Book Review : The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan

“Maybe there is hope in the fragments, that what is lost can always be filled in by someone who knows.”

– David Levithan, The Realm of Possibility

 

This  summer I read   Will Grayson,Will Grayson a novel co-written by David Levithan. I got it because I had recently become a fan of  John Green and to be honest I didn’t expect to like Levithan’s writing. However, within a few pages, I fell in love with it. He is an amazing writer. Levithan’s style is so unique and he is one of the few well known YA writers who is writing about gay and lesbian teens.

The novel follows the stories of 20 different  high school students and how their lives interact. But, this isn’t just straight prose, each section is written in a unique style. Some stories in short prose, some in poems, some in all lowercase. It can be confusing at first, but once it blends together it is seamless and amazing. 

By using the actual text on the page as a tool, Levithan  breathes a tangible life into his characters. He has this ability to create a fully realized story in only a few pages.

The actual stories themselves cover a wide spectrum of teenage emotion–not just the usual angst. The reader unravels stories about a boyfriend jealous of his girlfriend’s infatuation with Holden Caulfield, the story of girl wrestling with why and if she is a bad person and   a few pages later two characters are discussing why they call marijuana weed and why they call it getting stoned. Some stories go everywhere and some go nowehere.

This was a quick read, I read it in 2 hours. I think it is one that should be read more than once. It is a unique spin on the young adult genre and I truly enjoyed it. 

 

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