Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List--Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

Title: Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List
Author: Cohn, Rachel and David Levithan
Pages: 230 p.
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN:978-0-375-84440-9

The authors of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist are at it again with Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. Clearly, they like long titles, but I guess when you have two authors they each need to get the same number of words...

Straight girl Naomi and gay boy Ely are best friends. As close as siblings, if not closer, they have been together their entire lives through the good and bad times. Naomi's Dad had an affair with one of Ely's moms and they kept their friendship strong even through that. In order to remove any potential for conflict they created a No Kiss List--a list of people that neither one could kiss. It works well until Ely breaks the rules and kisses Naomi's boyfriend.

The kiss is just the catalyst that Naomi needs to reexamine her relationship--with Ely, not with Bruce the Second (her boyfriend). She finally admits that she has always wanted more with Ely than he could give her and that she needs to have an identity outside of him. The friendship is forever changed.

Cohen and Levithan have already proven that they can write well together. This book is further proof. Naomi and Ely are both interesting, complex people that I wanted to read more about. I'm not sure how this one was written; the point of view changed with each chapter but there were more than just the two main characters. I'm not sure who wrote which section and that's the mark of a great writing partnership. I look forward to their next collaboration!

As with Playlist, there are f-bombs and adult situations. Naomi and Ely are both in college and there's plenty of dorm-room shenanigans. I would keep this one for the high school teens.

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