If Boy Meets Boy didn't end happily, readers who went along on this lighthearted journey in this almost-perfect town would have been sorely disappointed. And indeed, we get the basic plotline that follows the beginning boy meets boy, which is boy loses boy (middle) and then boy wins boy (end). That all plays out here, but with a twist: what really makes everybody happy is not the moment when they're alone with their boyfriends, but the moment when they're all together as friends.
In fact, you could say the happiness happens in spite of the boyfriends, or lack thereof: at the end of the book, Joni's still with Chuck, and Tony's still single, but as long as everybody's got their friends, they're happy.
Questions About Happiness
- Do happiness and sadness become flip sides of the same coin when you're in love?
- Does true happiness intensify the fear of sadness?
- If you make someone else responsible for your happiness, like Joni does with Chuck, is the happiness you feel actually real?
- Can friends give you a kind of happiness a boyfriend or girlfriend can't? How are they the same? How are they different?
Chew on This
Tony's friendship with Paul is based on mutual hope; his friendship with Kyle is based on mutual loneliness.
The moment in the book when Paul arguably feels the saddest is not when Noah dumps him, but when Joni does. It's definitely when he feels the most anger. It can be more agonizing to break up with a long-time friend than a short-term boyfriend, no matter how in love you are with the latter.