Thursday, March 21, 2013

#70- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist By Rachel Cohn & David Leviathan

#70- Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Rating- 9.5/10

Let it be known that I REALLY didnt expect to like this book as much as I did. The logic behind that was that I wasn't a huge fan of the movie and figured they were somehwat similar etc etc. Which was such a rookie mistake thing to think because I know better than to judge a book by its movie. Regardless of my thoughts prior to reading, I really really liked this book. I was impressed by the wit, the writing, the characters, and the duo narrators. I especially love books that switch point of view from chapter to chapter so I really like the split personality of each chapter from Nick to Norah.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a book about a "queercore" band member named Nick and a jaded sarcastic love-wrecked girl named Norah. They both are at the same club on night where Nick is performing and Norah is watching. When Nick's set is over he goes and sits down at the bar and a pit of terror in his stomach forms when he sees his ex-girlfriend Tris headed over... with her new guy. In a moment of desperation and spontaneity he turns to the girl next to him, Norah, and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes. What he doesn't know is that Norah knows Tris as well from school and is more than happy to go along with his plan if it means causing a bit of a stir from Tris. They have always been a sort of frenemy situation and she is a-okay with saving Nick and making Tris uncomfortable. After kissing and avoiding eye contact with Tris, both of them realize that the kiss was more than they bargained for. Neither one wants to admit that a five minute fling was all they were and they set out on a night adventure. Moving night clubs, seeing ex's, dealing with drunk friends, and seeing one of the best bands ever; Nick & Norah make memories that are... (wait for it...) infinite.

As I mentioned above I really like books that are written from different perspectives and I also really like cliche teenage novels. I guess its not exactly cliche, but in the coming of age type of way. I want to think about my own experiences and I want it to be genunine and not afraid to use curse words and graphic situations and alcohol and love and turmoil and everything that I have gone through as a teenager. I like seeing how different people deal with things and I like thinking of new ways to deal with my own life because of how people in these books deal with theres. I was impressed by this book and other than only being able to see Norah as Kat Denning (which isn't a bad thing, just a fact) I completely separated this book from movie and was really pleased with the end result. Add in the mention of judaism, which is also a plus for me and I was even more pleased. Norah mentions about Tikkun Olam, which means repairing the world, and and Nick says this brilliant point about how maybe it isnt that we are supposed to find the missing pieces and put them back together to repair the world, but that we are the pieces and that by being together and understanding and loving to one another we are doing that. 

There was also one quote in the book that really affected my way of thinking. It was so true. One of Nick's friends says, "You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can't hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding.”  and ITS SO TRUE. Its true that we are always looking for something simple and I liked that they brought light to that. I thought it was a cool way of pointing it out and I appreciated that idea behind it.

Also, I read online that each author wrote one chapter and then emailed it to the other, Rachel writing Norah and David writing Nick and I think thats insanely cool. What a way to write a book! I think its fantastic and made me appreciate it even more because it was like Nick and Norah were really reacting to each other versus an author thinking out each ones reaction while writing the others. 

Overall I was really pleased with the book and I understand why it was on the top 100 list, I gave it one of the highest ratings of all of the others reviews in fact.

“The way you're singing in your sleep
The way you look before you leap
The strange illusions that you keep
You don't know, But I'm noticing"

1 comment:

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