Every Day: A Book Review

There will be NO SPOILERS in this review. Enjoy! (:

For today's post, I will be reviewing my first novel written entirely by David Levithan. Ever since I read Will Grayson, Will Grayson years ago I have been meaning to read some more of David's works (similar with Maureen Johnson- I will get there eventually!), and I'm excited to review this piece.

I had no real reason for selecting Every Day. I simply put David's name into the Amazon search engine and this book was the first to come up so I picked it. (I know. I'm so amazingly decisive.) But as luck would have it, I'm very happy this was the book to come up. However, before I completely spoil how much I enjoyed this book, let's get into the review!

(photo taken from Kindle app on my phone)

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Genre: YA, contemporary
Pages: 336
Release date: August 28, 2012
Links: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads



"Everybody wants to believe in a higher power. Everybody wants to belong to something bigger than themselves, and everybody wants company in doing that. They want there to be a force of god on earth, and they want an incentive to be a part of that force. They want to be able to prove their belief and their belonging, through rituals and devotion. They want to touch the enormity."





First, here's the back-cover description taken from Amazon:

"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."

My thoughts as I read the book:

The plot of this book is obviously very intriguing. It doesn't ever get boring because once the potential arises, the day ends and it's a new body. But even then, it never got boring for me in the least. Just putting that out there.

At the start, I felt I was slightly impatient. The concept was interesting and unique, but I wanted some conflict. Right at about the 25% mark (as if David could read my mind) the conflict arrived. It arrived so heavily I can remember the moment of lying in my bed at night and suddenly being aware of the presence of my heart and it's pounding in my chest. From then on I had no complaints.

I did not want to put this book down. And for someone who likes to wake up before the sun rises to squeeze in a morning run, that created some issues. Luckily (in a bittersweet sort of way) the book was such a fast read that it didn't interfere with my schedule too much.

Every Day is a book that makes you sit and think about your "every day" life and how you utilize those 24 hours. It was very thought provoking all throughout. 

Characters:

I won't say too much about the characters other than the fact that the protagonist, A, was incredibly easy to relate to and likable. Rhiannon, his female interest, was as well. Together, they were incredibly lovable. The novel did a great job at creating the character for a person who has no physical appearance.

In so many novels, the authors try to give the sense of someone's character by describing their hair, their skin color, their outfit. A doesn't have any of those. Not permanently at least. And in spite this, or maybe as a result of it, David did a superb job at creating his character.

My reaction to the end (don't worry. no spoilers):

Tell me my copy is missing the last twenty pages or something.

Tell me I have not reached the end of this book.

OH MY GOD WHAT IS THIS

(brownie points for those of you who get the reference)

My overall impression:

Oh. My. I did not expect it at all, but this book tore at my heartstrings. It was a literal tearjerker. And not just once either! There were multiple parts of this book where I could feel the tears building up behind my eyes and I had to force them away. I won't say if they were happy/sad/"you get me" tears, but there were tears, and they were demanding to be shed (more brownie points).

Though it's never a mission of mine while I read to take out some sort of political message, I couldn't help but feel like David was trying to convey the universality of love regardless of sexual orientation. It was something I couldn't help but noticed as A occupied both male and female bodies and I rather appreciated when A said that he didn't fall in love with genders, but with personalities. It made me like him that much more. 

Final Verdict:

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It was heartfelt, moving, so so quotable, and it was one of those books that once I finished I knew it would stay with me. Definite recommendation. I will be reading more of David's works in the future as well.


I have so many quotes I loved from this book. But nothing is more annoying than a person who spoils all the good quotes of a book before you get a chance to read them in context yourself. So, here I chose an arbitrary one about running that I really connected with. I'll let you read the rest of the amazing quotes yourself if you choose to read the book.

"I run. I am made for running. Because when you run, you could be anyone. You hone yourself into a body, nothing more or less than a body. You respond as a body, to the body. If you are racing to win, you have no thoughts but the body's thoughts, no goals but the body's goals. You obliterate yourself in the name of speed. You negate yourself in order to make it past the finish line."

Further Reading:

As you have probably deciphered from the photo to the right, David also wrote a shorter companion to this novel, Six Earlier Days. It's very short and is only sold in e-format. More of a novella than a novel.

Either way, I have read it as well. And no, it does not continue the story in Every Day. It's more of a prequel to give us readers insight into the A before the novel.

Mini review:

I enjoyed it. I didn't feel it was entirely necessary in understanding A's character. I thought Every Day already did that excellently. But I did enjoy it.

I'll provide one quote that made me laugh:

"If this body is a car I'm driving, it's a model that they want."


But that is all for this review...


Thanks for reading!
If you decide to pick up this book leave a comment and let me know.
If you have already read it, comment below and let me know too.
And lastly, if you got my silly references, please let me know that as well.

Have a great day/night everyone!