You know me well by David Levithan/Nina LaCour

Genre: GLBT, Young Adult, Coming of Age, Contemporary

Pages: 256

Published by St. Martin’s Griffin

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really?

Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed.

That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with his best friend Ryan, who may or may not feel the same way.

When Kate and Mark meet up, little do they know how important they will become to each other — and how, in a very short time, they will know each other better than any of the people who are supposed to know them more.

Told in alternating points of view by Nina LaCour, the award-winning author of Hold Still and The Disenchantments, and David Levithan, the best-selling author of Every Day and co-author ofNick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (with Rachel Cohn) and Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with John Green), You Know Me Well is a deeply honest story about navigating the joys and heartaches of first love, one truth at a time.

“the heart is a treacherous beast, but it means well.”

This book was just “okay” for me. Admittedly, I have never read anything from either author, I don’t think this was a fair book to judge them off of either.

You Know Me Well is a book about Mark, a gay jock who is currently in an “it’s complicated” relationship with his best friend, Ryan. Mark wants more and Ryan seems rather oblivious and is really QUITE selfish – I believe it is the point behind his character [later to be worked on.]

“Then you should be happy that he called so I could tell you this: Your friend needs you. It might not be fair. It might really suck, because you’ve needed him and he’s been off slip-dip-dripping with a college boy -“

“Don’t forget mortar-pestling.“

Kate is an artist and happens to be calculus with Mark, except Mark has never noticed her before. Kate has her own issues, she’s been dreaming about this girl, Violet and on a night she is supposed to meet her…she balks.

Mark and Kate wind up meeting in a dire circumstance, it brings them together but their immediate friendship strikes me as odd and I don’t know maybe it’s because I’m a rather quiet person who doesn’t easily make friends, but their immediate connection is just as bad as INSTA-LOVE… It makes it feel unrealistic. Coupled with the fact there really is little to no plot involved in this story, it’s just the two of them on their journey in High School and finding true love. What I mean by this is there is really not much going on outside of their feelings, outside of themselves. The story fully focuses on just them and their feelings.

I’m not saying it was a terrible book, it was just an “okay” book, you get to see them struggle, it’s all feelings, all character developing, there is actually very little world building. Sure, there are moments of clips where the scene has changed but it isn’t heavily focused on that, which kind of makes it just about these teens talking and essentially venting their feelings out. It’s a feelsy read, as if the writers were attempting to take on a poetic feel [which later on seems highly plausible,] but I think this is one that while I can’t relate to, I’m sure many can.

So, if you’re looking for a book that paints more of a world – other than being in San Fran around Pride Week – don’t bother. BUT, if you’re looking for a book that revolves around characters emotions, their struggles, and development, this is a good book for you. You definitely get a raw feeling from the characters.

I wish I could say I more than thought it was okay, but it wasn’t there for me.