| Wide Awake | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 7 reviews)
Sales Rank: 542710
Category: Book
Author: David Levithan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Studio: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Label: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 0375834672
EAN: 9780375834677
ASIN: 0375834672
Publication Date: September 9, 2008
Release Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the not-too-impossible-to-imagine future, a gay Jewish man has been elected president of the United States. Until the governor of one state decides that some election results in his state are invalid, awarding crucial votes to the other candidate, and his fellow party member. Thus is the inspiration for couple Jimmy and Duncan to lend their support to their candidate by deciding to take part in the rallies and protests. Along the way comes an exploration of their relationship, their politics, and their country, and sometimes, as they learn, it's more about the journey than it is about reaching the destination.
Only David Levithan could so masterfully and creatively weave together a plot that's both parts political action and reaction, as well as a touching and insightfully-drawn teen love story.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 David Levithan for President May 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's an interesting universe Levithan creates in WIDE AWAKE. So far, we've had the contested election -- wait, make that TWO contested elections. I wonder how long it's going to be before a real Greater Depression happens, or something like the Prada Riots.
I read this book near the end of the 2008 primaries, and it made clear to me one thing. Smart, ethical Democrats don't run for office. They write books, and do other things that don't get them anywhere near the stink of politics. If only someone as decent and imaginative and grounded in what it means to be human as David Levitan would run for political office.
I had so many questions reading two of Levitan's books. Can the world Levitan gives us in this book (and in BOY MEETS BOY) really exist? Can it exist in my lifetime? Can it exist without someone as caring as Levithan going into politics? Should we have converged on Florida in 2000?
I'm so sick of what the Democrats offer, which is nothing more than being Not Republican. Voting in the primary was depressing. I wouldn't have bothered, except my friend Eric thought it was SO IMPORTANT to put Obama in the election. But both he and Hilary leave me cold.
I wish I could live in Levitan Land instead of the USA as it exists today.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, David Levithan, for the world(s) you've given us. I hope you get to be our first Gay Jewish President.
Outstanding Book November 14, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wide Awake is an excellent paradigm-shifting book that I highly recommend to teens and adults. As an adult, I greatly appreciate how the author wove powerful political and societal messages into an enjoyable and captivating story. I also really appreciate the fact that the book integrates characters in gay and straight relationships.
How It SHOULD be... June 26, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love what Levithan has done, imagining the success of the true moral majority, the liberal, inclusive world that we are just a hair's breath away from.
 Great, but not Levithan's Best December 31, 2006
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I read Boy Meets Boy when I was in 8th grade, and I've been an avid Levithan reader ever since. His writing is beautiful, his ideas spectacular, and there is always a beautiful romance or two.
So when I saw Wide Awake in stores, I immediately picked it up. As usual, Levithan's writing was great. His dialogue seems natural and after I got over the original recoil from seeing many idealistically diverse couples (Afro-Chinese lesbians, etc.) I got to enjoy it. I absolutely LOVED Levithan's idea of the Jesus Revolution, when Christians realize that really, Jesus would have loved everybody regardless of orientation, race, etc. I always had a disdain for Christianity because I saw it as not accepting enough, but this book restored my faith, so to speak, in the potential of the religion. The story was great, but I just can't say with a good conscience that there was nothing wrong.
The world Levithan creates seems too idealistic and perfect. The main characters are strong, happy, in love, virtuous, and able to make a difference when they set their mind to it. The "bad" guys are absolute charicatures of evil. They are violent, turn to trickery and fraud first, and are completely unaccepting. I found it hard to believe these black-and-white stereotypes.
Overall, I cannot complain at all about the writing. All the way through the book, I was hanging on every page. Levithan's writing is spectacular, as usual, and I loved Duncan and Jimmy's romance. However, looking back, the characters were too black-and-white. A great read and most people probably won't have the same problem I did. Generally, a great read, but not Levithan's best.
For the politically-oriented teen December 2, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
David Levithan's newest novel, "Wide Awake," is a political novel set "in the near future." Here's the set up:
"The Greater Depression happened. The events of 3/12 and 7/23 happened. The Andreas Quake and Hurricane Wanda. The President launched his War to End All Wars, which only managed to create more wars and the tragic events of 4/5. The Greater Depression deepened. Millions of people died, and there was no way to erase their faces from the more renegade open news channels, which wanted to remind everyone how bad the government had let things get. The Decents and their program of Denial Education reached their peak."
The hero and narrator of "Wide Awake" is a Jewish, gay teen named Duncan who is engaged politically for the first time in his life. After all the troubles of his childhood and the generation(s) before, it seems as if a new era is on the horizon. His presidential candidate, Abraham Stein, a Jewish gay man with a partner and children, has been elected. People are behaving differently, celebrating their ethnic, cultural, and sexual differences. And supporting them all is a sizable group of Jesus Freaks.
"For the Jesus Revolutionaries, the answer was clear: Jesus would not be out waging "preventative" wars. Jesus would not be withholding medicine from people who could not afford it. Jesus would not cast stone at people of races, sexual orientations, or genders other than his own. Jesus would not condone the failing, viperous, scandal-plagued hierarchy of some churches. Jesus would welcome everyone to his table. He would love them, and he would find peace."
Sounds like a utopian novel so far, right? But there's a hitch. A hitch in the form of Kansas. Stein's election is being contested. To the tune of 1,000 votes. (Sound familiar?) Stein calls all his supporters to Kansas and Duncan and his friends head to Topeka to support their candidate.
While "Wide Awake" is a political novel, Levithan does not abandon the everyday. Duncan struggles in his relationship with gorgeous Jimmy, teachers can be kind or belligerent, parents are sometimes more conservative than you'd like, and friends take sides in everyday breakups. But, in the end, Levithan's message is one of hope. People can be good and good people can change even the worst-case scenario into a better present and future.
"Wide Awake" is for older teens, ages 15 and up.
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