Released: August 27, 2013Publisher: Knopf
Page Amount: 208, ARC
POV: 1st Person (Those Who Lost Their Lives to AIDS)
Buy it here: Barnes & Noble•Amazon
OVERALL:
Plot-15/20
Characters-17/20
Characters-17/20
Creativity-20/20
Writing-16/20
Pace-8/10
Ending-6/10
=82/100 B
★★★★/5
New York Times bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other..-Goodreads.com
I had really high expectations for this book when I started it. I absolutely love David Levithan but this book didn't really wow me in any way. At first it was really hard for me to get into the story because of the narrator being a group of people who died of AIDS. It's a new and intriguing concept, but it really made this book distracting. The book flipped a lot from the present time to the onlookers reminiscing about the olden age. The old-time references were interesting, but took away from the plot and pace of the novel. I really enjoyed how Harry and Craig were trying to break the world record for longest kiss. That would be so difficult to do and Levithan did an amazing job at describing all that record entails. I also really liked how all the other boys had their own story. Each of their stories were interwoven in such a way that made me fall in love with each of their distinct personalities.
I did end up really enjoying many of the characters. Harry and Craig, the two sharing the big kiss, had to deal with haters and family during the big event. I found this to be especially intriguing because of their determination to keep going no matter what. I can't believe they weren't even dating. Ryan and Avery just met at a gay prom. Their attraction was adorable! Ryan has blue hair while Avery has pink and that alone made me smile. I just really didn't get some of the attitude changes regarding Ryan and I wish I knew more about what was to come for their relationship. Neil and Peter are dating and I really liked how Neil took control of his situation with his family. I just wish I would've heard more about these two. Conner was also interesting to read about, having just come out to his parents, or rather found out. All of these boys were at different stages of finding themselves and that made for some very different stories. My only grievance is all the loose ends and unexplained features of some of the characters.
The ending was kind of anticlimactic to me. I was expecting to read more about the end of the kiss or what was going to happen next. I wish I could have known more about what was to come for Neil, Ryan, Avery, and Craig. We are left with some minor idea, but I wanted more because of all the loose ends. All in all, this book was not exactly what I was expecting when I picked it up. I liked the different approach with the group narrator just wished I was able to get more of all the other boys stories.
My Favorite Part: I thought Ryan and Avery were adorable and I also liked reading about the big kiss.
ALL iN ALL:
Do I recommend this book? Yes, it's definitely unique.
Thank you all for reading!
It's a Book Thing
Review by Macy ♥
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