Punk Love

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

It's not necessary for you to care about punk music or identify with teen logic in order to enjoy this book (granted, being familiar with either may make the book more lovable, but they're not required). Nick and Norah's story is one of insane and lusty passion that only 18 year-olds can muster. Their story begins at one of Nick's shows (he's a bassist and master lyricist before even getting to college) and schleps the reader around Manhattan and New Jersey for a packed evening of worrying giddiness, spontaneous frivolity, life-altering decisions, ex-SO encounters, and music only the truly dedicated punk could appreciate. One should note, though, that knowing the music doesn't matter, as the description and emotion behind it is so well transferred to the reader that my great grandmother could get behind its meaning. Playing on all the emotions that plague unsure teenagers that flit from knowing everything to not understanding anything, the tale is a cross-section of life on the verge of independence.

Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Cohn writing to voice Norah and Levithan writing for Nick) have crafted a story that weaves the lives of young adults perfectly with what is an insane passion for many of the emotional rollercoaster bunch. If you aren't living it in this very moment, anyone can recall the time in which music said everything you wanted it to and the mixed CD (or tape or iTunes playlist as the case may be) was the ultimate expression of emotion. In changing back and forth between the first person views of Nick and Norah, the reader gets both sides of the story, and really gets a glimpse at the warped ways in which two people can view the exact same event. Fun and entertaining from so many perspectives, the authors manage to throw a little psychological game into their writing style. All in all, the book is a raucous and honest (and thoroughly entertaining) display on adolescent love and its constant fluctuation (and, of course, there's some healthy angst thrown in there too).