Every Day by David Levithan
Every Day
Pros
- Incredibly diverse
- Highly original
- Thought provoking
Cons
- Unanswered questions
- Sometimes confusing
- Potentially unsatisfying ending
Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Original Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Original Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Queer Representation: A (queer/genderfluild?) protagonist, multiple lesbian, gay, bi, trans embodied characters
Page Length: 352 pages
A highly unique and experimental look and gender and sexual identity and embodiment that will leave you wanting more.
Memorable Quote: “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: We all want everything to be okay. We don’t even wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.”
REVIEW:
Every day of A’s life, A wakes up in a new body body. After 24 hours A is whisked away from one person and into the next. There seems to be no order or pattern to who A borrows except that it is never the same person twice, always around the same age that A is, and never too far from the last one. Over the years, A has developed a series of rules to follow so as to not mess up the life of whoever A is inhabiting: A will not interfere and try to leave as little trace as possible.
This all changes, however, when A borrows the body of Justin and falls for his girlfriend Rhiannon. A sees Justin and Rhiannon’s relationship as toxic and decides to give Rhiannon a day of happiness, skipping school with her to go to the beach. A few days later, when A has borrowed the body of the highly religious Nathan, A decides to break the rules further by driving to a house party that Rhiannon will be attending, something Nathan would never do. When A eventually tells Rhiannon the truth, the two try to find a way to be together, no matter what body A is inhabiting that day. But A has another problem too; Nathan remembers being inhabited and thinks that he was possessed by the devil. While most people do not take Nathan seriously, the story does begin to receive attention in the news.
In Every Day, David Levithan delivers an incredibly unique story that asks us to question everything we know about gender, sexuality, love, and happiness. While the beginning of the book may be somewhat difficult to understand, after following A through their first few days readers will surely be hooked. A and Rhiannon are both highly complex characters; the conversations that they have contemplating the meaning of existence help them both to grow and truly get the readers thinking. Every Day has been so successful that it has spawned a movie, companion novel, and a forthcoming sequel .
