Every Day: Review

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Release Date: August 2012
Published By: Knopf
Pages: 336
Goodreads Rating: 4.04 stars

Review: Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 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.

I didn't expect any less from David Levithan, but EVERY DAY was an excellent book with an intriguing and inventive concept behind it. The idea of waking up every day in a different body is fascinating, and even more interesting are the questions that come with it, which Levithan explored to some extent. For instance, questions about identity and sexuality are raised, and what it means to be "you" when you're a different "you" every day.

I did, however, want more of an exploration of these topics, or at least more of an explanation. To be honest, I don't really buy the idea that A would be able to form as much of an approximation of a personality as he did (for sake of ease, I will refer to A as male even though his gender is much more fluid than that). I feel like someone who lives like that wouldn't be self-aware, or at least not as much as a normal person is, and because of that, I really wanted a more satisfying explanation for why he was able to be who he was.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the book, because I very much did. And in fact, I particularly liked the ending, and felt that given the circumstances, it was a pretty satisfying conclusion. I know there are some people who definitely were not fans of it, but I think it's the only one that would've made sense. Any other ending would just be plain unrealistic, and would taste more off than this one.

All in all, EVERY DAY was an excellent novel - one that I would recommend every day (excuse the pun). From the intriguing exploration of difficult topics to unique and original concept, almost every part of this book was crafted with the kind of skill I've learned to expect from this author. I did wish for more of an explanation/discussion on certain aspects, but other than that, this was a near-flawless book that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.