Friday, December 14, 2012

Book Review: Every Day by David Levithan




A inhabits a different body every day. It's always been like this, and A has always gone with the flow. Until now. Because A has fallen in love with a girl, and A wants the girl to really know who A really is.

I read EVERY DAY this summer and fell deeply in love with it, so I didn't want the year to end without posting a review.

First, I love the QUANTUM LEAP-esque premise. It's high concept and the perfect vehicle to get across some universal truths about human nature while at the same time telling a thrilling story.

Levithan's prose is deceptively simple.  He makes statements that immediately sound like aphorisms, like something we should have always known is true, we just never realized it before.  That makes the book immensely quotable.  Some examples:

"We all contain mysteries, especially when seen from the inside."
"Beneath every peripheral girl is a central truth."
"We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough."
"It's as simple as that. Simple and complicated, as most true things are."
"I only have a day to give - so why can't it be a good one?"
"The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations - all of them rearranging themselves so that this precise, remarkable intersection can happen."

And these are all just from the first chapter.

I also loved the bittersweet romance with Rhiannon - that agony of wanting something you can never truly have but reaching out for it anyway. And I thought it was brilliant the way Levithan used the Nathan character to give the plot urgency.

EVERY DAY is an all-time favorite. Find out more about it at the author's website.

FTC disclosure: Bought

11 comments:

Amy said...

aw wow you loved this a lot more than I did. I thought it was interesting and through provoking and I cried a lot at the end, but I had issues with it as well.

Glad you posted a review, tho!

Christina said...

I felt like this sounded perfect for me, precisely for the high concept and truths of human nature. I've seen a lot of disappointed reviews from friends recently, so I'm very glad to here that this one worked for you. :)

Liviania said...

I loved this one too. And Levithan does have a great way of stating things.

Staci said...

I already have this marked to read in 2013 but your love for it has assured me that it is one that I MUST read!!

chrisa511 said...

I'm so thrilled to hear that you loved this one as much as I did :) It's an all time favorite for me to. Automatically listed it as a "favorite" on LibraryThing as soon as I finished it and it's only become even more of a favorite with time. I found something of a prequel out there too! It's an ebook available through B&N and Amazon that shows six days in the life of A before Every Day. Haven't read it yet though!

I'm so not a blogger said...

I think I will have to read this, it sounds interesting.

The Insouciant Sophisticate said...

For me, this was a great introduction to Levithan's writing although not my favorite read. Nathan was a great addition to the story!

Blogger10 said...

I was also a big fan of this one. I think the "quotability" of this book would have seemed a bit annoying from any other character (who is naturally that wise?) but A's mysterious origins lend him the ability to show copious wisdom without it feeling out of place.

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Joanna Hennon said...

I love the idea of this story! I used to love Quantum Leap too, though I haven't seen or thought about it in ages.

Alyce said...

I thought it was very good too, and love the concept even though I've never been able to get into Quantum Leap.