Review: Are We There Yet? by David Levithan

18343374 Are We There Yet? by David Levithan
Genre: Contemporary, Family
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf
Pages: 215
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★.5
Where to Find: Goodreads | Amazon

I picked this book up because I have been thoroughly enjoying David Levithan’s co-written works with Rachel Cohn, and I decided that in 2015 I wanted to read more of his novels. When I saw a wild David Levithan book appear in the library, one that I hadn’t heard of no less, I jumped on the chance to read it.

Are We There Yet? by David Levithan is the story of two brothers who really misunderstand one another. They’ve grown apart as they’ve gotten older, and when their parents send them on a holiday to Italy they don’t know how they’re going to cope.

The character development was progressively good. I didn’t like where the brothers started but I really liked how their relationship changed and evolved into something new. There was a lot of miscommunication between the brothers, and the age gap didn’t help matters, so it really made me thankful that I’ve grown up with a sister who’s the same age (high five, Maddie!) I don’t think I’ve read much about brothers before, there always seems to be sister relationships in novels, but you don’t often hear of two brothers – if you do please recommend the good ones! – and Levithan analyzed the differences between the different sibling relationships and it was really eye opening. I’d say that because of Maddie I don’t really know much about different gender sibling relationships. People always ask Maddie and I ‘what’s it like to be twin’ and we can only ever respond with ‘we don’t know any different!’ But those same people would then proceed to look at us strangely if we asked them ‘what’s it like to have a younger brother?’ or something along those lines.

I can’t say that I preferred one brother to the other, because it really depended on what either David or Elijah were doing. I wouldn’t say I connected with either of their personalities, but the relationship they shared was what made me keep reading! They were in Italy – Venice, Florence, Rome – and I really liked hearing about all the different landmarks. I was particularly interested in Florence as that is the focus of my History coursework that I start in January.

Apart from visiting a few landmarks, and getting their hearts broken there wasn’t too much plot. It probably isn’t the book for you if you like a fast paced adventure read, but if you like the family-centric novels then pick this one up straight away! It’s a great ‘brothers version’ of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Are We There Yet? has not put me of Levithan’s writing at all, in fact I can’t wait to get my hands on more! However, I’m only going to give this book two stars comparatively to his other works.