Books › The Realm of Possibility
The Realm of Possibility
224 pages
A tender, kaleidoscopic exploration of teenage life told through a chorus of poetic voices.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like walking the halls of a high school while being able to hear the secret, beating heart of every person you pass. Because it is written entirely in verse, the pace is brisk, yet the emotional weight of the words demands that you linger. The mood shifts effortlessly from melancholic and isolated to sunlit and hopeful, mirroring the turbulent, ever-changing landscape of adolescence. Each poem adopts a unique structure to match its narrator, creating a prose style that is both deeply experimental and profoundly accessible. It is a deeply empathetic reading experience that will delight anyone who loves character-driven vignettes, lyrical writing, and stories that celebrate the quiet, invisible threads connecting us all.
- Mood
- intimate
- melancholic
- uplifting
- reflective
- Tone
- earnest
- introspective
- empathetic
- tender
- hopeful
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- interconnectedness of lives · first love and heartbreak · teenage identity · finding one's voice · the messy beauty of growing up
- The writing
- Lyrical and structurally inventive, utilizing diverse poetic forms to give each character a distinct, emotionally raw voice.
- The arc
- Moves from isolated moments of adolescent longing and insecurity toward a sweeping, collective sense of hope and belonging.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave emotionally intimate, character-driven stories and appreciate the rhythmic, distilled beauty of novels-in-verse.
Content notes
- bullying
- homophobia
- depression
- eating disorders
- underage drinking
About the book
Here’s what I know about the realm of possibility— it is always expanding, it is never what you think it is. Everything around us was once deemed impossible. From the airplane overhead to the phones in our pockets to the choir girl putting her arm around the metalhead. As hard as it is for us to see sometimes, we all exist within the realm of possibility. Most of the limits are of our own world’s devising. And yet, every day we each do so many things that were once impossible to us.
Enter The Realm of Possibility and meet a boy whose girlfriend is in love with Holden Caulfield; a girl who loves the boy who wears all black; a boy with the perfect body; and a girl who writes love songs for a girl she can’t have.
These are just a few of the captivating characters readers will get to know in this intensely heartfelt new novel about those ever-changing moments of love and heartbreak that go hand-in-hand with high school. David Levithan plumbs the depths of teenage emotion to create an amazing array of voices that readers won’t forget. So, enter their lives and prepare to welcome the realm of possibility open to us all. Love, joy, and these stories will linger
Description from Open Library.
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