David Levithan

Every day I am someone else. I am myself – I know I am myself – but I am also someone else. It has always been like this. Each morning, A wakes up in a different body. There’s never any warning about who it will be, but A is used to that. Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. And that’s fine – until 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 – every day . . . A stunningly original novel that will make you view the world from a different perspective

Every Day

Immediately I have to figure out who I am. It's not just the body-opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I'm fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth. The body is the easiest thing to adjust to, if you're used to waking up in a new one each morning. It's the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp... (Quelle: Verlagsangaben).

Someone

It would be too easy to say that I feel invisible. Instead, I feel painfully visible, and entirely ignored.

Every morning A wakes in a different person's body, in a different person's life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.

Every day

Bria

** spoiler alert **
           literally fuck rhiannon

Every morning OAO wakes in a different person's body, in a different person's life, learning over the years to never get too attached, until he wakes up in the body of Justin and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend, Rhiannon.

Nabila Azahra

3 stars

The book itself has a great premise but I left pretty disapointed by this. This book was straight up romance. I just need a little explanation of how is it or why. I didn’t even like A that much. But Levithan did a beautiful writings in here! ❤️

Maui S.

This book is just... I'm just sad right now.

Annika Arguemore

I can't even begin to explain how this book captivated and intrigued me in more ways than one. I doubted the book's premise at first but then realized as I was reading that it works. It did work because the story was placed and enunciated in the most capable of hands. Flawless. Poignant. Brilliant.

Kritika Narula

David Levithan had been on my reading list for far too long. I don't like keeping books waiting but alas, So many books, so little time. 
So, when Another Day, a companion was announced, it shot up my interest so much so that I ended up reading Every Day, abandoning all other current reads. 
Was it worth it? You might ask. And my answer would be incontrovertibly, undeniably yes. It was so totally worth it. 
The plot is as refreshing as it gets. It is the story that delves deep into our definitions of friendship, love, companionship and belonging. How far will we go to be with someone? How far are we ready to bend the rules? Is bending the rules worth the breach? Does the breach justify the end? Are we ready for the consequences?
It gets you thinking and keeps you so.

But here is a friendly warning: to fully understand the book, and to let it to what it intends to, you need to accept it as fiction, being a realist wouldn't help. The beauty of the book lies in how it ticks our thinking cells by bringing another dimension to our world. 
This is the story of A. A wakes up each day in a new body- and that implies he misses out on so much. On having an address, on having a family, permanent fiends, and so on. Things we take for granted. Things we'd lose and not realize what hey're worth. 

Apart from the lessons in living, the plot sure does hold a sense of mystery and intrigue. The author has done such a great job in weaving a plot out of nothing, and I am definitely going to read more from the author.
A beautifully written book, provokes you into thinking incessantly, and makes you question the right and wrong.

julia

This was a good story, but I really didn't like how A acted. I know this should be a minor thing, but it was all I could think about. First of all, he barely knew Rhiannon before he decided he was in love with her. Secondly, he's messing up people's lives. He's fully aware of this. So WHY are other peoples' lives worth messing up to stalk some random girl? It was kind of a sweet story, but I was so bothered by the main character.

jess

I feel like i am reading a young adult book. Prosaic and nothing seems out of ordinary, just like a typical ya book. Betrayed by my own expectations, i guess i will not spend time for the next sequel.

Melissa Palmer

Book #40 Read in 2013
Every Day (YA) by David Levithan

Every day "A" wakes up in someone else's body. He can access their memories and set up some ones for them to remember the next day, but he never knows what body he will inhabit next. He takes over Justin's body one day and falls in love with Justin's girlfriend Rhiannon. A continues to see her, no matter what body he is in, and eventually tells her the truth of his life, or lack thereof. Rhiannon has no way of knowing what he will look like the next day. She wants to be with A but does not know how.

This is a fantasy read that has a romantic aspect to it. I enjoyed this book. Each day was interesting to read about and I was rooting for A and Rhiannon to find a way to be together for good. These characters were ones that I cared about quickly. I recommend it.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Katherine Yang

I love David Levithan, and the writing is lovely as always, but I have to say I didn't particularly like or empathise with the characters. Which doesn't always have to be the case, but feels necessary for a story focused on "love transcending all".

