Can the real Will Grayson please stand up? Co-authors John Green and David Levithan came together to give the young adult world a tale of two teenagers of the same surname… and forename. But as true to the basic knowledge of humankind, no two persons are the same.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson shares the story of a nerdy, straight boy and a Goth, gay boy of the same name that play the sidekicks to a gigantic, proud, gay man named Tiny Cooper. Though sharing a key point of identity, Will Grayson… and the other Will Grayson could not be more different.
Tiny’s character is larger than life, but does remind John Green fans of the infamous Pudge in Looking For Alaska. It is clear from both authors that Tiny is the leading man of the novel, but the writers intended for the second men to have the narrative voices instead of dear Tiny (who knows where the novel would go if he told the story).
Green wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson, with odd numbered, capitalized chapters and Levithan wrote the even numbered, uncapitalized chapters. Originally, the novel started as a simple project between friends.
On the tumblr page, “WG, WG Questions Answered” readers have the opportunity to send questions to Green about the novel.
“I wrote chapter one while David was writing chapter two,” Green said on the tumblr page. “Then we met at my apartment in New York City and read our chapters out loud to each other.”
Green said after these first chapters, they were both convinced they could turn the project into a book.
“I wrote chapter three while David wrote chapter four, and then we met to read those aloud to each other,” Green said. “This process continued over more than a year. We discussed plot occasionally—especially the stuff that happened with the two Wills together—and we discussed the overall shape of the novel (we wanted it to be shaped like an X), but mostly we just read to each other and then kept going.”
This novel is the first of Green’s to deal with homosexuality, but even more, it addresses the idea of coming out. Levithan beautifully depicts his Will Grayson’s inner monologue and argument about being out and the change in relationship with his mother. However, the book is meant to be lighthearted, so there is not a lot of prejudice about Will’s sexual identity or the struggles he may face in the high school setting.
The revelation to his friend Maura is the biggest drama that unfolds with Levithan’s Will coming out. At the time it was published in 2010, making a fake profile to lead a person on was not only unheard of, but shockingly hard to handle. However, since current readers are more desensitized to this, Maura’s use of it was cruel, but not completely foreign.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a great co-authored novel. Green wrote about a character he has known and related with before, but also one who brings life and love together for both narrators.