Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Every Day by David Levithan

10 reviews

airclay3's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My brain started overthinking some of the magic realism in the middle and I was doubting if I could make it through. I loved the beginning third and the ending third! I loved considering the philosophy about life and love, and all the different things that A experienced in so many different bodies. A experiences breadth while Rhiannon experiences depth.

I almost didn’t catch the ending and that A ran away from Rhiannon and Reverend Poole to protect themselves and the bodies they inhabit.

This book is NOT lighthearted.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

novella42's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of my favorite books. In spite of the many different content warnings, it's one of my favorites to give to teenagers because it's the best recipe I know for empathy. 

I turn to the excellent audiobook to get me through hard days.

Today I re-read it on the long road trip to my grandfather's funeral, and had completely forgotten about the scene where A witnesses the funeral of a beloved grandfather. It happened when I was twenty miles away from the church, and the writing was so powerful and the different layers of grief resonated so intensely with me that I started sobbing. (Luckily my partner was driving.)

I just... I keep coming back to this book because it keeps meaning more and new and different things to me at different times in my life. I know it's a young adult book, but I'm 37, and was born with a disability. As a kid I would have given anything to have A's blessing/curse. The story of A's life reminds me of the many different facets of human existence, and helps me feel less alone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Grief, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying, Gaslighting, Sexism, Stalking, Violence, and Transphobia

Minor: Drug use and Self harm

samg01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Cursing, Alcohol, Car accident, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Bullying, Gaslighting, and Addiction

charliethebooklover's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.25

This book was...something. At first, I thought I liked it, but after time, I realized, there was no way The characters were bland and unlikeable, and the book felt like it was trying to be the best book ever, and it failed. I hate our characters with a passion, the mental health themes triggered me severely, so I can say genuinely, that this book was not good for my mental health. The so-called romance, was rushed, boring, and included two characters that make my blood boil. There was not one character I liked. Not to mention, the way our main character messed with others lives, doesn't pay up for his actions, and has no regard for others. He's manipulative, he blatantly objectified the women in these book, and he was excused because reasons? The love interest is clearly uncomfortable with the idea of dating him because of their gender, and the main character pressures her, making her even more uncomfortable! My least favorite book of the year so far, maybe ever This book is just a  mess, and in the worst way possible. Sometimes, it pops into my mind, and I get angry. As usual, please check the trigger warnings, if for some reason you chose to read this book. Mental health comes first!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Addiction, Infidelity, Misogyny, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

rampion's review against another edition

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Car accident, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, and Transphobia

treelireads's review

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia

Minor: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

abkat6462's review

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

hansolitude's review

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, and Homophobia

matheo's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Death

Moderate: Car accident and Misogyny

valereads's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I found this concept really interesting and I think David explored it as well as someone reasonably could in a book this length, given the concept itself was limiting.

I found some of the different lives explored really interesting and I wish we could've stuck with them longer but I think that's one aspect of the book that really works. I especially was interested in Leslie, the second life that A ends up in in the book. Kelsea's story was extremely powerful, as someone who has suffered from severe depression, this chapter moved me nearly to tears and how it was resolved really meant a lot to me.

Onto some sections I wasn't such a fan of. I'm trans masc, I want to be clear about when saying what I am about to, I did not like the chapter where A was in a trans guy's body. I think the language used to discuss and describe him was misgendering and could honestly have done without it. That was not my least favourite chapter though. It became clear to me that the author of this book has some underlying prejudices against overweight people. The way the fat character was treated by both the characters and the narrative left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I cannot recommend this book to anyone who is overweight or sensitive regarding weight issues because of it and I am extremely disappointed by that.

On a more positive note, I think some of the philosophy in the book was very interesting, the way David portrays mental illness really spoke to me and the idea of the body as something separate from the mind with it's own desires, in some cases constantly battling for control was something I loved about this book.

And straight back into the negatives, it's time to talk about Rhiannon. I'm not even sure what to say about her, the most memorable character trait she had was that she was mostly nice and kind of shallow, both in her characterisation and attitude to other people. I didn't buy her and A's romance but would probably be more bothered by that if this wasn't a YA with two 16 year old protagonists.

As I mentioned earlier, I definitely would not recommend this to anyone who is fat or has any kind of weight issues and I probably wouldn't recommend it to any of my binary trans friends either. If you find the concept interesting and aren't bothered by the issues I've mentioned then pick it up, just remember that the protagonists are 16, stupid and shallow is just how a lot of teens are.

Content warnings: fatphobia, misgendering, some ableism, consent issues, homophobia, drug use, addiction, alcohol, religion, domestic abuse, discussions of suicide, emotional abuse, physical abuse

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Homophobia

Minor: Self harm