You Know Me Well

 Nina LaCour and David Levithan, You Know Me Well,  Text Publishing, 13 June 2016, 256 pp., $19.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781925355529

Mark and Kate have been sitting next to each other in calculus all junior year, and have never really spoken. When they meet unexpectedly in a gay bar at the beginning of Pride Week, Kate does something impulsive, she asks Mark to be her friend. Mark is also out of his comfort zone, is just starting to realise maybe his best friend doesn’t want to transition to boyfriend, so his ‘YES’ response is just as surprising. It is, as they say, the start of a beautiful friendship.

The premise that we fall into friendships when we are young, and often don’t bother, or simply don’t know how, to make new ones in our late teens is one that will resonate with young adults. Mark and Kate both want to experience something new, something big, and they give each other the courage to take risks. There are other elements at play as well. Mark’s best friend, Ryan calls him out as a coward, and challenges him to break free, before running into the arms of another boy. Kate is about to meet the girl she has obsessed over from afar for the past year, and suddenly the pressure is too much.

Mark and Kate connect.

The tight time-frame of only one week is ideal. The two voices complement and balance each other. The shenanigans are exactly the right amount of daring and sensible. The action moves from gay bar to school, to Art Show, to poetry slam, back to school, back to party, ending with parade, and it’s all movement and dialogue, art and music and oh, the pain of love – and teenagers can see what it’s like to dance, to live in the moment, to be young and to chase dreams, but also to give up on love, but to still be able to celebrate who you are. One dream in particular – Kate’s art – is explored in depth, and reflects the indecision that most young people probably face: college or straight into work? Gap year or interning? Travel or volunteering?

While the majority of the story is uplifting and life-affirming, it does have moments of sadness and poignancy. Mark’s attempts to win over Ryan, and Kate’s flagging friendship with her best buddy Lehna, create the angst, and reinforce the truth that this is a time of change, of crisis and uncertainty, and sometimes things don’t always work out how we would like.

You Know Me Well is engaging, and a timely celebration of diversity and youth. It’s so much fun, and its clever framing will satisfy readers. It offers hope and happiness, and shows everyone that we all deserve the chance to grab every opportunity from life, and make the most of right now. Highly recommended as a sophisticated novel for teens.

Reviewed by Trisha Buckley