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seraphjewel 's review for:
Every Day
by David Levithan
This is a book I've heard about and was interested in, so I'm glad I finally got a chance to read it. Now, according to the rating system a three means "I liked it". Were there problems with it? Sure. But I thought the concept was intriguing and there were a lot of parts done very well.
I think I'm going to touch on the parts done well first. As I said, the concept was intriguing. Since this is in A's perspective, the reader doesn't get much by way of "how" or "why" the daily body-hopping happens. There is a hint at the end there might be explanations, but honestly I don't see why it's necessary. I feel like the book could survive as a stand-alone. I also think the way A describes A's experiences in the different bodies is pretty believable. From describing depression to the aftermath of drinking or drugs. It's too bad we didn't see A in maybe a quadriplegic's body or in an autistic person.
I also really, really liked Nathan's reaction. So maybe the whole "demon possession" thing was not the most flattering light, but I love how persistent for answers he was and how he called A out on what A had done to him. I'm honestly surprised nothing like this happened before, especially if as Poole stated A wasn't the only one out there.
Sadly, there are a lot of problems in this book. A as a character is extremely judgmental, labeling people a certain way after knowing them only one day. Gender and sexuality is a huge thing for A, which in a way I understand since A can be either a physical male or physical female. But the way A got angry for Rhiannon not sharing that view was not okay. The same is true about people's religions and beliefs. I understand what the author was trying to say, but A could've been less condescending about it.
Once you get past the intrigue of the concept, it is hard to forget that the execution is actually pretty horrible. Whatever A might think, what happens is a form of possession: these people don't have control of their bodies or wills for an entire day, and often don't retain clear memories of it afterward. That's horrific even when A was following certain "rules" about being a guest. But once A started breaking them and interfering in the host's life, it got really sketchy. All for the love of a girl. Yeah, it's not hard to see that as stalker behavior. The incident where A tries very hard to get Justin to cheat on Rhiannon is particularly disgusting.
Also, the ending really bothers me. A actually appears to consider keeping a body longer for a day. This brings up a whole list of problems, one A already thought of: what happens to the host? And how A pretty much decided how Rhiannon would move on after this was bad, too.
After all that complaining, you'd wonder why I gave this a three-star at all. But I did like it, and I do think some parts of it were done very well. The pieces were good, just not enough to save it from the pieces that were bad.
I think I'm going to touch on the parts done well first. As I said, the concept was intriguing. Since this is in A's perspective, the reader doesn't get much by way of "how" or "why" the daily body-hopping happens. There is a hint at the end there might be explanations, but honestly I don't see why it's necessary. I feel like the book could survive as a stand-alone. I also think the way A describes A's experiences in the different bodies is pretty believable. From describing depression to the aftermath of drinking or drugs. It's too bad we didn't see A in maybe a quadriplegic's body or in an autistic person.
I also really, really liked Nathan's reaction. So maybe the whole "demon possession" thing was not the most flattering light, but I love how persistent for answers he was and how he called A out on what A had done to him. I'm honestly surprised nothing like this happened before, especially if as Poole stated A wasn't the only one out there.
Sadly, there are a lot of problems in this book. A as a character is extremely judgmental, labeling people a certain way after knowing them only one day. Gender and sexuality is a huge thing for A, which in a way I understand since A can be either a physical male or physical female. But the way A got angry for Rhiannon not sharing that view was not okay. The same is true about people's religions and beliefs. I understand what the author was trying to say, but A could've been less condescending about it.
Once you get past the intrigue of the concept, it is hard to forget that the execution is actually pretty horrible. Whatever A might think, what happens is a form of possession: these people don't have control of their bodies or wills for an entire day, and often don't retain clear memories of it afterward. That's horrific even when A was following certain "rules" about being a guest. But once A started breaking them and interfering in the host's life, it got really sketchy. All for the love of a girl. Yeah, it's not hard to see that as stalker behavior. The incident where A tries very hard to get Justin to cheat on Rhiannon is particularly disgusting.
Also, the ending really bothers me. A actually appears to consider keeping a body longer for a day. This brings up a whole list of problems, one A already thought of: what happens to the host? And how A pretty much decided how Rhiannon would move on after this was bad, too.
After all that complaining, you'd wonder why I gave this a three-star at all. But I did like it, and I do think some parts of it were done very well. The pieces were good, just not enough to save it from the pieces that were bad.