Remembering Pulse: Let's Discuss Levithan's Two Boys Kissing

Remembering Pulse: Let's Discuss Levithan's Two Boys Kissing

Levithan, D. (2013). Two boys kissing. [Kindle Version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Two Boys Kissing was inspired by real life events in which gay men committed suicide by their own hand, faced discrimination, were harassed verbally or physically, or died of AIDS.  A 2014 Stonewall Book Awards- Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Book Award, this novel also takes readers inside the thoughts and actions of protagonists who feel that they run against the grain of society.  From a couple of boys who feel comfortable in their relationship and sexuality, to a boy who tries to end it all by jumping from a bridge, author Levithan’s words provoke one to consider whether the boys are really different at all. 

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan is a novel I would have no qualms about sharing with students ages 9-12 as well as readers well into adulthood.  While the situations depicted in the novels are intense, the thoughts, feelings and emotions of protagonist will go far in fulfilling the information needs of young adults going through similar events in their own lives.  The vignettes of the gay teenage characters are universal to those questioning or struggling with their sexuality yet readers of any sexual identity or culture can relate to them.  Levithan’s novel is narrated by a Greek Chorus of gay men from decades past who suffered persecution and illness, colored with their intent to make the future easier for those who have come after them.  Without the separation of chapters and over the span of two days, Craig and Harry are two boys kissing attempting to bring awareness while desensitizing reactions to a same sex kiss (check out this webpage:http://confessionsofaboytoy.com/2016/06/12/two-men-kissing/) .  The couples depicted in this novel each face their own realizations of what their homosexuality means in the context of their lives and realize sexuality does not define them but is rather part of who they are as overall humans.  

Levithan’s novel, published in the United States, is worthy of the Stonewall Book Awards- Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award because it is an excellent example of the accurate depiction what it is like to be gay in Western culture written by a gay man.  The protagonists personify the positive and negative aspects of being “different” from what society considers being the norm.  Levithan attempts to harness the feelings of the protagonists but also the emotions of those who surround them such as family and friends.  Like the characters and narrators of the novel, the award has also evolved from the 1986 Gay Book Award to the more encompassing current title.  Not dissimilar from the “Greek Chorus” who narrate the novel, this award appreciates the evolution of the LGBT cause which is properly expressed in Two Boys Kissing.