How They Met, and Other Stories - Book Review


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Book Review of :  How They Met, and Other Stories



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Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes a confection from David Levithan that is sure to appeal to fans of Boy Meets Boy. Here are 18 stories, all about love, and about all kinds of love. From the aching for the one you pine for, to standing up and speaking up for the one you love, to pure joy and happiness, these love stories run the gamut of that emotion that at some point has turned every one of us inside out and upside down. What is love? With this original story collection, David Levithan proves that love is a many splendored things, a varied, complicated, addictive, wonderful thing.


About David Levithan


levithan-david.jpg I find it downright baffling to write about myself, which is why I’m considering it somewhat cruel and usual to have to write this brief bio and to update it now and then. The factual approach (born '72, Brown '94, first book '03) seems a bit dry, while the emotional landscape (happy childhood, happy adolescence - give or take a few poems - and happy adulthood so far) sounds horribly well-adjusted. The only addiction I’ve ever had was a brief spiral into the arms of diet Dr Pepper, unless you count My So-Called Life episodes as a drug. I am evangelical in my musical beliefs.

Luckily, I am much happier talking about my books than I am talking about myself. My first novel, Boy Meets Boy, started as a story I wrote for my friends for Valentine's Day (something I’ve done for the past fifteen years) and turned itself into a teen novel. When not writing during spare hours on weekends, I am editorial director at Scholastic, and the founding editor of the PUSH imprint, which is devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature. (Check it out at www.thisispush.com.)

With Boy Meets Boy, I basically set out to write the book that I dreamed of getting as an editor - a book about gay teens that doesn't conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature (i.e. it has to be about a gay uncle, or a teen who gets beaten up for being gay, or about outcasts who come out and find they're still outcasts, albeit outcasts with their outcastedness in common.) I’m 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. Of Boy Meets Boy, the reviewer at Booklist wrote: "In its blithe acceptance and celebration of human differences, this is arguably the most important gay novel since Annie on My Mind and seems to represent a revolution in the publishing of gay-themed books for adolescents" - which pretty much blew me away when I read it. Viva la revolution!

My second book, The Realm of Possibility, is about twenty teens who all go to the same high school, and how their lives interconnect. Each part is written in its own style, and I’m hoping they all add up to a novel that conveys all the randomness and intersection that goes on in our lives – two things I’m incredibly fascinated by.  The book is written in both poetry and linebroken prose – something I never dreamed I would write.  But I was inspired by writers such as Virginia Euwer Wolff, Billy Merrell, Eireann Corrigan, and Marie Howe to try it.  It is often said that reading is the greatest inspiration to writing, and this is definitely the case for me.

My third novel, Are We There Yet?, is about two brothers who are tricked into taking a trip to Italy together. The natural questions to ask when faced with this summary are: (a) Do you have a brother? (Yes.); (b) Is he the brother in the book? (He’s neither brother in the book.); (c) Have you been to Italy? (Yes.); (d) Which city was your favorite? (Venice.); (e) Is this based on your trip there? (The sights are, but the story isn’t; the whole time I was there, I took notes in my notebook, not knowing exactly what they’d be for.)

Marly’s Ghost, my fourth novel, is a Valentine’s Day retelling of A Christmas Carol, illustrated by my friend Brian Selznick.  To write it, I went through A Christmas Carol and remixed it – took phrases and themes and created a new version, centering around a boy named Ben whose girlfriend, Marly, has just died.  When he looks like he’s giving up on life, Marly reappears in ghost form – and sends some other ghosts to get him to embrace life again.  It was a hard book to write – it’s about both love and grief, two very difficult things to capture truthfully.  But I genuinely don’t see any reason to write a book if it doesn’t feel like a challenge. 

My next book came unexpectedly.  My friend Rachel Cohn proposed that we write a back-and-forth novel, with her writing from a girl’s perspective and me writing from a boy’s.  The result is Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, a kick-ass love story that we wrote over a summer without really planning it out.  It just happened, and it was one of the best writing experiences I ever had.  It has even been bought for the movies – stay tuned on that front.

A different kind of collaboration is The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, an anthology I co-edited with my best friend Billy Merrell.  It contains true stories from LGBTQ writers under the age of 23, and won this year’s Lambda Award for Best LBGTQ Children’s/Teen Book.

Other anthologies I’ve edited or co-edited include: 21 Proms, a collection of prom stories by YA authors, co-edited with Daniel Ehrenhaft; Friends, an anthology of middle-grade friendship stories, co-edited with Ann M. Martin; and the PUSH anthologies You Are Here, This Is Now: The Best Young Writers and Artists in America (2002), Where We Are, What We See: The Best Young Writers and Artists in American (2005), and This is PUSH, featuring new work from all of the authors who’ve written for PUSH.  A new PUSH anthology, We Are Quiet, We Are Loud: The Best Young Writers and Artists in America, will be out in 2008.  A list of all the anthologies I’ve been in can be found here.

My sixth novel, Wide Awake, starts with the election of the first gay Jewish president, and is about two boyfriends who must go to Kansas when the election results are threatened.  In many ways, it's a "sequel in spirit" to Boy Meets Boy , since it's about many of the same things - love, friendship tolerance, and taking a stand for what you believe in.  It was written right after the 2004 election, and published right before the 2006 election, which made me hope that a gay Jewish president was a closer reality than I might have thought. (No, I have no intention to run.)

My second collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List, was inspired by a phrase my best friend Nick and I came up with after he moved to New York City.  It’s about a straight girl and a gay boy who’ve been best friends forever . . . but have to deal with a lot of things that have gone unsaid after the boy (Ely) kisses the girl’s (Naomi’s) boyfriend.  This time, Rachel and I decided to rotate the point of view between a number of characters, not just the titular two.  The result was harder to write, but just as fun to create.

I am currently at work on a number of projects – some collaborative, some solo.  My next book will be How They Met, and other stories, due in January 2008. Preorder it now. This will be followed by a new series I’m writing with two of my friends, Chris Van Etten and David Ozanich.  We’re writing under the pen name David Van Etten, and the series is called Likely Story, and is about the daughter of a soap opera diva who ends up running a soap opera of her own. Preorder your copy. It’s been a blast to write, and the main character, Mallory, is one of my favorites yet.


Visit http://www.davidlevithan.com for more information on David Levithan


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