terrorists – those nineteen people, did the worst More...
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Apr 22, 2010
Aaron
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Master teen author and book editor David Levithan has crafted an amazing story of three teenagers living in New York as they experience the events and aftereffects of what happened on 9/11.
Claire is a 17 year old who lives blocks away from the World Trade Center. On the morning of the attacks, she is in school. She is worried that her mother, who works in another part of the island, might have been on the subway underneath. She goes across the street to the neighboring elementary sch More...
Claire is a 17 year old who lives blocks away from the World Trade Center. On the morning of the attacks, she is in school. She is worried that her mother, who works in another part of the island, might have been on the subway underneath. She goes across the street to the neighboring elementary sch More...
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Apr 04, 2010
laaaaames
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I think I need to accept the fact that the David Levithan work I'll enjoy most already happened in the days he ghostwrote for The Babysitters Club.
I like the idea of this book a lot, and I cannot deny Levithan packs in some beautiful sentences about 9/11. In the future there is much here that may help explain what was felt that day, what rippled through the country.
But also: this is a novel. And Levithan's multi-POV narrative reads more like a project in multi-POV narrati More...
I like the idea of this book a lot, and I cannot deny Levithan packs in some beautiful sentences about 9/11. In the future there is much here that may help explain what was felt that day, what rippled through the country.
But also: this is a novel. And Levithan's multi-POV narrative reads more like a project in multi-POV narrati More...
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Jan 16, 2010
Heather
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On Friday, September 7, 2001, Claire, Peter, and Jasper all attend a mutual friend’s party. Claire and Peter are acquaintances who are seniors at a New York City high school. Jasper is a college freshman, just wrapping up his summer at home. Peter and Jasper have a fun night together, and plan a date for the following Tuesday. Then Tuesday happens – 9/11 – and everything changes. Love is the Higher Law is a book about the After. About how nothing was the same after the towers fell, about ho
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Nov 08, 2009
Maggie
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I don’t normally post a 9/11 related blog post on my blog, just because there’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said. And even if I could say it differently, there’s nothing I can say that would change the events of that day.
But I read a book this year that changed my mind. It’s called LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW, by David Levithan. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I both know and like David -- he’s editor Mixtape and we work together on SHIVER. I should More...
But I read a book this year that changed my mind. It’s called LOVE IS THE HIGHER LAW, by David Levithan. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I both know and like David -- he’s editor Mixtape and we work together on SHIVER. I should More...
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Sep 24, 2009
Katie
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Claire, Jasper, and Peter are just three of the millions of people in New York City on September 11th, 2001. Each one has their own story, each one has their own struggles and responses to the tragedy. Each of them is trying to make sense or what has just happened around them. This is the story of three teens and how September 11th wound up bringing them together. This is a story of love.
[Originally I wasn't planning on posting this review today. But I feel like I need to post this for More...
[Originally I wasn't planning on posting this review today. But I feel like I need to post this for More...
Sep 07, 2009
Rebecca
rated it:
three new york kids experience sept.11th separately and then find their lives connecting... My favorite part of this book was the dedication page--I think it might be the most meaningful part too, in a way. ...I could write a paper maybe about a Readers Response theory type read of the dedication and the book, and an imagined teen reader...and how the dedication page would be the thing that changes the reader's life.
The rest of the book was fine. And I was glad for it. Maybe especia More...
The rest of the book was fine. And I was glad for it. Maybe especia More...
Aug 20, 2009
Brandon
rated it:
Most of the time I want to avoid holocaust stories and AIDS memoirs like...well, like a plague. The events of 9/11 fit well into this category: things I know I should read about but are just too depressing to the core to read about sometimes when you're trying to live life, which can be depressing enough.
But we need to read these books sometimes. Levithan makes it easy for us, in this case. Because he loves, and he cares, and he wants people to remember - and if they don't remember, More...
But we need to read these books sometimes. Levithan makes it easy for us, in this case. Because he loves, and he cares, and he wants people to remember - and if they don't remember, More...
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Feb 07, 2012
RJ
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Ever since Boy Meets Boy, I've taken a liking for David Levithan. That's because (1) I'm gay and (2) he writes cute gay stories. This is why when I found Love Is The Higher Law at the bookstore, I didn't hesitate to buy it.
At first, I thought LITHL was a love story, but when most of the book covered the characters' experiences of 9/11, I asked myself: "where did the love story go?" It was only after reading the book that I understood. It is a love story—there's the story abou More...
At first, I thought LITHL was a love story, but when most of the book covered the characters' experiences of 9/11, I asked myself: "where did the love story go?" It was only after reading the book that I understood. It is a love story—there's the story abou More...
