Every Day

by David Levithan
published: Knopf, 2012
pages: 322

A wakes up everyday in a different body and lives their life for a day and then goes to bed.  That's how he's lived life and he's come to terms with it.  Until one day A wakes up in a body and Rhiannon.  After that, all the rules he's lived his life by change.   A makes decision to find a way to be with her every day for the rest of his life, but it's not as easy as he hopes.

The concept is incredibly unique and unlike anything I'd ever heard of.  The idea of this book is great. I loved thinking about the possibilities of someone jumping from body to body each day, dealing with whatever comes their way.  It's a cool concept but it's also slightly unnerving.  A's been hopping around since as long as he can remember, what an isolated and lonely life to live.

One thing I particularly liked about A was that while he inhabited each body, he tried to keep their life on path, for the most part.  A didn't go around doing whatever he wanted, he generally lived their lives the way the would have, and in some cases may have made decisions that they wouldn't have made themselves, to help.  A could have been the kind of person to take advantage of the day to day life, but he isn't.  (Although, he forgets for a while.)

I found myself being very frustrated with several of the characters because of their indecision and their judgement.  I did not like the obsessive nature in which A goes about figuring out how far he is from Rhiannon every day and whether or not it would cause too much a problem to see her.  I wanted everything to work out, but at the same time it was unsettling to think that A essentially used other people for his own purposes, something that before Rhiannon he tried very hard not to do.  There's no way around it because doesn't have his own body, but it's weird.  Unless A found a way to stay, he and Rhiannon would never figure it out.

However, I loved the ending of this book.  It was very poetic, apropos, in the true to the storytelling of David Levithan. A story like this needed a good ending and Levithan gave it one.

Stars: 3/5

Praise:

"Fresh, unique, funny and achingly honest...I didn't just read this book-I inhaled it."
     --Jodi Picoult

"Levithan's self-conscious, analytical style marries perfectly with the plot.  His musings on love, longing and human nature knit seamlessly with A's journey....An awe-inspiring, thought-provoking reminder that love reachers beyond physical appearances or gender."
     --Kirkus Reviews

"An irrisistible premise...Those familiar with Levithan's earlier work will not be a bit surprised to learn that his latest is beautifully written...a study in style, an exercise in imagination, and an opportunity for readers themselves to occupy another life, that of A himself."
     --Booklist