Every Day by David Levithan

Pages: 324
Intended Audience: Teens
Genre: Romance, supernatural
Notes for Parents: Contains some coarse language and mature scenes that may not be appropriate for sensitive readers.

The Back Cover

I wake up.
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.
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.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

A companion novel telling Rhiannon’s side of the story called Another Day was released in August 2015. The author says there is a planned sequel to every day.

What’s good?

The clever premise and first-person narrative make this an engaging story about a genderless entity (called “A”) that inhabits the body of a different person every day. The plot weaves carefully around A as he lives the lives of teens who are dealing with various issues—gay, obese, depressed & suicidal, transgendered, grieving, etc.. Meanwhile A can’t take his mind off a girl.
The writing is strong and the story is well-crafted, exploring some of the moral and ethical dilemmas of taking over someone else’s life. It’s easy to sympathize with A as he breaks out of his routine of simply getting through each day (each person) in an attempt to build a relationship with someone.
Best Part: The six additional chapters at the back that explored A’s life before Rhiannon.

What isn’t good?

It started slow, and some parts are definitely more interesting than others. While the tension keeps it interesting, there’s no real action. I suppose romance was supposed to be front and center, but I didn’t buy the love story. Rhiannon didn’t seem all that special, so it was difficult to believe that A would deviate from his 16-year routine and recklessly use his host bodies just to be with her.
Worst part: I had to employ a lot of “suspension of disbelief” to contend with the inconsistencies in the logic/science.

Recommendation þþþoo

I’m overwhelmed by the feeling that this was a missed opportunity to explore what it means to be a girl or a boy of a certain ethnicity, religion, or class. The main character didn’t seem genderless to me. We first meet him as a boy who falls in love with a girl who likes boys, so he was always male in my mind. This story could have been so much more than just a romance. Regardless, I liked the book and enjoyed the stories of the individuals A possessed. For that reason, I recommend it.

Levithan, David. Every Day. New York: Ember, 2012.