Another Day

Whew! I am listening to this on a car journey and the writing is rivetingly good.

I don't know David Levithan's work, yet here he takes a scalpel to the love sickness that douses the spirit of the high school heroine, Rhiannon.

The object of her obsession is Justin, a tender hearted boy who is so much in the throws of his own teenage chaos and angst that he's got to be about as incapable of loving anyone as a prickly pear bush.

Then bam! Fantasy enters the picture 25% of the way into the audiobook. Turns out the temporarily tender hearted Justin was due to Amy, the new girl at school, having occupied Justin's body when he and Rhiannon took their magical afternoon off from school to play hookey at the beach.

Amy, who had taken a liking to show more Rhiannon, changes bodies every few days!

I will persist a little longer to see if I can tolerate the fantastical... show less

"do you know what happens to girls who love lost boys?
They become lost themselves.”

I think this story is amazing. After reading book 1, I've never not loved A. I hated that I had to leave them, to wander the world. I wanted another moment, another day with them. So when I saw a book 2, I was pretty excited.

Except it was from Rhiannon's POV. And I have to admit that I was worried - would Rhiannon let me down? Would she not be the person I thought deserved A? Or would she not seem realistic - I mean, A asked her to buy off on a lot.

But I should have had more faith in [a:David Levithan|11664|David Levithan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1426529210p2/11664.jpg]. The same author who gave me A would, of course, give me an amazing show more Rhiannon. I think it was fascinating to see the story through her eyes and her want to find love in A's soul and eyes. I loved her struggle to decide pronouns and identity, to her style and preference in exterior, and her analogy of driver vs car.

But, as I knew it would, this book broke my heart. A is still so amazing and I hate leaving them every time. I want ANOTHER DAY, [a:David Levithan|11664|David Levithan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1426529210p2/11664.jpg].

PLEASE PLEASE GIVE US A's CONTINUED STORY. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AFTER BOOK 1 & 2. show less

This was a really intense book, a really moving book that made me reconsider what we consider love.

Firstly, I must note that this book is a companion, meaning it can be a stand-alone! Levithan notes in his letter to the reader that he intended this book to be read by people who had never read Every Day, people who had read it a while ago, and people who had read it recently and knew every detail. I fell in the middle category. I read it over a year ago and couldn't remember anything except the premise and that I had adored it. I can't compare the two as I barely remember anything from Every Day but I do highly recommend reading one or the other.

The premise behind this pair is so intriguing that honestly even if the writing wasn't as show more solid as it is, I'd probably give it a couple of stars. This book is told from Rhiannon's point of view, whereas Every Day was told from A's. That is the main difference between these two, yet I think even if I'd just reread the first, I'd still have loved this

And Levithan pulls it off so well. His writing is incredibly easy to fall into and captivated me from the first few pages. Looking at the book analytically, I don't want to like Rhiannon--there isn't much to her. However, I absolutely adore her. I can relate to her so easily, and I think that's what makes her such a strong character. Her life is very average, and in that, completely relatable. I loved the emphasis she put on having her own life and being able to spend time with her friends and continue those relationships. This sent a powerful message.

This book really emphasises what it means to be in love and what the end result of relationships are. Rhiannon had been dating her boyfriend, Justin, for over a year, but she's aware that she never knows how he'll be treating her. Her close friends all seem wary of the relationship, also. But is she settling if she's happy?

I found the boundary between love and friendship to also be immensely fascinating in this book. Reading this was particularly poignant as I am asexual and rarely if ever experience physical attraction to someone. In this, seeing how the person within a body could affect attraction, and how the outer 'shell' could cause a relationship to be friendship or more. Levithan explores these boundaries subtly but very cleverly.
I'm glad Levithan decided to have a companion novel and not a sequel, because I love the ending and all the possibilities it leaves for our imaginations.

In your lifetime, you should make sure you read at least one of this pair of novels. Levithan's put a lot of depth, some great thoughts, and a beautiful story into each. Another Day isn't out until August 25th, but you should go and read Every Day right now.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

This is the same story as Every Day except told from Rhiannon's perspective. It starts and ends around the same events as the first one; and of course, a lot in the middle is different as we follow Rhiannon instead of A. But most of it is more or less the same, from different perspectives.

I liked Every Day to some extent but I had a lot of problems with it and to be quite honest, this one only amplified all of those problematic bits. First off, A's infatuation with Rhiannon is honestly disturbing. They claim Justin is abusive towards her but at the very least, they're being just as abusive as Justin. After a day, they claim they love her more than anything and that nobody can love her more than they can. And this is something they keep show more insisting on throughout the book no matter what Rhiannon says. It's really disturbing and I just want to shout at her to get the hell out of there. It's not healthy, it's abusive. And she needs none of that in her life, honestly.

The other thing is Rhiannon's clear transphobia and mild homophobia. It's like... if you are transphobic... don't date a trans person? A is genderfluid so ranting about not being able to be with them when they are a girl is so fucking stupid. That's who they are. They aren't a boy just because they were in Justin the first time they met. If you're going to be with someone whose gender clearly changes from day to day... why would you be with them... like, no.

