Every Day by David Levithan
Release Date: August 28, 2012
Source: Purchased
Order: Powells || Amazon
Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body, a different person’s life. There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.
It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day. — Goodreads
In a nutshell: Unwilling body jumper falls in love. FEELINGS.
Main Character: Every day A wakes up in a different body, one he will inhabit for only 24 hours. A is of indeterminate gender and doesn’t relate to being either male or female. For the purpose of this review, I’ll use the pronoun “he,” however. Really, I don’t know what to tell you about him, because I know very little about A’s personality or voice and I know nothing about his looks, quirks or habits. Every day brings something new, meaning that A is a patchwork. We discuss his feelings a lot, but at the end, all I can really say is that he falls in love.
Love Interest? Did I mention he falls in love? Her name is Rhiannon and she’s pretty but doesn’t know it, if you can believe that. That never happens in books. (wink.) Rhiannon is kind, open and understanding. We get to know her along with A, through shared memories and short stories and I liked her all the better with each of them. She’s stuck in a not-ideal relationship with Justin at the beginning of the book and we see her progress up and out of it. As she gets to know A, and as she sees him switch from body to body, she must determine if she loves A enough to love him in any form he’s in. To constantly cover the distance between them and find ways to be together.
Despite the surrealism involved in the story, Rhiannon has the most moments grounded in realism.
Supporting Character Racism? There was definitely some inequality present, partially due to the transitory nature of A’s life. There are only 3 characters present through the bulk of the book: A, Rhiannon, and Nathan, the closest thing we have to an antagonist. His body was invaded by A, but when real!Nathan wakes up the next day inexplicably parked on the side of the road, with little to no memories of what’s happened, Nathan cries “demon possession” and launches an investigation of sorts. Nathan is rather one dimensional and felt mostly like a thing to do when we weren’t talking about our feelings.
Negligent Parent? A doesn’t know anything about his parents. In his life in the bodies of different people, we get glimpses of a negligent parent or two, but never in a main plot point way.
Ho Suspensions? There was some making out and nakedness, but considering A wakes up in a different body every day, I think he deserved it.
A+: Levithan has a pretty style, if you happen to like somewhat angsty takes on life. He’s very good with words and with big ticket items like love and relationships lined up, he shines in a few places with his sweetly simplistic efforts.
Fail: It gets a little preachy. What starts off as an exploration of how to make a relationship work and what makes people fall in love soon becomes IT DOESN’T MATTER IF I’M A GIRL OR BOY! OR UNATTRACTIVE TO YOU! DON’T BE SHALLOW, BE LIKE ME!! LOVE ME ANYWAYS. Though I appreciate what Levithan was trying to accomplish, it became heavy handed.
The End: Booooooooooo. A half ending typical of these feelings-type books.
And so: If you are familiar with David Levithan and enjoyed his previous work, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this. If you enjoy more emotional development than plot development in your books, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you like to highlight quotes in a book for later usage on Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook, you’ll probably find a few choice ones in Every Day.
Final Grade: C+