Two Boys Kissing

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • STONEWALL HONOR BOOK • LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST

"You have to read this.” —Rainbow Rowell, bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and Carry On

From the New York Times bestselling author of Every Day, this love story of shared humanity and history Hypable calls "an interconnecting web that will leave you emotionally exhausted and absolutely thrilled to have read something so beautiful and unique."

Based on true events—and narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS—Two Boys Kissing follows Harry and Craig, two seventeen-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teens dealing with universal questions of love, identity, and belonging.

A tear jerker for sure

It is hard to put in words how truly inspiring and pertinent this book has been for me and many of people I know in the queer community as well as non-queer people. This novel is....frankly everything I needed, thank you David.

This Is A MUST Listen

It's four stories intertwined in a two day period. I'll call them the kiss, the couple, the prom, and the lost. The narrator is like the collective LGBT and AIDS victims in o1ne watching over us and seeing who we are. The emotions following these characters through this small window of their lives. It makes us remember those that came before and after us. It reminds us how far we've come and how much we still need to do. How thankful were you for those that supported you when you came out. The pain from those that turn thier backs on you when you told them. You will feel a lot from the two day look into these lives.

Required for gay men over 50

What made the experience of listening to Two Boys Kissing the most enjoyable?

The language is beautiful and the insight is uncanny

What was one of the most memorable moments of Two Boys Kissing?

References without explanation about life during AIDS crisis

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was as if my life story had been told.

Any additional comments?

I bought a hard copy of the book so I could see the beautiful language.

Awesome work David

I can relate to the time in the story when everyone around us was dieing. I loved and lost three partners to aids, the first one being my most heartbreaking. I sat by his bedside in the hospitals and then in a nursing home. Before he lost the ability to speak and was in a very poor state we had deviced a signal which was to raise his point finger if he could hear me. This was so memorable to tell him I Love You at the end to see his finger rise!

A Powerful Book with a Unique Voice

Two Boys Kissing is a powerful book with a unique voice. It’s narrated by the spirits of gay men who died of AIDS and watch and wonder over the current generation of gay males. A series of character vignettes intersect to show the contrast between then and now- how things have changed and how they have remained the same. The backdrop of the two boys kissing for the Guinness Book of World Records is the link that binds the characters together.

We follow several teen boys throughout the book: The two boys kissing are exes Harry and Craig, Neil and Peter are in a long-term relationship, transgendered Avery meets Ryan, and Cooper is getting lost in the digital dating world. Each person has their ups and downs over the course of the book, and there are examples of good and bad parenting and coming out experiences. Cooper’s story probably got to me the most, and like the narrators of the book I wanted to reach out and help him through his crisis.

The ghost narrators see the familiar and unfamiliar in the world of today’s gay teens, from bullying and unaccepting parents, to gay proms and the rally of support of two boys kissing. I remember the early days of the AIDS pandemic so that colored my reading experience and made it hit home all the more. The voices from the past give contextual relevance to the events taking place in the present, and you can feel the collective sorrow, joy and hope in their words.

I listened to the audiobook, read by the author himself, David Levithan. I think it’s my first time hearing the author’s voice, and there’s always a part of me that worries when an author chooses to read their own work rather than leave it to the professionals. But, in this case Levithan delivers the book’s narration expertly, and I can’t imagine anyone else reading it. When an author can do voice work I think it’s great that they narrate their work- who else knows the book better, right? Levithan expertly conveys the emotional state of mind of the different personalities and brings the stories to life. There are several generations of voices and personalities in the book, and Levithan gives each a distinct delivery. With the books unique narrative the audiobook helped me keep track of all the characters and made the message resonate even more.

This book and Every Day are my favorite Levithan books and I think Two Boys Kissing is very relevant and moving. I was connected to the story through Levithan’s gorgeous words, and found the voices of the narrators meaningful.