Friday, November 16, 2012

Every Day by David Levithan

Waking up in a new body every morning, A -- the narrator of David Levithan's Every Day -- is resigned to this unique existence until A falls in love with a girl. A has no gender. A is always in a body that corresponds to A's real age, which is about 16 at the time of the novel (starting with day 5994). Whether inhabiting a male or female body, of whatever sexual orientation, size and skin colour, A only wants to be with Rhiannon. Every day a different body. Every day in love with the same girl.

The body jumper premise in Every Day is intriguing and Levithan does a good job exploring what role the physical body plays in romantic attraction.

Levithan seems to have no shortage of ideas for creative storytelling twists. Previous books include The Lover's Dictionary (written in a series of alphabetical vignettes), Boy Meets Boy (a sweet gay teen romance set in a town with no homophobia), and some lively collaborations with other authors, including John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson) and Rachel Cohn (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and others) and a photographer, Jonathan Farmer (Every You, Every Me).

Note added Nov 17, 2012: Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes have created a great promotion for Every Day via their online comic strip, Unshelved. See it here.

No comments: