How They Met by David Levithan - Paul's REVIEW

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Title: How They Met and Other Stories
Author: David Levithan
Year Published: 2009

Synopsis: A confection from David Levithan that is sure to have fans of Boy Meets Boy eager to devour it. Here are 18 stories, all about love, all kinds of love. From the aching for the one you pine for, to standing up and speaking up for the one you love, to pure joy and happiness, these love stories run the gamut of that emotion that at some point has turned every one of us inside out and upside down.

What is love? With this original story collection, David Levithan proves that love is a many splendored thing, a varied, complicated, addictive, wonderful thing.

Review: Collections of short stories are always nice to have on your bedside table. You can read one a night and feel like you read a whole story. Usually collections have a theme or they have a common author. This collection has both. David Levithan has been writing Valentine's Day stories since he was in high school. This is a collection of some of those stories. They all have a connecting theme of love or relationship. 

It's always awkward to review a collection of short stories. Do I review each individual story? Do I just review the overall book? Do I review some highlights? I think what I'll do is give you my overall feel of the book and then throw some random things at you that you might find intriguing. 

One thing I loved about these short stories was that initially you didn't necessarily know the gender of the main character in each story. If you don't know the gender then you definitely don't know their sexual orientation. It shows how universal love is. Gender and sexual orientations don't matter. Everyone experiences love. I also liked the variety of the relationships shown. Reading about high school relationships as a 24-year old brings back nostalgia for such naivety. 

Here comes the random. Miss Lucy had a Steamboat. Prom. Chance, luck, and coincidences on an airplane. Middle school crushes. A purely physical relationship. Family expectations and acceptance. When someone you love is far away. Alternate prom. Physics. The power of music. Unrequited love. Long lasting, routine love. Accidents create life. 

I highly recommend this book. Devid Levithan is such a great author. If you haven't read Every Day go read that now! And read this collection of short stories as well! I give this collection a 4/5.

-PAUL