In all honesty I bought this book over two years ago. If memory serves it was around the time of Vancouver pride in August 2015 and Indigo / Chapters (Canadian book store) had set up a LGBTQ+ author display that caught my eye.
Over the years having given away both my copies of Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan and his co-authored book Will Grayson, Will Grayson I decided I would repurchase them for old times sake. Within that purchase though I had also picked up David Levithan's other book Two Boys Kissing which I promptly brought home, put on my bookshelf and (up until last night) never opened.

If you start reading Two Boys Kissing expecting a simple, linear narrative it takes those expectations, puts them in a bag and throws them right out the window. As each story unfolds it becomes apparent that the plot jumps between several different personas. However, the central one focuses on two teenage boys; Harry and Craig. The ex-couple is attempting to break the world record for longest sustained kiss; coming in at just over 32-hours.
Throughout the book Levithan subverts standard story-telling practices by both frequently jumping between character arcs and also creating a role for the omniscient narrator; the collective thoughts of those queer folk who came before. It very much reminds me of the use of a "greek chorus" in more traditional theatrical works. They are there to give the audience insight without being able to alter the course of events. It gives a unique voice to the older generation of LGBTQ people who lived and died for our right to be visible.

What I appreciate most about this book is the fact that each narrative shows a different level of queer acceptance, or lack thereof. As someone who has lived many of the experiences portrayed it is impossible for me not to see myself in his descriptions. Wether it's the electricity of new love or the reckless anonymity of seeking someone online the authenticity is palpable and obvious. These are all similar situations I, and many other gay men have found ourselves in. In only two-hundred pages he creates complete, fully-actualized queer characters which cannot be highlighted enough. In our heterosexual, binary dominated society there are agonizingly few queer characters which are shown as simply human. Representation is important in normalizing individual experiences and, as is shown with Cooper's character, the dangerous reality of alienation is still very real.

I appreciate that David Levithan portrays love in all of it's different forms. The nervous excitement of meeting someone for the first time, the comfortable stability of a relationship over months and the deep friendship which remains after romantic love is gone. He weaves these themes seamlessly throughout each story, never prioritizing one over the other but just letting them coexist. This may all sound flowery and poetic but the fact that there isn't one single, simple romantic love story gives his book an amount of depth and complexity I don't encounter often.

From a stylistic stance Two Boys Kissing is engaging because it's different from a lot of other books I've read; both in textual format and also narrative structure. The greater role it plays however lays simply in it's existence and in the need for more gay literature. Books that don't trivialize queerness or use it for comic / dramatic effect but create stories like this one. With complex, well rounded characters discussing social issues and challenging preconceived societal norms.

Two Boys Kissing - Book Review