Last week I read Marly's Ghost by David Levithan author of Boy Meets Boy. Marly's Ghost is about a 16 year old boy, named Ebenezer Scrooge (Ben), whose girlfriend dies of cancer. After her death Ben is very depressed, and cannot let go of his pain. The YA novel is based upon Dicken's A Christmas Carol. In the authors note Levithan explains rewriting or remixing A Christmas Carol paragraph by paragraph from beginning to end, and then editing the novel until the writing transformed into his own voice. Like Dicken's Scrooge, the boy has given up on love, family and friends. Instead of an unhealthy attachment to wealth, the main character dons an unhealthy attachment to the memory of his dead girlfriend.

The excerpts about the hurt and depression Ben was going through read as if a teen had written the descriptions and observations. I enjoyed seeing gay characters portrayed very positively and with normalcy. Ben's parents, other adults and all other people in the story are try to nurture him, but he rejects their help before the spirits come. Ben believes in the beginning of the novel that he has no future. This is all clearly conveyed with insight.

I will read Boy Meets Boy because everyone I've talked to says how wonderful it is. However, Marly's Ghost was a little boring and corny. I would not reccomend this book to anyone who wasn't already a David Levithan fan. I like some of the ways that the story was similar to A Christmas Carol, but I did not like others. I think the book should have departed more from the original developing the spirits into more compelling characters. I felt my eyes rolling when I learned the main character's name was Ebenezer Scrooge, and at the spirits overtly didactic speeches. Their complex messages required more nuance. The novel before the 4 spirits arrive has an authentic quality and flow (a little slow) that make it enjoyable to read.