Novel Review: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story (Companion to Will Grayson, Will Grayson) by David Levithan

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Contemporary, Script

Publisher: Dutton (Penguin)

Release Date: 2015

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

It’s Tiny Cooper’s turn in the spotlight in this companion novel to New York Times bestseller Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Jazz hands at the ready! Tiny Cooper (“the world’s largest person who is also really, really gay”) stole readers’ hearts when he was introduced to the world in the New York Times bestselling book Will Grayson, Will Grayson, co-authored by John Green and David Levithan. Now Tiny finally gets to tell his story—from his fabulous birth and childhood to his quest for true love and his infamous parade of ex-boyfriends—the way he always intended: as a musical! Filled with honesty, humor, and “big, lively, belty” musical numbers, the novel is told through the full script of the musical first introduced in Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's bright and eye-catching, and it looks like the cover of a script. It fits really well, I think.

Review:

“'You think you’re an actor, Tiny. We all think we are actors, given our scripts. But really? You’re the playwright. You’re the composer.'” (Hardback, pg. 151)

I didn’t even know this was coming out until it was released, and it shouldn’t have taken me so long to read.

This is the play from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, with some possible changes, in its entirety. There is commentary mixed throughout from Tiny Cooper, and every single act has a song in it. And it’s really quite brilliant.

It’s a super-fast read, and it’s already a small book. It’s clear you’re in Tiny’s head the entire time, and that this is the vision he has for it. The humor is really great, and the characters are a lot of fun to meet and/or see again.

It was a lot of fun, and I’m happy with how it wrapped up and the lesson Tiny learned about himself. I hope to pick up more of Levithan’s books at some point.

Also, wouldn’t it be cool if they made a movie about Will Grayson, Will Grayson and this book mixed together? This book could be fantastic on film. I think it could work really well.