Book: Every Day by David Levithan
To be released August 28, 2012 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Summary: A is a person with no body. Every day A wakes up in a new body, unintentionally hijacking a life for one day. But when A falls in love, a life completely disconnected is no longer possible and A must find a way to connect with the world even without a body.
Characters: This is one of the most interesting premises that I've read in a long time and A definitely comes across as a well defined person. Even without a consistent body, which means nothing at all consistent in life, A has a unique voice and I was fascinated by A's life. I didn't quite get A's fascination with Rhiannon and honestly think that A wanted to fall in love more than actually being in love with her, but that might be what love is at 16. Regardless, I found myself rooting for their romance anyway. Besides A and Rhiannon, I completely loved getting glimpses into so many lives that A temporarily took over. It was probably my favorite part of the book, seeing how vastly different lives can be, but also seeing that we are all human.
Plot/Pacing: It reads very quickly and I enjoyed seeing the different lives A woke up in throughout the novel. The focus was definitely A trying to make things work with Rhiannon and while I enjoyed watching their struggle, I felt the end was emotionally satisfying, but logically abrupt. I thought it was beautiful and I cried a lot, but I have my doubts about the practicality of A's solution and I've been worrying about the characters since I finished the book.
Moments I Loved: I really liked A's afternoon at the beach with Rhiannon and I loved seeing them at the party together when A was in Nathan's body. Of the lives he hijacked, I think my favorite were the twins. My favorite A-screwed-up-their-life moment is when A is in the body of a home schooled kid with a CRAZY mom and sneaks out to see Rhiannon... wow, woman is crazy.
WTF Moments: Nathan, one of the hijacked bodies, realizes that someone took over for a day and his pastor goes on the warpath against the devil. When the final showdown between A and the pastor happens... it did not go as I expected. I loved it though, and wish there had been more.
Overall: David Levithan's writing always seems beautiful and profound. Every Day is no exception. While I wished some story lines were more developed, I enjoyed the journey A took and was left satisfied in A's ultimate decision.
Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges: 304 pages towards the 15,000 page challenge. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.
Every Day receives a Fake Steph rating of...
**I received an ARC of Every Day at BEA. I was in no way compensated for my review and all opinions expressed here are my own. Feel free to check out my full FTC Disclaimer on my About This Blog page.**
Posts
Can you imagine jumping into someone else's body for a day. I'd totally do it to see what their life is like. Great review and such an interesting plot. I do think a lot of people want to be in love...as opposed to really finding it.
ReplyDeleteI can not even begin to tell you how jealous I am of you right now! You did not tell me that you waited in line! You said that you walked on by because he was too intimidating!
ReplyDeleteI am very excited that you gave the book a rating of 4, but I have to say that I couldn't read the post. Normally, I am all about spoilers but I am looking forward to this book waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much! I don't want to know ANYTHING!
I have this one preordered from amazon, I will read it immediately, and then I promise to come back and read this post!
Wow! This book sounds terrific. I quickly added to my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!!! :)
Next February I will be jumping in the whole Leviathan Loveathon whole heartedly! This sounds good, can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteI haven't found a Levithan book I could handle but this one sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI walked by this line a few times, but I was too tired by then and had to catch my bus home. It sounds like a great book! The premise is really intriguing and very different from anything I've heard in while!
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for this book; hope to read it soon-ish, as I do in fact have a galley. lovely review, Steph!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of this one, but glad that it was a good read with good characters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for review,
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
I like that you were worrying about the characters after you finished. A sign of a good book! This is a really unique concept and I wish I would have picked one up at BEA, but I didn't :(
ReplyDeleteOkay, so many things to say. First of all, great review! I really want to read this even more now.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I really love David Levithan. He is so freaking smart and his writing is beautiful.
Thirdly, I thought of a similar premise for a book and while I'm kind of upset, I don't think I could pull it off anywhere near as well as Levithan, so I'm cool with it.
Fourthly, that was SO awesome that you got Bittner the book AND had it signed AND personalized! She was super excited and I was, too!
Fifthly (not sure if fourthly and fifthly are words but oh well), I DID get a video of Bittner opening the book, but apparently it's too long for me to just email it, so I have to get the hubs to do whatever he needs to do so that we can get it to you. Hopefully I can get it to you soon.
I need to read more David Levithan, I've only read one book that he co-wrote and this one sounds amazing, so I need to read it to get a taste of his writing all alone. I love the premise of this book, it sounds very promising!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review, you've made me more excited for it now!..lol