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Two Boys Kissing

David Levithan

Start date: April 1, 2017

Finish date: May 1, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: April's Group Read topic/theme is LGBTQ+.…more
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What Members Thought

Sep 20, 2017 Stacey rated it it was amazing

Two Boys Kissing is a powerful read. The story encompasses several stories of the struggles of what it means to be a gay youth all the while describing the joy and pain of trying to break the world's record for the longest kiss. Was that a run on sentence? I feel a little overwhelmed from just finishing this deeply emotional book.

*cleansing breath* First of all, I'm delighted that this is a YA novel. I feel that it's a must read for every age, but the fact that it's shelved in the YA section wa ...more

44 likes · Like · see review

Nov 03, 2018 Richard Derus rated it liked it

Shelves: borrowed, quiltbag, returned

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

Were I a teen, I'd be over the moon about this interlocking-loves narrative. I'm not, and I haven't been in a very very long time (the Bee Gees charted the last year of my teens), so my muted response to the teen-angst "does he/doesn't he/will he/won't he" stuff is pretty much assured.

Others have commented on the dead gay men of my generation being the collective narrators with everything from tolerant smirks to outright derision. I am not a fan of second-person narratio ...more

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Mar 15, 2013 Rose rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, realistic-fiction, romance, tough-subjects, glbt, drama, read-in-2022, audiobooks, multi-povs, young-adult

Book 3 of my Banned Books Challenge 2022

Book 1: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely

Book 2: Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Quick review for a quick read. I'm returning to a book I first finished back in 2017 and wanted to give a proper review. I decided to re-read it as a part of my reading Banned Books in YA challenge in September of 2022. This was banned in the U.S. in a number of districts, some citing the cover as being suggestive while others noting the content as age inappropriat Book 3 of my Banned Books Challenge 2022

Book 1: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brandon Kiely

Book 2: Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Quick review for a quick read. I'm returning to a book I first finished back in 2017 and wanted to give a proper review. I decided to re-read it as a part of my reading Banned Books in YA challenge in September of 2022. This was banned in the U.S. in a number of districts, some citing the cover as being suggestive while others noting the content as age inappropriate.

I've always had an appreciation of David Levithan's works, so it made sense for me to pick up "Two Boys Kissing" on audio, where he's the narrator. He gives such a smooth, calming delivery that it's difficult for me to say that while I loved that (5 stars on performance alone), I did struggle with this novel. Not as much the second time as the first time, but I'm more aware of the reasons why. It has more to do with the way this story was told rather than the unfolding narratives and characters that are featured in the book. "Two Boys Kissing" features an omnipresent narrator that tells the stories of the various characters featured here - the narrator being the chorus of voices of gay men who were lost to the AIDS epidemic. The thought behind this was a wonderful idea, alongside focusing on narrative events that had inspiration from real life occurrences that Levithan mentions in his Author's Note. However, while the voices of the narrators had some beautiful moments of potency and emotional resonance, there were other moments when it weighed this specific narrative down. The voices maintained a distance and shifting of narrative that made it hard to keep track of the various teen gay boys in the present day dealing with their respective triumphs and tribulations, an intimacy that was surely present but not always easy to keep track of. Reluctant teen readers who are interested in LGBTQ+ YA stories may struggle a little with this, but I think it's well worth trying anyway. If you can follow the narrative style, it's a beautiful story and a lovely ode from the elder generation to the present one.

This was published back in 2013, and in retrospect, I wish it could have also contained trigger warnings because there are many of them to be had here for some difficult subjects, primarily so that the intended audience knows what they're going into. It's a book filled with sweet interactions (cover conveys that accordingly) alongside useful reflections from the boys and narrators, but it also tackles many heavy subjects, such as bullying, suicide, death, coming to terms with gender identity, intimacy, and bigotry to name several. I appreciated hearing the stories of Craig and Harry trying to break the world record during a dance-a-thon, followed with the side focuses on Tariq, Neil, Peter, Avery, Ryan, and Cooper. It's a story with so much heart to it, and I can feel that come through in how Levithan's voice navigates the reading of it.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to read this again from my library. I was able to feel for the experiences of each character, but it's also one of those measures where for all the good intent and scale of story it was going for, it took on a bigger narrative than the small scale of the novel had the space to portray it, which made the execution land less than what it could have been.

Overall score: 3/5 stars. ...more

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Apr 04, 2017 Jeanne rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, read-2017, ya

When I first heard that the book club I'd recently joined had chosen Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan, I wasn't thrilled. What can you do with a 33 hour kiss that was designed to land Craig and Harry in the Guinness Book of World Records?

A lot. While Craig and Harry are the central story in Two Boys Kissing their story is supplemented by those of Avery and Ryan, who meet at a gay prom, one born a girl; Neil and Peter, who struggle for parental acceptance; Tariq, who loves to dance, but was re When I first heard that the book club I'd recently joined had chosen Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan, I wasn't thrilled. What can you do with a 33 hour kiss that was designed to land Craig and Harry in the Guinness Book of World Records?

A lot. While Craig and Harry are the central story in Two Boys Kissing their story is supplemented by those of Avery and Ryan, who meet at a gay prom, one born a girl; Neil and Peter, who struggle for parental acceptance; Tariq, who loves to dance, but was recently beaten up by a gang of drunk homophobes; and self-loathing Cooper, who looked for lust – and maybe acceptance? – in all the wrong places. Their lives are observed by a Greek Chorus of dead gay men who can see these teens' lives and put them in a historical context:

You can’t know what it is like for us now— you will always be one step behind.
Be thankful for that.
You can’t know what it was like for us then— you will always be one step ahead.
Be thankful for that, too.
Trust us: There is a nearly perfect balance between the past and the future. As we become the distant past, you become a future few of us would have imagined. (p. 1)

Although the Chorus speaks with a single voice, they offer differing perspectives:

We are rarely unanimous about anything. Some of us loved. Some of us couldn’t. Some of us were loved. Some of us weren’t. Some of us never understood what the fuss was about. Some of us wanted it so badly that we died trying. Some of us swear we died of heartbreak, not AIDS. (pp. 8-9)

The Chorus moves the kiss to a whole other level: it's not just a kiss or a World Record, but a Stand. It's a Kiss that changes history, at least their history.

Every time two boys kiss, it opens up the world a little bit more. Your world. The world we left. The world we left you.
This is the power of a kiss:
It does not have the power to kill you. But it has the power to bring you to life. (pp. 61-62)

Two Boys Kissing offers three-dimensional sketches of the lives of young gay boys who are neither perfect nor perfectly screwed up. It also offers a sensitive portrait of the kinds of oppression that gay teens experience – even while noting how different and privileged their lives are relative to that of their forefathers.

Two Boys Kissing reads like poetry.

It is poetry.

Note: This book is loosely based on Matty Daley and Bobby Canciello's marathon kiss in September 18, 2010. ...more

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May 26, 2013 Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, young-adult, read-2013

It took more than a few pages for me to wrap my brain around the first person plural narration. There were so many characters introduced and there was a "we" happening. It was a lot. But once I finally figured out who the characters were, the impact of that "we" really hit me. It made me think of And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic. The "we" narrating are the "we" ignored in Stilts book. Powerful story. Read both books.
...more

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Nov 18, 2013 Karen Michele Burns rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-5-star-books

If you are LGBT, read this book. If you are an ally, read this book. If you care about the AIDS crisis, read this book. If you want to understand human emotions, read this book. If you are a compassionate human being, read this book.
David Levithan has written an amazing story here. Narrated by a Greek chorus of former AIDS victims it is an emotional, moving and important book!

1 like · Like · see review