Every Day by
David Levithan. Published by
Random House on August 28, 2012. 336 Pages (hardcover).
Source: Digital Library (loan). My Rating: 5/5 Stars
In his New York Times bestselling novel, David Levithan introduces readers to what Entertainment Weekly calls a "wise, wildly unique" love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.
Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
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.
With his new novel, David Levithan, bestselling co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.
My Review
This book. Can I just say that David Levithan is a genius?
The cover is absolutely gorgeous and automatically receives a 10 from me. LOVE IT. The summary. It's pretty simple and it sucked me in. Why? Because, it wasn't about werewolves, vampires, fairies, zombies, aliens, or a dystopian world. Although I love all of the above, I love even more to switch things up. To read a unique story line. This book exceeded all my expectations.
First, I'll go into a little bit about this book, which you can pretty much read about in the summary. "A" is a person who wakes up every day in a different body, required to carry out that person's life as usual so not to disrupt anything. "A" isn't a boy or a girl although it's easier to view "A" as a boy through the book. It seems to make things easier. "A" is just a person, a soul perhaps, that inhabits a different person every day. One day "A" wakes up in the body of Justin. He goes to school as usual and as Justin, "A" gets to meet Rhiannon, Justin's girlfriend. After spending a whole day with her, "A" realizes that to satisfy all desires, "A" must no longer follow the rules that he had set up for himself. "A" has found the person he wants to be with forever. To be able to fall asleep with and wake up to. But how is this possible when at midnight, he switches bodies?
This book took me on a ride from page one. Knowing that I was diving into a story about such a weird subject intrigued me. "A" makes his life sound just fine, that he may not be satisfied with being in a different body everyday but he knows he can't change how his reality is. Each body he inhabits is so different from the other, far beyond the lines of color and gender. It's kind of funny to follow "A" as a snobby teenage girl, a confident transvestite, a proud homosexual, a suicidal girl. So many personalities that "A" has to match up to as to not make family and friends suspicious. I had only one problem with the book: the cliffhanger. Please, David, please tell me there will be a sequel or, in the least, a companion novel! You can't just leave me pondering my thoughts for a resolution to all of this!
This book definitely earned my 5 stars. It's absolutely incredible. I didn't think I would get through this kind of book as fast as I did. But, in one day, I had devoured "A" and Rhiannon's story. I have cried with and for them. I found myself ultimately rooting for them. It's just so sad yet so joyous. What a great novel David has written. I loved it.
