Monday, July 15, 2013

Every Day


I have been trying to get a different book of David Levithan's for a couple months at my library, but they only had Every Day, so I grabbed that one. I am thrilled that I did, because this book is phenomenal and so original!
Every Day is told from the perspective of A, a soul (mind/human spirit?) who does not own a body. Instead this person involuntarily switches bodies at midnight, waking up in a new body each morning. The body always belongs to someone the same general age and within about two hundred miles, and never is visited again, but otherwise there is no pattern or continuity. A attempts to live the day as the person would have done so, but without mining his or her brain for too much information. A basically lives by the campsite rule, leaving each person as A found it. Of course, since this is a book, A's situation can't remain the as is. A falls in love with the girlfriend of a boy whose body he or she's inhabiting, and begins to change his or her ways. A begins to influence the bodies, making these people do things they might not ordinarily do, just to see this girl.
While the romance is interesting, the concept just blew me away. It raised up so many questions for me that would be great to explore with students. What is identity, when you've got to live a new life every day? What is the moral choice, to live the life of another every day, live your own life, or to try to improve the life of the person you're inhabiting? Does A have the right to try to have a relationship with this girl?
In addition, A's descriptions of their earlier life were fascinating. As a mother, I ached for a small child, learning that they're the only one living as a transient being with no body. I'm keeping an eye out for Levithan's accompanying book, Six Earlier Days, which appears to only be available in digital form. I've read a few of Levithan's other books by now, and so far this is the best.

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