Danny and Elijah are brothers who seem to have nothing more in common than parents and gender. Elijah is a free-spirited thinker heading into his last year at a private coed high school, and Danny is a type-A, up-and-coming ad executive. In an attempt to warm their relationship, their parents trick the two into taking a trip to Italy together. Elijah falls for—and beds—an older woman who is really more interested in Danny. Danny toys with the idea of pursuing her, but he becomes completely turned off by the way she treats his brother. Heartbreak, a walk down memory lane and a shared Jewish heritage bring the boys together to a believable degree as they return to their lives in the States. Levithan works his magic creating two real and round narrators in a series of poetic vignettes. The alternating point of view not only fleshes out the brothers and their relationship, it also keeps the simple story moving. Obviously written or at least set before the Iraq war, this beautiful glimpse of fraternal love will be at home in any public library’s YA section. (Fiction. YA)
