Tagged: characters

Apr 08

Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan

To say I was excited to finally read Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan would be a huge understatement.  On Tuesday morning I was out of bed, hours before I needed to be for work, and off to buy the book.  The second I returned home, I started reading and had trouble putting it down.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson is spot on.  That is the best way I can think to describe this novel.  That exact phrase entered my head as I finished the last sentence.  Everything about it, from the writing styles to the characters to the theme, is done exactly right.  To be overly cliche, I thought this book was done perfectly.

The writing style is very interesting because obviously there is two authors.  Rather then write together, they each took on a Will Grayson and told the story for their perspective.  Green’s intellectual but still young style of writing is what made me fall in love with his books so I was happy to see his section having that same style.  Having not read anything by Levithan, I’m not sure if he using the same style all the time or not but honestly, at first it threw me off.  There is a huge lack of capitalization, grammar, and dialog is done in a play fashion.  After a chapter or so, I got used to it though and ended up really liking it.  Because his character was supposed to have depression problem, I guess it kind of made sense to me that his thought process would be completely different so how he narrates should be as well.  Plus, the two styles made it very easy not to get lost between the two characters.

Speaking of characters, the interesting this about this novel is that even though the two Will Grayson are the narrators, the main character, to a point is Tiny.  All three characters go through personal challenges.  Furthermore, this is probably one of the first books I have read that the main character (or in this case two of the three main characters) are homosexual.  For the tags I had seen on websites about the book, I knew that this was going to be the case.  It was interesting to have one character be completely open and the other go through coming out.  Plus it is cool to see authors pushing the boundary on coming up with characters.  I think that a lot of authors, even if they have characters that are completely different, end up always having them in similar relationships.  Like when someone writes boy meets girls, they kind of stick to that in most their books.  Variety is good.  Plus, in today’s society of same sex rights still not existing in some places, it is awesome to see popular authors pushing the bounds.  Hopefully it opens some people’s eyes.

One thing that I found particularly clever about this book is how the play and it’s theme parrallels the theme of the book.  At the same time Tiny’s realizes he has to change the focal point of the play, I realized that this book is about more than the characters.  Green and Levithan were not trying to tell the story of Tiny or the story of the two Will Graysons.  They were using them to tell a greater story.

Again, I have to say this book is spot on.  It lived up to all the great reviews I have heard about it so far and I have no doubt they will keep coming.  I have a feeling Green and Levithan have lots of awards coming their way soon.  They deserve every one of them.

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Mar 23

Man on Bond Action?

         Let me preface this post by saying two things.  One, I know this is old news but I only heard about it the other day and still wanted to comment.  Two, I am in no way against male on male, female on female or any kind of relationship in movies, on tv, in books, in real life, or anywhere else.  Human rights like who you can love and get married to should be the same for everyone.

           Okay, with all that said, I just heard about Daniel Craig saying that he wanted James Bond to have a same sex scene.  http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/craig-wants-gay-bond-scene_1014906

         The fundamental problem I have with this is that James Bond is a very specific character.  Ian Fleming introduced him in his 1953 novel Casino Royale as a sauve ladies man.  The films have lead even more into this image by putting an ephasis on the Bond Girls.  This is a character that has existed for over sixty years.  Why would you change that?  I bet Fleming was rolling over in his grave when Craig said that.

          I’m not against movies or televisions shows changing characters if there really is a reason to.  The only example I can think of off the top of my head is hearing that the writers of Glee changed the character of Curt after meeting the actor and falling in love with him.  His character fits perfectly and it doesn’t fell like the show is just doing that to push the envelope.  That is when it bothers me.  Why do we have to force something? 

           Changing James Bond character isn’t going to do anything for supporting human rights.  It is just going to feel like they are trying too hard.  I mean, add in all the male on male and female on female stuff you want but leave Bond alone please.  I mean the two basic parts of him are that he is a spy and he is a ladies man.  Why not give him a new job while you are at it?

          I  guess this kind of comes down to how much a movie or book can deviate it’s characters from the books before it becomes a big deal.   My feelings are pretty mixed on the issue.  I bet I’m not making much sense as I type because I’m going back and forth.  I think if you are going to change the character, have it make sense.  If any of the people on Gossip Girl have same sex relationships that they didn’t have the in book series, fine.  It could fit in with the story.  If some of the vampires on True Blood go same sex, well they better anyways because that is definately in the books.  If Harry Potter has a scene making out with a boy, I don’t feel like that would make any sense. I don’t know, what does everyone else think about this?  Where is the line for changing a book character?

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