Maria

I came across the movie and was surprised at how pleasant/non-cringy/delightful it turned out to be so I read and finished the book on the same day. I like the author's prose, and the book is very forward-thinking in how it presents current social issues. The setup and plot are pretty compelling. A is an old soul, and I enjoy listening to his old soul musings. I'd recommend for a breezy easy Sunday afternoon read. This is my first YA in two years, and it reminds me that it's refreshing and nice to read a good YA once in awhile.

Originally reviewed Jan 05, 2015 | Imported from my Goodreads account

Alberto

Cat Josephson

I didn't love this, but I didn't hate it.... okay, that's not true. I hated the writing style, and the fact that "A" just came off as a stalker to me. Everything else was okay. 2.5/5 stars.

Savindi Jinasena

Cover Gushing Worthiness: I think the cover of Every Day suits the book really well. However it is quite similar to the book cover of
  
 by Julie Cross. Every Day has the same sort of idea behind it. I think the cover captures the chaos of being someone different every day and learning to adapt to their life. The final verdict is I really like this cover.

Review: Regular visitors to  The Streetlight Reader know how much I enjoy David Levithan’s work. I honestly had no idea he had written a new book until I saw a picture of a stack of Every Day books on facebook and immediately pre-ordered it. I’ve heard that the premise is similar to a tv showed called Quantum Leap. I haven’t watched this show actually, but maybe those of you who have read the book and watched the show can tell me what you think?

I really liked the premise of this book. Even though sometimes we refer to ourselves as being non-judgmental and this isn't always true. We do judge people, I mean that’s how we choose our friends and acquaintances. We can't choose our families, but you get what I mean! Where I'm going with the judgment point is, how do you love someone who is different without judging at all when they appear in front of you? You know they are the person you love, but they're living someone else’s life. How do you wrap your head around that concept? I think that’s why I liked this book so much, because it questioned one of the core aspects of being human. How do you love unconditionally? Is it even possible?

I liked learning about A living the lives of different people for the day. Just to let the readers know, A is 16 years old and therefore the lives entered are usually those of other 16-year-old teenagers. What Every Day touched upon was how different and yet how similar the lives of people are. In the end we want more or less the same things; love, respect, honesty, friendship etc. Some of the lives A entered were disturbing and you genuinely felt for some of the people, while others reminded you of some of the preppy kids who were so rude to you during High School. The beautiful thing about this novel was none of the lives were unrealistic. Levithan wrote the lives of these individuals in a way where the reader can relate to at least one of them and I appreciated that.

I don't think it’s possible to find fault with the writing or pacing of the book because this is such a different story from what I usually read. Every Day was a different life, so therefore it was hard to find a climax and to be honest I had no problem with that.

As for the characters I liked A a lot. I’m trying not to refer to A as he or she because A appears to be an entity who is genderless. However as I was reading the book I think A can be referred to as ‘He’. There were some lives where you wished A didn't interfere as much as he did because you rooted for some of the other people in the person’s life, but other than that I found myself feeling for A and the circumstances he had to go through (okay I said I was trying not to use personal pronouns and it’s a bit hard!). Wendy from The Midnight Garden mentioned the relationship between Rhiannon and A and how it developed quite fast in her review. I have to say I agree with her. I wasn’t sure what made Rhiannon so special in A’s eyes, but it might have been that they were both looking for something better in their lives. Personally I liked Rhiannon a lot too. She was a realistic character who responded the way anyone would if they were told the person they're interested in lives in a different body every day. I also appreciated her honesty when she admitted she wasn't sure if she could do this. Justin was the jerk boyfriend as expected, but I did want to know more about his and Rhiannon’s relationship. The character I despised the most and can be seen as the antagonist of the story was Reverend Pool. He just made my skin crawl, but I did like the twist that involved him in the end.

Throughout the story I did root for a relationship between A and Rhiannon. It was bittersweet to see how hard they were trying to do it without expectations, feelings of resentment and trying to define their relationship. After all I don’t think their relationship falls into any relationship category in existence. What I liked about their relationship was it made you question hope and reality. Is it right to hope when you know in reality things are different? Is it okay to hope for a miracle?

