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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is simply amazing. It pushes you to think about yourself and your values and where do they stem from -- your own opinions or society's standards.
It's a must read!
It's a must read!
Not sure what genre to shelve this under... Contemporary? Magical realism??? Sci-fi?
Honestly surprised I was ever able to to pick up this book because so many others have caught my attention more, but I passed it by chance in a thrift store and decided to pick it up.
I had a very pleasant experience reading this for the most part. It was easy to get sucked into the characters and the stories, and I thoroughly enjoyed David Levithan's writing and I will definitely be looking to pick up more of his stories. I thought it was well paced, with a good balance of life reflection and plot, and I found myself feeling more and more for the characters and the complexity of their situations as I read more.
However... I do wish there were some parts that were wrapped up a little better, and the way that A intrudes on Rhiannon's life is... not exactly the way I would go about things, and I honestly found it a little obsessive. Levithan's writing manages to save it some, but I think there are some better ways he could have done it. That being said, A's situation is unique, so perhaps that explains a bit, but then again, not everything can simply go back to how A lives his life and have that be it.
This book could have been a four or even a five star, but there were simply some aspects I couldn't overlook, but I really enjoyed the story and a rating in the middle seems fit for my experiences with it.
Honestly surprised I was ever able to to pick up this book because so many others have caught my attention more, but I passed it by chance in a thrift store and decided to pick it up.
I had a very pleasant experience reading this for the most part. It was easy to get sucked into the characters and the stories, and I thoroughly enjoyed David Levithan's writing and I will definitely be looking to pick up more of his stories. I thought it was well paced, with a good balance of life reflection and plot, and I found myself feeling more and more for the characters and the complexity of their situations as I read more.
However... I do wish there were some parts that were wrapped up a little better, and the way that A intrudes on Rhiannon's life is... not exactly the way I would go about things, and I honestly found it a little obsessive. Levithan's writing manages to save it some, but I think there are some better ways he could have done it. That being said, A's situation is unique, so perhaps that explains a bit, but then again, not everything can simply go back to how A lives his life and have that be it.
This book could have been a four or even a five star, but there were simply some aspects I couldn't overlook, but I really enjoyed the story and a rating in the middle seems fit for my experiences with it.
challenging
mysterious
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
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:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Wow. The concept for this was really unique. The characters were interesting, but A is obviously the most interesting one. I feel like there could have been a little more development in the character of Rhiannon (the greatest name I have ever heard, thanks to Fleetwood Mac).
One thing that kind of confused me was A's gender. I know that A doesn't have a gender, but I kept imagining A as slightly more masculine than feminine. I tried to make myself think of it as neither male or female, but that proved difficult. I'm not sure if I felt this way because the first body he inhabited was a male or not. The concept of genderlessness is difficult to comprehend.
However, this was a great book! The ending isn't really a cliffhanger, but I still have to know what happens next!!!
One thing that kind of confused me was A's gender. I know that A doesn't have a gender, but I kept imagining A as slightly more masculine than feminine. I tried to make myself think of it as neither male or female, but that proved difficult. I'm not sure if I felt this way because the first body he inhabited was a male or not. The concept of genderlessness is difficult to comprehend.
However, this was a great book! The ending isn't really a cliffhanger, but I still have to know what happens next!!!
Reread. I enjoyed this more than when I first read it 10 years ago. An intriguing concept but definitely requires readers to suspend their disbelief. At times the writing annoyed me by trying to be too philosophical.
A’s life is dream and nightmare, and I really enjoyed the ride. The motif of love overruling all else becomes messier as the story progresses, which I think is quite powerful and true. It’s a genius idea for a book, but I wish it talked more about gender & sexuality instead of just having A state the ways they feel. Also I wish A would have called Rhiannon out for using the wrong pronouns/talked about the dysphoria! & the fat phobic chapter could have been dropped, someone’s size doesn’t determine their happiness. Overall, this book was captivating and smart and now I have to read the sequel!! The twist of the Reverend actually being a “devil” like A was so good, but I can’t imagine A committing murder?! I guess it poses the question of how far would you go to find yourself?
When I first heard about this author named David Levithan, I thought that he could possibly be the next (for me, anyway) [a:John Green|1406384|John Green|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353452301p2/1406384.jpg]. You know, author of books about males with male problems with male feelings with male solutions. Yayayaya. As the years have gone by (it's really only been 18 months), I have found that Levithan (so far) has relatively disappointed me.
It's not that I don't like his subject matter, because that shouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. If one is a good author, their writing skills should supersede any mediocre plot. But um...David's writing just never does it for me, ever.
I've read three of his books so far, one of which was [b:Dash & Lily's Book of Dares|7741325|Dash & Lily's Book of Dares|Rachel Cohn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327874609s/7741325.jpg|10551409] ( which was a joint effort; this is one of the only reasons why it was decent) and [b:The Realm of Possibility|23232|The Realm of Possibility|David Levithan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320458747s/23232.jpg|1009041] (which I didn't even finish). I don't know. It straddles the line between angst and reflection and I know that sounds like a mildly good combination (especially a fan of Holden Caulfield such as myself) but when David does it, it sounds superfluous and bourgeois, as if he's writing a dissertation or something of that nature (aha. I hope you catch the irony in there) And in the case of this book, the plot was excellent but the writing...was slightly lacking.
