[cantexistloudenoughforyou]

It would be too easy to say that I feel invisible. Instead, I feel painfully visible, and entirely ignored.

David Levithan, Every Day

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Review: Ryan and Avery by David Levithan Rating: 5/5

"They have each found something, and they have each found someone. Both at the same time." 

When I heard David Levithan was going to revisit Ryan and Avery, two characters from his novel Two Boys Kissing, I was beyond excited. Way back in 2019 when I read Two Boys Kissing, I remember being captivated by the blue- and pink-haired boys. All I wanted was more of that world and those characters. I'm so glad that Levithan decided to give that to us. 

This was a poignant book, that reads more like interconnected short stories than a novel. Luckily, this is something Levithan does very well. I liked the way he weaved in and out of Ryan and Avery's dates, and I especially loved the way he'd write an aside directed to the reader. It was a brilliant use of second person perspective that called back to Two Boys Kissing in a subtle way. 

My one qualm with this book was that Levithan sets it now, rather than in 2013 when the first book was set. I feel like this was a wasted opportunity to remind people how far we've come since then. The world is so different now for queer and trans teenagers, in good ways and bad. Avery was one of the first trans characters I ever read about, and I didn't read Two Boys Kissing until 2019. It's bizarre to me that that's true. That's how far we've come.

But I would still recommend this to anyone who likes quiet, reflective contemporary YA or would just like a nice gateway into Levithan's style because this is him at his hopeful, measured, moving best.

Warnings: emotionally abusive parents, some queerphobia, references to a past eating disorder.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - November 21st - Pumpkins

my current read, Ryan and Avery by David Levithan, with the delightful jack-o-lantern mug I bought this Halloween 🧡

[perfectquote]

“Do not just seek happiness for yourself. Seek happiness for all. Through kindness. Through mercy.”

— David Levithan, Wide awake

[surqrised]

“And maybe it is only by finding yourself that you can feel the true intensity of becoming close to another person.”

— David Levithan, The Realm of Possibility

[surqrised]

“I am here, and he is here, and everything I need to know is that I will hold him and he will hold me until I am warm again, until I know I belong.”

— David Levithan, My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

[kuunibal]

— David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary

[kuunibal]

— David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary

[perfectquote]

“I am here, and he is here, and everything I need to know is that I will hold him and he will hold me until I am warm again, until I know I belong.”

— David Levithan, My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

[thoughtkick]

“And maybe it is only by finding yourself that you can feel the true intensity of becoming close to another person.”

— David Levithan, The Realm of Possibility

[wannabe-british-fangirl]

~ books read in 2022 ~

#23: Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Imagine this: You’re in your favorite bookstore, scanning the shelves.

[stay-close]

“I am here, and he is here, and everything I need to know is that I will hold him and he will hold me until I am warm again, until I know I belong.”

— David Levithan, My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

[therefugeofbooks]

Merry Christmas ✨️

[angelnumbers]

this was always going to happen.

matthew stover, david levithan, margarita karapanou, aeschylus, karese burrows, richard siken

[thehopefulquotes]

“Do not just seek happiness for yourself. Seek happiness for all. Through kindness. Through mercy.”

— David Levithan, Wide awake

[nightlyquotes]

“I don’t want you to think I got through this undamaged, okay? But I’m learning to live with it. Because otherwise, the damage is all you are.”

— David Levithan, Every You, Every Me

[personaltrumpetblasts]

“Books are always there for me. All of them are there for me. My life changes all the time, but books don’t change. Your reading of them changes – you can bring new things to them each time. But the words are familiar words. The world is a place where you’ve been before, and it welcomes you back.”

— Another Day by David Levithan