Review: Every Day by David Levithan

Warning, mild spoilers for the book

Publication Date: August 28th 2012
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 322 pages

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 A wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

I've heard so many people who loved this book, that I went into this with really high expectations, and I was therefore quite shocked that I actually really disliked this book. So, unpopular opinion, I really didn't enjoy this frequently very hyped story.

It showcases love without boundaries though! But I didn't see any examples of that? It explored the idea that Rhiannon was attracted to some bodies that A inhabited, but then really struggled with and disliked the appearance of others. So if you just wanted an exploration of how one person likes boys of a certain type, but really wasn't attracted to other boys or any girls, then sure this book does that, but it certainly didn't offer me what I was expecting which was a love that transcended physical appearance. Some people appear to have found that within this book, but I just couldn't see it. What I could see was Rhiannon becoming increasingly uncomfortable with some of the bodies that A showed up in.

But it shows true love! Does it? Where? Again, I expected a love story that really built into something wonderful and fascinating, but all I got was A increasingly stalking and pressuring Rhiannon into loving him and her resisting. The longer the relationship went on the more uncomfortable I became. Rhiannon is given no autonomy, she tries at various points to make her own decisions and choices, and A just steam rollers over them with what he wants. He stalks, he manipulates, he coerces, and he's taking over other people's lives to do it. That is not true love.
A 'falls in love with her' because only he can see her secret sadness and what an interesting person she is. He decides that he is the only person who can possibly understand her and make her happy, so he stalks her, he plots breaking her and her (yes a not nice) boyfriend up, he is invading her privacy, and we are meant to sympathize with him. It was horrible, and I found it baffling that so many people have seen this and gone 'Yup! That's true love!' No, it isn't, and I want to destroy this idea that stalking, possessive, creepy behaviour is love.

It shows all sorts of different people and the struggles they're experiencing! True, we see a lot of different people through A's eyes, but honestly it just felt like it was episodic 'today we're going to look at!' issues, examining depression, sexuality, obesity, transsexuality etc. Only they feel horribly formulaic and driven only by the desire to be seen as inclusive, rather than it actually furthering the story and looking at these things properly.

Honestly I was just disappointed, and frankly quite angry when I finished this book. It was not what I was expecting given other reviews I've read, and honestly the portrayal of 'true love' was dangerous and problematic.