Jan 04, 2012
Tara
rated it:
Oh man...I had heard people say that this book made them cry and I was kinda expecting a few tears from myself (I can and do cry over anything)... But when I read this, it wasn't crying...it wasn't like a really sad scene in the book that made me cry... It was just David Levithan's beautiful words and how those words were used to describe places, spaces, emptiness and the way people were feeling. I am not going to talk about 9/11 because we all know what happened and I didn't find this book to b
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Oct 03, 2011
Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids
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This weekend I had the opportunity to meet David and listen to him a few other YA authors talk about their books and of course writing. Someone had asked David about writing this particular book, and his answer to that question is what made me want to pick it up and read it before reading his other books. I'm a little surprised I've waited so long to read David's books, even though I own a few of them. Love is the Higher Law is my first David Levithan book to read. I know, it's a shocker.
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Jan 04, 2011
Julie
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9/11 fiction. What a way to start the new year. As the author himself says, I think it's important that there be stories about 9/11, that let not only younger people who don't remember it or don't remember it well know what it was like, but to help the rest of us who weren't in NYC understand what it was like.
This tells the story of 3 NYC teens, 2 in HS and one just in college, and how they experienced 9/11 and how it affected them. If you're at all familiar with Levithan, it'll come More...
This tells the story of 3 NYC teens, 2 in HS and one just in college, and how they experienced 9/11 and how it affected them. If you're at all familiar with Levithan, it'll come More...
Jul 08, 2010
Lauren
rated it:
A character study on several levels -- of the three protagonists and their grief, of their waxing and waning relationships, and of NYC itself as it reels from 9/11. I was impressed with how Levithan found a way to balance all of these parts; every time I felt the book was falling too far into the insular lives of the protagonists (well, mainly Claire), it pulled me out into a scene like Claire lighting the candles in Union Square, or Claire and Jasper's chance meeting at the wreckage of the Worl
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Aug 21, 2009
Luke
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 01, 2012
Colby
rated it:
2.5 rounded up.
Wait, no, changed my mind after thought. I give this 2 stars.
Here's what I think about this one...all I wanted to do the entire time was slap the main characters in the face and say, "This isn't about you, you self-absorbed dumbass! It's about all of the freaking people who died in the towers, and in the plane crashes!"
I mean, none of the characters knew a single person who died in the attacks, well, unless you count that one girl who knew OF this girl More...
Wait, no, changed my mind after thought. I give this 2 stars.
Here's what I think about this one...all I wanted to do the entire time was slap the main characters in the face and say, "This isn't about you, you self-absorbed dumbass! It's about all of the freaking people who died in the towers, and in the plane crashes!"
I mean, none of the characters knew a single person who died in the attacks, well, unless you count that one girl who knew OF this girl More...
Apr 24, 2011
Mr. Kim
rated it:
David Levithan's Love is the Higher Law chronicles the intertwining lives of three young New Yorkers both during and after the events of 9/11. The book details how each character confronts the tragedy and the ways in which their lives are forever changed after the incident.
I thought the book was extremely well written; this was my first time reading Levithan's writing, and I was impressed with the beauty of his prose. He excels at conveying the thoughts and emotions of his characte More...
I thought the book was extremely well written; this was my first time reading Levithan's writing, and I was impressed with the beauty of his prose. He excels at conveying the thoughts and emotions of his characte More...
Jan 21, 2011
Laura Ashlee
rated it:
This is the first time I've ever read a book about the events of 9/11. I've haven't seen many movies either. It's a place I haven't wanted to go. I chose to read this because David Levithan wrote it. I was pleased with it too. Though it was heartbreaking, it was also eye-opening and hopeful.
Being from Alabama, I will never totally understand what it was like to be there. I was far away, safe in the South. I remember watching everything on TV in class all day. I remember being totally b More...
Being from Alabama, I will never totally understand what it was like to be there. I was far away, safe in the South. I remember watching everything on TV in class all day. I remember being totally b More...
Aug 20, 2009
Yan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 16, 2009
Jennifer
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Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com
Huge thanks to the girl who sat next to me on the bus to Chicago from ALA. She had this ARC in her hands when she boarded the bus for our 3 1/2 hour trip home, and she finished it by the time the trip was over. When I asked how she liked it, she nodded, I believe, then swallowed a lump in her throat, and offered me the book. Once again, thank you!
Do you remember where you were on 9/11? The character More...
Huge thanks to the girl who sat next to me on the bus to Chicago from ALA. She had this ARC in her hands when she boarded the bus for our 3 1/2 hour trip home, and she finished it by the time the trip was over. When I asked how she liked it, she nodded, I believe, then swallowed a lump in her throat, and offered me the book. Once again, thank you!
Do you remember where you were on 9/11? The character More...
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