By Owen D.
A book unlike most have probably ever seen before. David Levithan is a young adult fiction author. In this short novel, Wide Awake, he takes you down a road of future politics and leads you to believe in the idea that "good is possible".
Abe Stein is a gay Jewish man who had just become elected POTUS. Flash forward about 30 years from now, the book goes on to describe how life is in the future - wage gaps are filled,gays and straights make up equal amounts of the population, there are very few bigots left, and everything is equal. Only winning by one state, Kansas, has caused some major upsets around the country. Local high school students, Duncan and his boyfriend Jimmy, have been apart of Stein's campaign all along, but have recently been faced with some hardships at school. They have been spat on and arguments with a "bigot" teacher have lead to problems within the school. The larger upset being whether or not Stein's ballot recount will allow him to remain as president or will he be stripped of his title.
David began the book with very interesting and articulate writing skills about the future of America. He later went very far off topic and began to focus more on the boy's' relationship rather than what he had begun the book with. Though still portraying very strong writing skills along with well thought out plot, I would have liked to have seen David tie those two ideas together more.
Being the first book I have read of David Levithan, I was a little disappointed. Expecting more of a future politics read, I was not expecting it to be mostly about the LGBTQ community. If you are looking for a book along the lines of that subject, this might be the right book for you. If not, I suggest maybe finding another short novel to read.
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