Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is a novel by John Green and David Levithan, published in April 2010 by Dutton Juvenile. The book's narrative is divided evenly between two boys named Will Grayson, one of whom is straight and is referred to in capitalized letters, and the other who is gay and is referred to in lowercase. Presented in alternating chapters, Green wrote all of the chapters for "Will Grayson" (capitalized) and Levithan wrote all the chapters for "will grayson" (lowercase).[2][3] The novel debuted on The New York Times children's best-seller list after its release and remained there for three weeks. It was the first LGBT-themed young adult novel to make it to that list.[4][5][6]

Will Grayson, will grayson
AuthorJohn Green and David Levithan
Cover artistRodrigo Corral
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung adult problem novel[1]
Publisherthe Penguin Group
Publication date
April 6, 2010
Media typePrint (hardback, paperback)
Pages310
ISBN978-0-525-42158-0
OCLC277118356
LC ClassPZ7.G8233 Wil 2010

Collaboration

In designing the plot for the book, the two authors decided to split it evenly in half. John Green wrote all the odd-numbered chapters (capitalized Will Grayson) while David Levithan wrote all the even-numbered chapters (lower case will grayson). This also held true for the main characters' names, with Levithan choosing the given name and Green the surname.[7] The only plot they decided on together was the fact that the two characters would meet at some point in the novel and that their meeting would have a tremendous effect on their lives. After this decision, they separately wrote the first chapter for their half and then shared them with each other. After sharing, they then "knew immediately it was going to work", as stated by Levithan.[8][9]

Structure

The story is told from two different perspectives, through both Will Grayson 1 and Will Grayson 2. When reading the odd-numbered chapters, the reader sees high school through the eyes of a heterosexual teenage boy, Will Grayson 1, who mostly believes in shutting up. When reading the even-numbered chapters, the reader sees high school through the eyes of a depressed, gay teenage boy, Will Grayson 2. Though there are two separate characters speaking, the story remains the same from start to finish. As the story progresses, the perspectives do, however, blend together into one clear and cohesive storyline, rather than two separate plot lines, within the same high school story, told by two different characters.

At the beginning of the story, it is clear to distinguish between two completely different voices between the chapters; the reader is able to decipher when Will Grayson 1 is taking center stage. Will Grayson 1's chapters are told with proper punctuation and capitalization, whereas Will Grayson 2's chapters are filled with more vulgarity, though Will Grayson 1 is just as vulgar and crude as Will Grayson 2 is. Will Grayson 2's chapters are filled with little character scripts of both casual and digital conversations that he has with his mom, his friend Maura (who is also attracted to him both platonically and romantically), and his crush, at the beginning of the story, Isaac, who goes by the alias of boundbydad via instant messaging.

As the story progresses, the stories of Will Grayson 1 and Will Grayson 2 become entangled, carrying strong themes of young love, teen angst and rebellion, and self-discovery throughout the book until the ending scene.

Dialogue

With the story's strongest focus being the musical about Tiny Cooper, Tiny Dancer, the chapters that are enumerated for Will Grayson 2 all follow a written dialogue that echoes that of a script, with character names preceding a colon before their dialogue is written in the text. The conversations before Will Grayson 2 meets Will Grayson 1 echo that of a chatroom instant message, with usernames and special nicknames for the characters preceding each of the conversation pieces. The text is written this way to help the reading audience relate to the happenings of the story better, by familiarizing the way that each chunk of dialogue is received.

Synopsis

The novel follows two boys who both have the name Will Grayson. The first Will, who writes in sentence case, is described as trying to live his life without being noticed. This is complicated by the fact that his best friend, Tiny Cooper, described as "the world's largest person who is really, really gay" and "the world's gayest person who is really, really large", is not the type to go around unnoticed. Tiny is also throughout the novel trying to create an autobiographical musical, which further draws attention to himself and everyone around him.

The other Will Grayson, who writes only in lower case, goes through his life without anything good to hold on to besides an online relationship with someone who goes by the name Isaac. Intent on meeting up with Isaac, Will Grayson sets up an encounter one night in Chicago but eventually finds out that Isaac was invented by a girl named Maura (who is also his peer in his daily school life).[10] What ensues brings both characters together and changes both of their lives forever in ways they could never have guessed or imagined.[2][11][12]

