Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
As seen:
By Rachel Cohn, and and, David Levithan
avg rating
1 review
The sexy, funny roller coaster of a love story from David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, which inspired the beloved film starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings.
Nick and Norah are both suffering from broken hearts. So when Nick sees the girl who dumped him walk in with a new guy he asks the strange girl next to him to be his girlfriend for the next five minutes.
Norah would do anything to avoid conversation with the not-friend girl who dumped Nick, and get over the Evil Ex whom Norah never quite broke up with. And so she agrees.
What follows is an epic first date between two people who are just trying to figure out who they want to be – and where the next great band is playing.
This story plays out over one unforgettable night in New York. One of the great YA novels about falling in love, for everyone who had their hearts broken by Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park or Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun.
David and Rachel’s other collaborations include Naomi and Eli’s No Kiss List and The 12 Days of Dash and Lily.
David Levithan is the New York Times best-selling author of Boy Meets Boy, Every Day, and Another Day. His many collaborations include Will Grayson, Will Grayson with Fault in Our Stars author John Green. Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, now has his own novel: Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story. David is also a highly respected children’s book editor, whose list includes many luminaries of children’s literature, including Garth Nix, Libba Bray and Suzanne Collins. He lives and works in New York.
Rachel Cohn was born in Maryland but now also lives in New York. Among her many YA novels are Gingerbread, Shrimp, and Cupcake.
TweetReviews
Before I had even heard of this book, I saw the film. This meant I fell in love with both Michael Cera and Nick and Norah's relationship. I read the book shortly afterwards, when I was around nineteen, and I have to say I enjoyed it even more than the movie adaptation.
The two things that I love most in the world are: music and a well-written story. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ticks both of these boxes.
It opens with a great hook. Nick sees his ex-girlfriend at a club and doesn't want to face her and then he comes face to face with Norah. It is written in the stream-of-consciousness style with chapters alternating between Nick's point of view and Norah's. The thing I enjoyed most when reading the book was how the split narrative showed how different yet how similar Nick and Norah are as most events overlap and I loved watching how the relationship between the relaxed Nick and uptight Norah develops. The lead characters were likable and realistic. Their worries and self-doubts, their hopes and fears, the roller coaster of she loves me, she loves me not, all resonated with my memories of my teen years. To top it off it is all set in New York!
If you like this book then I suggest reading Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron
