Every Day
by David Levithan
Published: 29th August by Egmont UK
Version: Paperback from publisher (review my own, honest opinion)
Rating: 4 sofas
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.
As soon as I heard about this book I knew it was going to be pure gold. David Levithan’s writing evokes such emotion, and Every Day is no different.
The book tells the story of A, who wakes up each morning in a different body. He lives out their lives, accessing memories to discover their every day routine. For A, the days blend into each other. Until he takes on the body of Justin, and he sets eyes on Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. He knows he has to do anything possible to stay in contact with her. However, this proves difficult when he has no way of telling where, or who, he will wake up tomorrow.
As well as exploring the love for Rhiannon, A also mentions what it is like to jump between diverse groups of society. Man, woman, gay, straight, transgendered or blind, A has experienced it all. And this allows for so many questions. A notices that he receives more affection from girls when he is a cute boy as opposed to an obese one, or another girl.
The whole question of love in terms of personality or looks is thrown on the table in this novel. David Levithan examines which is more important in society and whether long distance relationships are really possible. It gives us a huge insight into how people’s lives differ.
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“This is what love does: It makes you want to rewrite the world. It makes you want to choose the characters, build the scenery, guide the plot. The person you love sits across from you, and you want to do everything in your power to make it possible, endlessly possible. And when it’s just the two of you, alone in a room, you can pretend that this is how it is, this is how it will be.”
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The only thing I think let this book down was the ending. I had a feeling how it was going to go, but that doesn’t mean I liked it! Ultimately I think this book could do with a sequel, or at least an epilogue.
From a scientific perspective, the book opened a can of worms with questions that I want answers to. Such as where did A come from? Who are his parents? Is he human? A ghost? Could he jump from birth? Is there a way to make it stop? How exactly does he enter and exit peoples bodies?
Every Day left me thinking about true love and the artificial nature of it all. Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, the novel itself was beautifully written and took me on a journey inside myself as well as the characters in the book. Yet another David Levithan masterpiece. 4 sofas!
Snuggling On The Sofa 