Overall, Every Day was an enjoyable read. A part of me felt that it was missing a some kind of Levithan spark and I might have felt that way because there was no proper ending. The more I think about it, this book isn’t about getting all the answers, rather it is about exploring your own ideas and conceptions of what love is and what it should be. I’m going to include some of my favourite quotes from the book. I hope you enjoy them!


  "I want love to conquer all. But love can’t conquer anything. It can’t do anything on its own. It relies on us to do the conquering on its behalf."



  "The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations – all of them rearranging themselves so this precise, remarkable intersection could happen. In your heart, in your bones, no matter how silly you know it is, you feel that everything has been leading to this, all the secret arrows were pointing here, the universe and time itself crafted this long ago, and you are just now realizing it, you are just now arriving at the place you were always meant to be."
.


  "Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen.


My Rating: 4.5/5

Would I recommend it? Yes

If you'd like to read Wendy's review for Every Day you can do so here.

Jeannette Ordas

A unique concept and a fun summer read. 3.5 stars.

aisha

Jeff James

Note: The narrator of Every Day is essentially genderless, but for simplicity's sake I use male pronouns throughout this review.

David Levithan is an interesting standout in the young adult / fiction world. He seems more than willing to experiment with storytelling forms; his previous book, The Lover's Dictionary, chronicled the ups and downs of a relationship through alternately hilarious and painful entries in a dictionary. His new book, Every Day, is more traditional in form, but still full of the same thrillingly out-there ideas that I loved about his previous work.

Every Day's premise is simple but striking; what if you woke up every day in a new body and a new place? Some essence of your self - your soul, some ineffable store of memory - survives the jump from body to body, which gives you continuity of identity, but you also have access to the memories of your "host" so that you can pass unnoticed in their life. How would it feel to look out from different eyes every day, experiencing the world from an infinite number of perspectives? More importantly, what would happen if, one day, you fell in love... and couldn't let go?

A, the narrator of Levithan's story, wakes up one morning in the body of Justin, a sullen teenage boy who doesn't take care of himself, doesn't get along well with his parents and mistreats his girlfriend. A usually tries not to interfere with the lives of his hosts - who seem to match the age he would be if he lived normally - but something about Justin's relationship with his girlfriend, Rhiannon, makes him decide to try and improve her day. They skip school and go to the beach... and A falls in love. After that, A spends each successive day trying to find Rhiannon, working to get to know her and eventually revealing his body-jumping secret.

Levithan plays with some fascinating philosophical concepts throughout. Once A reveals his identity to Rhiannon, the major question becomes: how exactly do you have a relationship with someone who isn't in the same body twice? A, who grew up unsurprisingly open-minded after experiencing life through the eyes of every possible type of person, feels like there shouldn't be anything keeping them apart, but Rhiannon isn't quite so ready to live outside the norms. For example, A notices that she isn't quite as receptive when he is in the body of a girl or someone who isn't traditionally attractive. Late in the book, the question arises of what it would mean if A and Rhiannon had sex in one of his host bodies, since it has been made clear that the hosts do remember vague details of their lives the next day. All of these complications make A's story poignantly tragic, and the romance compellingly star-crossed.

A's experiences vary wildly from day to day. One particularly harrowing experience involves a day spent in the body of a habitual drug user going through withdrawal; another centers on a girl who is planning to commit suicide. A is almost always understanding and open-minded about the lives of the people he inhabits, although he does admit early on that he doesn't necessarily like everyone whose life he takes over. The only real false note in the book comes on a day when A inhabits the body of an extremely overweight boy. A refers to him as "the emotional equivalent of a burp" and it seems strangely judgmental by comparison.

The author also introduces a subplot about a boy named Nathan who gets in trouble with his parents after A controls his life one night. When Nathan comes home after curfew, he blames his behavior on demonic possession. Eventually the story gets picked up by the national news and a shady evangelical preacher starts asking more of the "possessed" to come forward. Nathan remembers enough about his experience to get in touch with A through his secret email account, and tries to convince A to reveal his true nature. Although this storyline does add some tension to the mix, I felt like the book didn't necessarily need it. Every Day largely focuses on the romance between A and Rhiannon, so when a late reveal implies that the story might slip into thriller territory or start exploring explanations for the body-jumping mythology, it doesn't quite fit. Luckily Levithan avoids straying too far down that path.