Characters

Main characters
  • Will Grayson 1: First protagonist of the story. He lives in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, home to Northwestern University, where his parents want him to attend university. His point of view is seen in the odd-numbered chapters, where the entirety of the text shows proper capitalization. He is the first, and only, male straight-identifying member of the Gay Straight Alliance. He is a fan of the band Neutral Milk Hotel. Jane Turner is his love interest; Tiny Cooper is his best friend. His character is written by John Green.[13][14][15]
  • Will Grayson 2: Second protagonist of the story. He lives in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois. His point of view is seen in the even-numbered chapters, where the entirety of the text is always lowercased. He has a crush on Isaac, a boy that he met online; the two of them communicate via instant messaging, in secrecy, under the pseudonym grayscale and boundbydad. Meets Tiny Cooper through Will Grayson 1. Will Grayson 2 has been diagnosed with depression, taking antidepressants and claiming, early on, that he is constantly "torn between killing himself and killing everyone around him". He is not close with any major character in his school, though he does interact with his not-so-secret admirer, Maura.[16][17][18][19]

Secondary characters
  • Tiny Cooper: Will Grayson 1's best friend in school. He is described as being a large flamboyant homosexual football player who runs through love interests swiftly. He is the president of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school. He is described as "very gay, and very proud".[20] He meets Will Grayson 2 through Will Grayson 1. Though the book may be titled after both Will Graysons, Tiny becomes the primary focus of the story.[18][21]
  • Jane Turner: Friend of Tiny and Will Grayson 1. She is also a member of the Gay-Straight Alliance at school, and adores Neutral Milk Hotel. She is Will Grayson 1's love interest.
  • Maura: A goth girl who is attracted to Will Grayson 2. She is one of the few people at his school with whom he interacts. She is described by Will Grayson 2 as "unrealistically friendly", because she pays "too much attention" to him when he describes himself as uninteresting. Maura poses as the online love interest of Will Grayson 2, Isaac, to gain Will's attention, admiration, and further, affection.[21][10]

Themes
  • Friendship

Friendship plays an interesting role in each of the characters' own personal story. For the majority of his story, Will Grayson 1 and Tiny Cooper have a scattered friendship, with visible cracks from the mistakes that Will has made in his past. As for Will Grayson 2 and Maura, their friendship reflects more of a touch-and-go relationship, picking up and leaving off whenever Will decides to consider Maura as his friend. With the blossoming relationship between Jane and Will Grayson 1, soon Will and Tiny begin to drift apart. The role of friendship creates a series of changes, breaks, differences, and conflict throughout each of the protagonists' stories.[22][23][24]

  • Music

Music is referenced to throughout the story with Neutral Milk Hotel, a band that brings together all of the main characters in the book and becomes entangled in each of their stories. While the music groups, both real and fictional, do not become characters themselves in the story, the music that they create becomes relevant to each of their personalities. While both obscure Jane and nonchalant Will Grayson 1 both share a common interest with the alternative band Neutral Milk Hotel, Tiny Cooper, the fabulously flamboyant character of the story, fancies big, bold Broadway-showtunes and music that becomes main-streamed as iconic pop culture.[25][26]

See also

Other novels by John Green

Other novels by David Levithan

Bibliography

References
  1. Nigel Krauth (May 8, 2010). "Making a name for oneself in the search for self-worth". The Australian. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  2. Sue Corbett (February 15, 2010). "Children's Books: Double Identity". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  3. "Where there's a Will ..." The Sydney Morning Herald. May 17, 2010. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  4. Green, John. "Will Grayson, Will Grayson". John Green Books. Archived from the original on 2015-05-09. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  5. Marjorie Kehe (June 24, 2010). "Gay-themed novels for young readers enter the mainstream". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  6. Staff writer (June 23, 2010). "Books With Gay Themes for Young Readers Take Off". Associated Press. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  7. Miller, Greg (25 May 2010). "Catching Up With David Levithan and John Green". OUT.
  8. Karen MacPherson (April 30, 2010). "Kids' books: 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' packs 1-2 punch for teens". The Seattle Times. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  9. David Wiegand (May 12, 2010). "Authors, characters in tandem in 'Will Grayson'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  10. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010, p. 120
  11. Staff writer (March 1, 2010). "Children's Books Reviews". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  12. Legert, M. "Will Grayson, will grayson". SD13. Archived from the original on 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  13. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010, p. 257
  14. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010, p. 292
  15. Green 2010, p. 3-6.
  16. Green 2010, p. 35-36.
  17. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010 p. 149
  18. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010, p. 215
  19. Wetta, Molly. "A Guide to YA Novels with LGBTQ Characters". YALSA The Hub. Archived from the original on 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2015-05-04.
  20. Green 2010, p. 3.
  21. Green, John. Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Penguin Group, 2010, p. 247
  22. Green 2010, p. 8-21.
  23. Green 2010, p. 16-20.
  24. Will Grayson, Will Grayson Themes. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  25. Green 2010, p. 162-165.
  26. "Literary Themes of Will Grayson, will grayson". ENG347 - Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Wordpress.com. 18 May 2012.
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