Okay, let's get to the plot. There is this 'human' simply self-proclaimed 'A'. This person has the ability (or is cursed, which ever way you want to look at it) to travel from one body to another (within age range & geographic area constraint) each and every day (that's the title; did ya see what I did there? did ya?) A has never known another way of life. A has never had a real family (not including the ones he visits on any given day) and has trouble keeping friends or maintaining relationships for more than 24 hours. When A goes to sleep at night, A wakes up in a different body, be it male or female, white or black or asian or hispanic or whatever. It doesn't really matter.
But then A meets a girl named Rhiannon when A is placed into the body of her jerk of a boyfriend named Justin. A falls in love with her and unlike A has done with anyone, A pursues the relationship even as A travels through different bodies. A somehow expects Rhiannon to accept A's ...thing wholeheartedly and love A as much as A loves her.
Yeah. Okay.
This is a nice concept, yes? (Did I mention that A has no gender?) It's terrible to think about, to place yourself in A's shoes. A has to live a totally solitary life, living as hundreds of people all the time. And there is no reason placed behind this, it just IS and A has to deal with that.
Throughout the book, I found A a bit annoying. I mean, A wasn't too bad but enough for me to say, 'hey, shut up'. A was selfish (and I meant that in the best way possible) but I could understand why A did some of the things A did because, you know...his 'life' kinda sucks toe. I wasn't very fond of Rhiannon at all. Everything from her name to her complaining irritated me to no end. I never got the feeling that Rhinannon ever really reciprocated A's feelings and I don't blame her but I hated how A and Levithan pretended that she could.
Levithan is not shy about making social issue statements. Everything from suicide to drug use to homosexual couples is covered and (because they're teenagers) they are covered quite extensively. I just wish that I didn't feel like I was watching some kind of health video about teen issues. It was OKAY but...very odd and methodical.
I also didn't fancy the paragraphs used (but that's just a pet peeve of mine) and I abhorred how Levithan placed in these generic lines about love in there and I could just picture every last one of them lined up at the bottom of the book page under 'quotes'. Barf. It was so contrived and those lines could have been in any love book written in the last decade.
Anyway, this book wasn't all bad. It had a really nice cover and there were some parts I enjoyed. I wouldn't be all that interested in reading it again, just because it's so annoying the first time. I recommend it to...well I don't even know. I'm not sure I even recommend it, to be honest.
It's not that I don't like his subject matter, because that shouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. If one is a good author, their writing skills should supersede any mediocre plot. But um...David's writing just never does it for me, ever.
I've read three of his books so far, one of which was [b:Dash & Lily's Book of Dares|7741325|Dash & Lily's Book of Dares|Rachel Cohn|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327874609s/7741325.jpg|10551409] ( which was a joint effort; this is one of the only reasons why it was decent) and [b:The Realm of Possibility|23232|The Realm of Possibility|David Levithan|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320458747s/23232.jpg|1009041] (which I didn't even finish). I don't know. It straddles the line between angst and reflection and I know that sounds like a mildly good combination (especially a fan of Holden Caulfield such as myself) but when David does it, it sounds superfluous and bourgeois, as if he's writing a dissertation or something of that nature (aha. I hope you catch the irony in there) And in the case of this book, the plot was excellent but the writing...was slightly lacking.
Okay, let's get to the plot. There is this 'human' simply self-proclaimed 'A'. This person has the ability (or is cursed, which ever way you want to look at it) to travel from one body to another (within age range & geographic area constraint) each and every day (that's the title; did ya see what I did there? did ya?) A has never known another way of life. A has never had a real family (not including the ones he visits on any given day) and has trouble keeping friends or maintaining relationships for more than 24 hours. When A goes to sleep at night, A wakes up in a different body, be it male or female, white or black or asian or hispanic or whatever. It doesn't really matter.
But then A meets a girl named Rhiannon when A is placed into the body of her jerk of a boyfriend named Justin. A falls in love with her and unlike A has done with anyone, A pursues the relationship even as A travels through different bodies. A somehow expects Rhiannon to accept A's ...thing wholeheartedly and love A as much as A loves her.
Yeah. Okay.
This is a nice concept, yes? (Did I mention that A has no gender?) It's terrible to think about, to place yourself in A's shoes. A has to live a totally solitary life, living as hundreds of people all the time. And there is no reason placed behind this, it just IS and A has to deal with that.
Throughout the book, I found A a bit annoying. I mean, A wasn't too bad but enough for me to say, 'hey, shut up'. A was selfish (and I meant that in the best way possible) but I could understand why A did some of the things A did because, you know...his 'life' kinda sucks toe. I wasn't very fond of Rhiannon at all. Everything from her name to her complaining irritated me to no end. I never got the feeling that Rhinannon ever really reciprocated A's feelings and I don't blame her but I hated how A and Levithan pretended that she could.
Levithan is not shy about making social issue statements. Everything from suicide to drug use to homosexual couples is covered and (because they're teenagers) they are covered quite extensively. I just wish that I didn't feel like I was watching some kind of health video about teen issues. It was OKAY but...very odd and methodical.
I also didn't fancy the paragraphs used (but that's just a pet peeve of mine) and I abhorred how Levithan placed in these generic lines about love in there and I could just picture every last one of them lined up at the bottom of the book page under 'quotes'. Barf. It was so contrived and those lines could have been in any love book written in the last decade.
Anyway, this book wasn't all bad. It had a really nice cover and there were some parts I enjoyed. I wouldn't be all that interested in reading it again, just because it's so annoying the first time. I recommend it to...well I don't even know. I'm not sure I even recommend it, to be honest.