That isn't to say I wouldn't be curious to know more about the cause of A's body-jumping experiences, and the book definitely ends on a note that would leave Levithan wide open to write a sequel if he chose to. I'd definitely read it, but I imagine it would need to be a very different book, simply because it would only diminish this book to try and repeat the romantic storyline.

All in all, I highly recommend Every Day. It's a quick read full of powerful emotional moments and thought-provoking ideas, and I definitely look forward to seeing what Levithan comes up with next.

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from Net Galley.

Ana Paula

I really really liked this book, the concept was amazing and it made me realize some things like:

~ adapting is possible
~ prejudices can cease to exist
~ obstacles are nothing when you really want something

And although all of these may seem so predictable and what not, it's good to be reminded of them...

Can you love someone who is destined to change each day? Every morning, A wakes in a different person’s body. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere. And then A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon.

i loved david levithan’s writing, very poetic and intimate and i actually underlined a lot of lines reading this book. though as a reader, i think what mattered more to me was A having their own life than their love story with rhiannon whom i failed to learn to be fond of. i loved how pure and genuine A’s love was but i just couldn’t feel the same from rhiannon. nevertheless, i cherished every moment they shared in this novel and appreciated how it was painted through levithan’s words. if there’s one thing i really liked about this story, it would be the wide variety of representations that was put in it.  

this novel really made me think, though, how would i be like if i couldn’t have my own body? how would i treat the bodies i would borrow? how would i live the lives i would be living? how would i want that day when they lived as me or i lived as them to be remembered? 

i wished that there was more focus on A themself than the romance. i think that the concept is really promising and could leave a lot of important life lessons if the romance remained only an element of the story, but not the major part of it. 

i loved david levithan’s writing, very poetic and intimate and i actually underlined a lot of lines reading this book. though as a reader, i think what mattered more to me was A having their own life than their love story with rhiannon whom i failed to learn to be fond of. i loved how pure and genuine A’s love was but i just couldn’t feel the same from rhiannon. nevertheless, i cherished every moment they shared in this novel and appreciated how it was painted through levithan’s words. if there’s one thing i really liked about this story, it would be the wide variety of representations that was put in it.  

this novel really made me think, though, how would i be like if i couldn’t have my own body? how would i treat the bodies i would borrow? how would i live the lives i would be living? how would i want that day when they lived as me or i lived as them to be remembered? 

i wished that there was more focus on A themself than the romance. i think that the concept is really promising and could leave a lot of important life lessons if the romance remained only an element of the story, but not the major part of it. 

Emily Perkovich

This was very YA writing, and I did have to keep reminding myself that it is not a new book. But as long as I stayed in the mindset that I would have had when it came out, I loved it.

eliz

easy read but unsatisfying. fantasy with no explanations or anything about the concept, just highly concentrated on the romance

Eva Idsøe

I loved the consept of A always changing body. It was a good story but I hoped for more change.

This is definitely the kind of book that can change somebody's view of the world.
It could just be the concept, but I found this was a really well-written book. The words are put together in a way that makes the reading seem light, yet in reality, as you read on you can see how deep the words being said really are. I would recommend it to a person looking for something to refresh their mindset or to get out of a reading slump. 

The general premise is of a person (or possibly not a person, depending on how you look at it), who calls themselves A. They wake up every day as the mind of a different person, which gives them multiple points of view on the world. You get to see the backstory of this unravel as the novel goes on. They try to live a peaceful existence with this, but what throws off this peaceful existence is Rhiannon. He falls in love. Now, I love romance novels, I find they can give a book such a nice warm and lighthearted feeling to them. But in the case of every day, it almost felt like an unneeded extra. This isn't against the book, because I absolutely inhaled it and loved it. But the romance here just didn't feel needed, as the plotline was complex enough without it. It just felt like there could have been something else to keep the storyline going - the basing it on the relationship between Rhiannon and A just wouldn't be what I would have gone for.

Nevertheless.
Still an amazing book, and I would entirely recommend.

Every Day

Reviews

Highlights