Review: Every Day

Goodreads Summary: "In his New York Times bestselling novel, David Levithan introduces readers to what Entertainment Weekly calls a "wise, wildly unique" love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.

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.

With his new novel, David Levithan, bestselling co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day."

I finished this book a few minutes ago and immediately opened this post to type out my immediate reactions to the novel. I'm not sure I'm capable. David Levithan is one of those authors that leaves me breathless every time, he awes me with his talent, and stretches my brain in new and fascinating ways...he makes me think with every word that he writes and leaves me full of questions. Every Day was no exception to the rule.

I loved reading about the character of "A" who was almost the ideal person and yet not. "A" has the sort of tolerance that we can only dream of having, "A" is the sort of person that we all wish that we could be and that we wish the world could be filled with. And yet, even with all of these sterling qualities "A" is not perfect because "A" is still a person. "A" isn't content with "A"'s lot in life, "A" wants more just like the rest of us. I think "A" is an excellent example of Levithan's characterization; he creates these amazing characters, these quietly larger than life figures [that's not phrasing it right but I'm not sure how to communicate it to do them justice] that are just so heart-breakingly...real? He creates characters that you love to read about, characters that will stick with you long after you've turned the last page, and characters that will make you question what you thought you knew about yourself and what you'd like out of yourself.

I'm seriously at a loss of words to explain this book; I want to immediately turn around and start at the beginning again with a reread, I want to put it aside and savor it, I want to pass it around to everyone I know and let them bask in the glow of this wonderful read. I loved it, I loved it quietly, it crept in softly then clutched at my heart, tore at the heartstrings, and made me ache. The concept is clever, the synopsis intrigues, and the follow-through is dead-on. Every Day is a beautiful love story, it is a beautiful novel, and it is a captivating read.