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.
 

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares: Review

Title: Dash and Lily's Book of Dares

Author: David Levithan, Rachel Cohn

Release Date: October 2010

Published By: Knopf Books

Pages: 260

Goodreads Rating: 3.93 stars

Review: Lily has left a red notebook on the shelves of a bookstore in New York City, just waiting for the right guy to come along and follow the clues inside. As Dash and Lily exchange dares, dreams, and desires in the pages of the notebook from various locations in the city, they start to wonder. Could they connect as well in-person as they do in the notebook? Or will they be a cosmic mismatch of disastrous proportions?

As you can tell just from reading the summary, the concept of DASH AND LILY'S BOOK OF DARES is adorable. Not to mention that, hello, David Levithan and Rachel Cohn wrote it, so obviously this book is more or less destined to be great. It came as no surprise to me that every word of this book lived up to my expectations of both a fun and heart-warming romance.

Every romance is only as good as the two characters involved, and can I just say, Dash was perfect. He was witty, kind, vulnerable, and oh-so-real, and it was not hard at all to feel that side of the romance. Initially, however, I was lukewarm towards Lily as she came across as a bit too annoying and uptight, but over time, my feelings towards her relaxed and I liked her as well.

But what I loved most about this book is that it wasn't as predictable as you might expect. From the summary, you would think this is a novel where the guy and the girl meet through cute notebook exchanges and then eventually meet up and since they are obviously perfect for each other, they fall into obvious perfect love. But it wasn't like that. Much more realistically, things weren't so simple when they actually met in person, and while the ending wasn't precisely what I'd been rooting for, I could understand it.

All in all, DASH AND LILY'S BOOK OF DARES had exactly the kind of quality you would expect upon seeing the authors' names stamped across the cover. From the adorable romance to the incredibly written characters, everything about this book is simultaneously transporting and real. Even the end is perfect, if a bit on the painful side of honest. I would recommend this to anyone who's a fan of either of these authors, or wants to try them out for the first time.