Book Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Title: Every Day
Author: David Levithan
Reviewer: Kinsey Manchester
Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis: Every morning, A wakes up as a completely different person. A may be an obese boy one day, and a beautiful girl the next. He has lived a lonely life, spending one day in a person’s body and never knowing why. A does know that he is the only one who does this, which makes him feel even more isolated. He lives each day with the purpose of never getting caught as an intruder in the lives which he interrupts. A has rules to live by: to never get too attached to the people he interacts with, and to avoid interfering too much in a person’s life. These guidelines keep him from being heartbroken because every morning he wakes up as someone else entirely, with any people from the past day completely out of his life. While A generally handles his strange existence well, he always longs to be normal and have just one person care for him. One day, he wakes up as a boy named Justin and his world changes. A falls in love with Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. Things will never be the same, because A has found someone worth reaching out to. A breaks all of his rules to try to be with the girl he loves, but many problems arise. One day he may wake up right next to her house, but the next day, he may be over 6 hours away from her. One day, he may be a boy, but the next, he is a girl. How can someone love a person who is different every single day? Rhiannon comes to recognize A by the way he looks at her, but being together for a long time does not seem realistic. This story is about how love can sometimes surprise you and break all of the rules. The question is whether or not it can overcome the greatest obstacle of all, which is looking past someone’s outer appearance to see and love only their inner self.

Every day is one of the most unique and interesting stories I have ever read. Reading the back cover of this book, I wasn’t sure if any author could pull off the feat of having a main character be someone different every single day, but David Levithan exceeded my expectations with flying colors. David Levithan does an extremely good job of making A’s lifestyle seem normal.  I kept putting myself in A’s position and understanding exactly how he felt. I grew to love A and his crazy way of living. I cheered when Rhiannon and A’s relationship progressed, and got sad when it hit its bumps. I must say that I learned a lot from this book, about love and friendship. I loved the ideas presented in this book, which included loving people for other than their outward appearance.  A said that the normal person should value the people in their life more, which is true. Oftentimes, humans do not realize just how lucky they are to have the people that they do. A spent some very trying days as a depressed, grieving, alcoholic, suicidal, or mentally challenged person, and appreciated just how much they overcame in order to be normal. I felt bad for A and that he never had real parents or someone to love him until Rhiannon came along. As the book moved on, I realized that A was not that much different from anyone else. Sure, he is never the same person twice, but he has a lot of the same values that I do. I related to him completely and hated when I reached the last page of the book. I was not completely satisfied with the ending, which was my one and only complaint. Overall though, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in a unique and enthralling love story.