Every Day by David Levithan

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Date of Publication: August 28^th, 2003

Memorable Quotation: “We all want everything to be okay.  We don’t wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough.” (pg. 6)

Lasting Impression: ‘A’ is a brave soul, literally.  As A embodies various teenagers for a day before taking on someone else’s life at the stroke of midnight, A learns more about life and love than anyone with a normal existence ever could imagine.

Storyline: A+

Pace of Story: B+

Characters: A+

Ending: A

Overall: A

David Levithan’s novel, Every Day, is astounding.  His idea of love going beyond our physical exterior that we unknowingly put on each other and ourselves is a very deep and personal issue he highlights so well throughout his story.

A, a soul that is not given a definite gender, goes through life waking up in a different body each day, never having a body of ‘its’ own. The novel opens with A waking up in the body of a neglectful, uncaring teenager named Justin. A winds up falling for Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon, who Justin does not treat very nicely. After giving Rhiannon the best day of her life, A continuously tries to keep in contact with her, especially after he tells her about his secret.  Things get out of control when some people begin to catch on to beings like A and A’s relationship with Rhiannon is tested by many unusual circumstances but there are solutions to be found, even if they are not the most desirable ones.

I really love and appreciate the way Levithan has A not have a specific gender so the reader must play a part in the story by giving A a gender and an overall identity.  What is also amazing about Every Day is the amount of characters Levithan uses for A to be and each teenager has such a story to tell, even if they each only get a page or two of notice before it is midnight and A goes onto the next unknown life.  The idea of A itself is incredible! The backstory to A and how it gets used to the life it must live is one of the most creative ideas I have ever heard.

Even though the characters are beautiful and the story itself is amazing, it does have a few flaws, starting with the beginning and the ending.  There is a short one paragraph introduction to A then BAM. The main scene comes up and you do not feel prepared for it.  The same thing unfortunately happens with the ending; the ending is breathtaking (I cried at the end) but it is SO SHORT, making the ending feel rushed and taking away how important this scene is to the entire story. What I frustrated me more was right after this beautiful scene, A basically says the 'world must go on' and the story ends there, leaving me saying, “That’s it?”  (Don’t worry, that wasn’t a spoiler.  You won’t understand that until you reach the ending for yourself.)

The only other facet that I wish had been paid better attention to was the pace.  I gave the pace of the story a high mark because it moved at such great speed and kept my eyes glued to the pages, continuously wanting to know what happens next. This was a bittersweet sensation because when a story slows down, as this one did, I feel out of breath and had to stop reading for a while before I could catch my breath and continue.

All in all, the small critiques I have about the structure and pace are squished by the triumph of creativity this novel gives. As we go through our daily lives, every day almost exactly the same, we are blind to what A sees and feels.  Being able to see and be so many individuals gives A an unbiased view of everyone and reminds us that love is love, and to let our souls do the talking.

~Shelly-Beans