I really wish this book had been around when I was in high school. I felt ugly, awkward and unlovable. I never knew how to just be with my friends, and I felt kind of awkward in my own skin. Had I had a Tiny Cooper in my life, I would have felt the magic in just being me so much sooner. I am just glad this book exists now. It really does get better.
This book is ostensibly about Will Grayson, an awkward teen living in Evanston, IL, and wingman to Tiny Cooper, a very gay, very large young man who is in love with the world and life in general, and it is also ostensibly about will grayson (his story is in lowercase letters), a depressed, gay teen in Naperville, IL, who is part of the mathletes and also warding off the friend/hag advances of goth girl Maura while developing an internet romance with fellow teen Isaac.
Sidenote: Maura. Sweetheart. You don’t pick your gay. You’re not born a hag. You have to audition. You have to be chosen by your gay. Trust me–it will happen in college. It gets better.
The story turns when Will Grayson meets will grayson, when will and Tiny meet, when Will finally sees Tiny’s friend Jane with new eyes, and when Tiny’s musical, Tiny Dancer (later Hold Me Closer), actually comes to life.
This book should have induced all the eye rolls from me. But I freaking loved it. It’s full of the quirky good humor, wit, and heart that populates the novels of the writers, and it’s hard to be cynical about something that can’t take itself too seriously. Mind you, there are heavy topics: abandonment, depression, friendship, sexual orientation, you name it. But they are treated with heart and humor, and you feel light and special when the book is done. At least, I did.
I seriously want to be Tiny Cooper’s BFF now. Also, I just found out that THIS is happening in 2015: TINY COOPER’S MUSICAL. Of COURSE I’m going to read it.
You have made this dreary day brighter by turning me onto the fact Tiny is getting his own book. Hooray!