Every Day – David Levithan – Review (Spoilers)

I have read a number of books by David Levithan and I have loved them all. He has a unique story telling ability. Each of his stories explores an interesting concept and the characters are ones that are lasting. Every Day was no different. The concept is what drew me to the book. The idea of someone waking up everyday in a new body and a new life seemed like a very fresh idea to me.

I wasn’t sure how this book was going to play out. I wondered what the over arching story was going to be. I also wondered if it was going to be more like a documentary, following a number of lives and seeing the ways people are different and the same.

Every Day was ultimately a love story. It was a story that explored the concept of what love is and what love can do. Can love really conquer all like many say or are there limitations? What can’t love do?

A is someone who has been waking up in a new body everyday for their entire life. (I will be using the pronoun their while talking about A because A does not have a specified gender. They change bodies everyday and thus change sexes everyday). A only wakes up in bodies that are the same age as them, someone who is close by and they never inhabit the same body twice.

One of the things I really liked about this book was that there was no limitations to the type of person that A inhabited. They woke up in boys, girls, people who were gay, straight and transgender. They woke up in addict’s bodies and those battling depression. Some of the people were great people, full of compassion and kindness and some were cruel and angry. Levithan did a great job at showing the range of people who surround us everyday.

A falls in love with Rhiannon one of the bodies’s they wake up in girlfriends. They feel a connection almost instantly. A feels as if Rhiannon is not being treated as she should be treated. They create a perfect day even though they know they won’t be around the next day. At the end of the day before A goes to sleep and changes bodies they realize that they’ve fallen in love with Rhinnon. The question of the book becomes how do you maintain a relationship when you are in a different body everyday?

This book gave a great look into the power of love. I have heard a number of times that love can conquer anything. Love is this all powerful force that will win all battles. The power of love is more powerful than any other magic or idea, but is it? Can love really win all the time? Is there anything outside of love’s power?

This book suggest that there are something that even love can’t conquer. No matter how much the two people involved want it to win, love sometimes loses.

I know there are a number of readers who would be upset by the idea that love loses. I, on the other hand, liked the way that this all played out. I thought it was much more realistic that things didn’t end up perfect and cutesy. I have read so many books and seen a number of movies where the two people get their relationship to work even though it makes little to no sense. Some weird connection of events makes everything perfect. It becomes forced. This was anything but forced.

A is a new person everyday, literally. They wake up not knowing where they will be or who they will be. How can they or anyone maintain a real relationship like that? Rhiannon repeatedly says she has no idea how this can work and I agree with her.

They both try a number of ways for it to all work but it just doesn’t. I am a very open minded person. I want to see the impossible work out. I believe a lot of things are possible but for me I don’t think I could do this. I could not be with someone not knowing who they will be everyday. It’s not so much the gender (thought that does seem an issue for Rhiannon), but more the circumstances and logistics of the whole thing. How do you explain that to friends and family? How do you explain it to anyone? What about those who know the other person how do you explain it to them? And what happens the next day? You can’t derail a life for a day in order to make yourself happy. It is all just too complicated.

Rhiannon realizes quickly that there is no future possible for her and A. Marriage and kids is not a possiblity. There are just too many things that get in the way, making the situation impossible to navigate.

I felt bad for A. They live other people’s lives. They don’t have any of their own. Their bodies aren’t their own. All they have is their thoughts and feelings but no real life to live. They can’t drastically change anything because it could hurt someone else. This created a good tension within the story. Watching as A decided how to navigate the world they lived in was interesting because it so different than other stories I have read before.

I really did want A to be happy. I wanted them to some how figure things out but I also didn’t want A to destroy other’s lives in the process. I liked not knowing who I was rooting for the entire book. This back and forth between what I wanted to happen made me keep reading. I didn’t imagine this book having any real suspense but it did.

In the end Every Day was a great read. You get a glimpse into a number of different lives, and see that while we are different in a number of ways we are also very similar as well. With the issues our world is continuously facing today I think all could benefit from living inside someone else’ life for a day. Everyone would gain a new perspective and hopefully have a more open mind.

I definitely recommend this as something to read if you are looking for a quick and easy read. I highly enjoyed this book, even though A was a bit pushy at times, I was able to overlook that because of the age they were. If you want to experience a number of lives and character while also exploring how powerful love can be you will enjoy this story.