Are We There Yet?

I. loved. this. book. Okay, it had a head start. There is something about David Levithan's writing style that draws me in every time. I can't just enjoy his writing. I have to stop, reread, love, reread again, read aloud to the doctor's waiting room, and shout it from rooftops. Nearly every chapter of his books has a quote that makes me stop and underline it (even in library books! I admit it!). Here, I've complied a few of them and you are welcome to view them. 


I think the most endearing part of this book is the reality of honesty vs love. The protagonists, brothers Elijah & Danny, are stuck in that rough patch of love between brothers. One of my favorite lines in the books is:

“Brothers are not like sisters,” he says. “They don’t call each other every week. The don’t have secret worlds to share. CAn you think of two brothers who are really, inseparably close? No, for brothers it’s a different set of rules. Like it or not, we’re held to the bare minimum. Will you be there for him if he needs you? Of course. Should you love him without question? Absolutely. But those are the easy things. Do you make him a large part of your life, an equal to a wife or a best friend. At the beginning, when you’re kids, the answer is often yes. But when you get to high school, or older? Do you tell him everything? Do you let him know who you really are? The answer is usually no. Because all these other things get in the way. Girlfriends. Rebellion. Work.” (192)

This quote sums up Danny and Elijah, who are separated by a few years and thousands of ideologies.  Danny, a driven executive in New York, and Elijah is a prep school Holden Caulfield-type that enjoys spending time wasting away with his friends. When their parents trick them into taking a trip to Italy together, long-seeded brother issues come to the surface.  


I think I especially enjoyed this book because of my trip to Italy in 2008. I liked hearing the boys talk about pieces of history that I've witnessed myself! The book was interesting because I could relate.


And because David Levithan's writing is phenomenal.