David Levithan - Every Day.

David Levithan – Every Day.

Rating: 3 out of 10.

Hi everyone! I’m changing it up a little today. Pretty much every review I have done so far are of my favourite books. The ones that I rate 7 out of 10 or above. So here is a book that I personally struggled to get through. Please don’t mistake my words though. I love David Levithan’s work usually. I know a lot of people who loved this book and the story it told, but it just wasn’t my personal taste. Which is okay! Not everyone is going to like the same things. I still want to credit this book though. It tackles something so out there and with many sub themes throughout the book such as mental health. I hope you take something from this post, but I encourage you, read more reviews, read more about the book, make your own judgement.

The Blurb of the Book:

I wake up.

Immediately, I have to figure out who I am. It’s not just the body – opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I’m fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth. The body is the easiest thing to adjust to, if you’re used to waking up in a new one each morning. It’s the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp.

Every day I am someone else. I am myself – I know I am myself – but I am also someone else.

It has always been like this.

A little about the author:

David Levithan is an American author and editor, specifically for young adult fiction. He graduated from Brown University in 1994 and his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, was published in 2003.

A little about the story:

Every Day is a story that follows A. A wakes up in the body of a different person every single day. The book starts with A trying to leave as little an impact on people’s lives as possible. A spends the day living out the person’s life as if they aren’t even there. This is until A meets Rhiannon. Whilst inhabiting the body of Rhiannon’s boyfriend, A unexpectedly falls for her then does everything in their power to spend time with her, causing much more disruption to the people whose bodies are being taken over.

The main characters in this book were A and Rhiannon. The story centres around them, and their unusual love story. We watch them break rules and spin moral compasses in order to spend time together in a situation that should have made this impossible.

One of the main problems that the characters run into is the fact that A wakes up in a different body every single day. A could be considered more of a spirit than a person, jumping from body to body without any say in it. As you can imagine this puts strain on a budding relationship when you do not know what your partner will look like the next day, or how far away they’ll be.

My favourite character for this book wasn’t something I had considered before. But I would say that it is Rhiannon. She is so open and accepting of A and who they are. Despite all the obvious reasons why she should run a thousand miles away, she opens her heart to someone, something that is so different to herself. This is something people could learn from, to judge people from the way they act, and not what they look like. A looked completely different every time Rhiannon saw them, they were literally a completely different person, and she was still accepting.

I honestly didn’t find the characters in this story that relatable. And that is perfectly okay. I do love seeing myself within stories, but this isn’t a no deal for me if this isn’t there. If the story is compelling, that works for me.

My opinion on this book. I found it hard to finish. It was something I had to force myself to get through, I didn’t get sucked in to it. I found it too out there. A lot of the books I read, even if they are fantasy, and made up, and insane, they have a lot of relatable characters, and elements that can be compared to every day life. I don’t know what it was, but for me this didn’t have it. It wasn’t for me and that is great. I love the variety of books out there for the massive variety of readers. You can’t like everything!

My favourite part of the book was Rhiannon learning about A. Without too many spoilers I think it was a very good section of the book. I also liked the way the events were laid out within the book. All credits to Levithan where they are due. He knows how to write a book. Just because I didn’t like the story, that doesn’t mean I don’t like the writing. Or appreciate the tale it was telling.

If I could change something in the book I’m not really sure what it would be. Maybe A being more relatable as a lead character. I can’t quite pinpoint why this story didn’t work for me. I mean A as a person is very normal, wants to have friends, love, a life but can’t. Tries not to bother other people’s lives. Human stuff, but the waking up in a different body every day was too out there for me. I do understand what the reasoning behind that was though. So maybe I wouldn’t change anything? Maybe it just isn’t for me. Again, this is okay.

I recommend this book for people who love love stories. Because this is what this essentially is. Behind the weird front, it is following A and Rhiannon’s love for each other, and how they conquer the battles in front of them to get to each other, and whether or not they will win or lose against the universe. Also, this book is generally advertised towards the younger adult population, I think they would like and understand this book.

Thankyou so much for sticking with me this far. I hope this gave you some insight into a very different book. I really want you to make up your own mind on it, and gather your own thoughts on it, don’t just take my word for it. Take my words with a pinch of salt as we are all different people with different likes. Let me know what you thought of this book.

Stay Curious!

J x