Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan

"There's the drown of things and the swim of things, I guess. I've been going back and forth, back and forth. I feel the wight of it. And this bewilderment - how can something that doesn't have a form, doesn't have a definition, doesn't have words - how can it have such weight? And yet there's the need to swim."

My local library has a "For Sale" section in which you can find books they've pulled from the shelves for one reason or another are sold for about fifty cents or one dollar. I often frequent this section in hopes of finding a new treasure while at the same time using it as yet another way in which I can help fund something I believe in. (This is also why I have no problem paying my late fees as soon as I accrue them. I know where my money's going and it is something I love.) This is the section in which I found Love is the Higher Law. I recognized David Levithan's name from the fact that he co-wrote Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green, as well as hearing his name all over the YA news annals, so I decided to give this small novel a shot.

Love is the Higher Law is a novel depicting the destruction of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, as seen by three teenagers all living in New York City at the time of the attacks. Claire, Jasper, and Peter all have very different lives and perspectives of life itself. As we see through their eyes, we see how such a great tragedy affected them and the way they will go about their lives from here on out. Each of them is tied to the others and each experiences September 11th in a different way, but maybe each will come out the stronger for it in the end.

Nearly everyone remembers where they were the day New York City was attacked by terrorists and planes slammed into multiple American monuments, killing thousands and sending the nation into a deep state of fearfulness and eventually a war. I was in fourth grade, playing on the playground, when my teacher called us in to tell us what had happened. My mother picked me up early. My brother had been home sick and he came with her to take my sister and I home.

Being so young, and also living in Texas, I clearly didn't experience it in nearly the same way a New York City teen would have experienced this sort of thing. David Levithan manages to capture the terror one must have felt in the face of so terrible an event as well as the hope that came after it. Honestly, there are few books that I have read that can compare with this one when it comes to being so beautiful and heart-breaking all at once. His descriptions are stunning and the emotions he captures are so deeply truthful that you can't help feeling the honesty in his very phrasing of the words.

Beautiful really is the most accurate word I can find for this little gem. I look forward to rereading this again and again.

Rating: ★★★★★

This, I think, is how people survive: Even when horrible things have been done to us, we can still find gratitude in one another.