Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan is the story of seven teenagers who are all gay and in various stages of coming to terms with it. They are all in different situations. Harry and Craig want to set the world record for the longest kiss to make a statement about homosexuality and homophobia. Ryan and Avery meet at a gay prom and become a new couple. Peter and Neil are a long term couple, and Cooper is figuring out what being gay means to him, with hardly any clue on how to deal with it.
The novel is complex and intricate, and with a completely unique style of writing that I have never seen attempted before. It is written from the perspective of a chorus of over-lookers, as if they have a birds-eye view of a sandbox filled with the characters and their cities. Before reading, I didn't know this was meant to be a Greek chorus of gays who died from AIDS and suffered for what they believed in – in a time before homosexuality was becoming accepted in society. What's unusual about this writing form is the combination of first, second and third person: uses of the first person and second person through the use of pronouns 'we' and 'you', and with the third person pronouns for the story characters. Although difficult in approach, what this results in is a completely immersive and powerful concept which works incredibly well. It feels as if it speaks to you personally. The only downside to this is that sometimes it feels as if it's being written to a reader who is gay, and in my case it wasn't correct – it sometimes took me away from the experience when it referred to 'you' but spoke about being gay.
Levithan's story lasts only for around 48 hours, and within the time period a lot happens; a lot of important and moving events occur. With the evolution in homosexuality acceptance, but a definite and significant amount of people still being homophobic, the balance is perfectly measured in Two Boys Kissing. The omniscient narrators navigate the sense of freedom for gays compared with the past and knowing the pain and hurt associated with homophobia extremely delicately but with conviction and truth. The four separate stories of Harry and Craig, Ryan and Avery, Peter and Neil and Cooper seem to cover the general kinds of situations that gay individuals might be in, as well as being able to be applied to straight people too. For example, Ryan and Avery have mixed ideas about what their relationship could be, and where they might be going.
Two Boys Kissing is an important book. It is so extremely powerful and leaves you thinking long, long after you have finished reading it. With the unique writing concept, it is a true challenge to the traditional art form of writing. I imagine that this is going to be the book that children will read in school instead of Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men in the future; that's how genre defining and influential this story is. With strong messages that can apply to much more than being gay, and more about the philosophy of freedom, equality and hatred with an application to homosexuality, Levithan has made a piece of art that can be admired for years.
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