I finished this book a while ago, but I just realized I never wrote a review for it. I blame it on having exactly zero free time at this point in my life. Usually, I write my reviews right after I finish a book, because I tend to have a really short memory for remembering the specifics of what I thought about it, so if this review is kinda vague, that’s why.Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl.
There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. 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.
But anyway, this is the first book I read that was completely by David Levithan. I’ve read two of the books he co-authored with Rachel Cohn (“Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares” and “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist”), and I liked both of those a lot. Still, I had pretty low expectations for this book going into it. Probably you know by now of my unfair yet unshakable prejudice against books by male authors.
But I actually thought “Every Day” wasn’t bad—it ended up being much better than I expected. Which is not to say that I didn’t have any issues with it, because I did. It just surprised me with how readable it was and well the story flowed. Considering the main character is in a different body and a different life every day, I was impressed with how cohesive the plot was. The main character was pretty likeable, despite being a bit of a know-it-all. I thought it was a unique plot device that the MC is genderless—it made for some interesting explorations into what the substance of relationships really is. Still, in my head the MC came off as a boy. I’m not entirely sure why—probably just because the author is male so the narrative voice came off as more male to me.
Pretty much the whole plot revolves around the MC falling in love and trying to make it work despite being in a different body every day. So of course I was super curious about how the book would end and how it would all work out. Generally, I thought the ending was well done and realistic, though there was one aspect of it that had me feeling indignant on Rhiannon's behalf and that spoiled the ending a bit for me.
Overall, a much better book than I was expecting. Maybe it’s because my expectations were so low to start with, but I ended up enjoying the book for the most part.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
I had a similar experience to you-I kept thinking of A as a boy just because Leviathan is and a fine enough read although not a favorite.
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