I honestly expected more from David Levithan as he usually writes amazing stories but this one, I just... I've never been more relieved about borrowing a book instead of buying it. show less

So, before I start my review, there are a few things you should know:

1. I was a huuuuge fan of David Levithan when I was in high school.
2. I have not read Every Day.
3. I did not expect that Netgalley would actually approve me for an ARC of this book, but that's a thing that happened.

So I was going back and forth, should I read Every Day before starting Another Day? The introduction to Another Day says it's not necessary, but reviews say it is. It was such a dilemma for me that I didn't start reading this book until about a month after I was approved. And I did it without reading its predecessor, which was probably a bad idea. Not that I felt I was missing anything from the plot, but I felt I was missing an emotional connection to the show more characters.

Anyway.

In Another Day, we follow Rhiannon through a perfect day with her otherwise cranky, distant, rude, awful boyfriend. For just one day, he's attentive, caring, actually seems to love her. They have a beautiful adventure, but for some reason, every day afterward, he gets upset with her when she mentions it. Justin gets upset with her a lot, actually.

Then strange things start happening. She meets a guy at a party. A guy she has an instant connection with. A guy who introduces himself as a cousin of her friend. A guy she later finds out is absolutely not her friend's cousin. A guy she never sees again.

She emails back and forth with this mystery guy, and eventually sets up a meeting. But the guy doesn't show up. Instead, some other person shows up. Rhiannon is confused.

It turns out that this mystery person -- who has no gender -- goes by "A" and has the unfortunate circumstances of hopping from one body to the next each day. Can Rhiannon handle something like that, never knowing who A will be? What happens when A is in the body of a female, or in the body of someone she doesn't find attractive? How much of love is the emotional connection, and how much is the physical package?

An awful lot of reviewers have complained about Rhiannon's character, calling her spineless, whiny, clingy, weak, whatever. You know what I think? I think she's a really, really realistic picture of a teenage girl. Yes, she lets Justin get away with being an absolute jerk. And why? Because her self-esteem is terribly low. She thinks that Justin is the best that she can do. She'd rather be with someone who is awful to her than be alone. Is that sad? Yes, of course. But is it realistic? Unfortunately, yes. I can't hold any of Rhiannon's behavior against her, because she behaves like a normal teenage girl.

What I can do, though, is hold A's behavior against him. (I'm going to refer to A as "him" because that's what Rhiannon does.) It's not A's fault that he's transported into the body of Rhiannon's boyfriend. It's his nature. He can't help it. But A makes this big deal about how he tries not to interfere in someone's life. He tries not to change things. He lives a day in their life and moves on to the next body. But somehow he can't help but chase after Rhiannon after spending a day in Justin's body. He continually seeks her out, making her feel guilty for not being attracted to him in all his bodies. He makes her feel guilty for not breaking up with Justin. It gets to the point that he is making his bodies skip school, or run away, just to see Rhiannon for a few minutes, very much not following his mantra to just live a day in their lives as they normally would. I honestly found A very frustrating and manipulative. I would probably feel differently if I'd read Every Day.

Oh, but the writing. The writing is beautiful, as I have come to expect from Levithan. And, since I've seen such mixed reviews, I did go ahead and buy Every Day. (Although I haven't read it yet.) Maybe I'll be able to better understand A's actions after I read this story from his perspective.

So, in the end, I'm giving this sad, infuriating, open-ended book a three-star rating. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it, either. show less

This is a “companion novel” to Every Day, and so I did not feel like I had to reread the first book. But in some ways, it seemed like I was doing a reread, because the author went over the very same events, but from another perspective.

The first book was narrated by A, a being who wakes up each morning to inhabit a new body; all are approximately the same age and in the same geographical area, but not necessarily the same race, gender, or ethnicity. A takes on the external shape and characteristics of whatever body is the host for the day. On different days, A is, among other things: a drug addict, a suicidal girl, a morbidly obese boy, a football player, and a mean and spiteful girl. He would like to help them, but he doesn’t show more want to cause unintended consequences, so he tries to leave their lives relatively undisturbed.

This second book covers the same time frame as the first, but is narrated by Rhiannon, the 16-year-old girl A fell for while inhabiting her boyfriend Justin’s body. A wanted to see Rhiannon again so much that he decided to risk telling her the truth about himself, something he has never done before with anyone.

Rhiannon thinks she loves Justin, her boyfriend of over a year, but he treats her shabbily. He wants her to give to him both physically and emotionally, but has no interest whatsoever in giving to her in return. Still, Rhiannon can’t imagine life without Justin. But A challenges her:

"There are many things that can keep you in a relationship. . . Fear of being alone. Fear of disrupting the arrangement of your life. A decision to settle for something that’s okay, because you don’t know if you can get any better. Or maybe there’s the irrational belief that it will get better, even if you know he won’t change.”

Rhiannon is not totally clueless though. She knows Justin is more focused on himself than on her. She knows it is less than wonderful to claim that Justin is a good catch because at least he doesn’t hit her.

However, when A enters Rhiannon’s life, she suddenly sees what it is like to be with someone who really loves and appreciates her; who sees her. The whole idea of A’s life doesn’t make sense to her, and yet she soon accepts he is telling her the truth.

She also comes to understand at least in theory - because of A’s constantly changing appearance - that the body is like a car; it is the driver that should be important. It’s not always easy for her though. Sometimes A is male, sometimes female, sometimes unattractive, and sometimes very attractive. She can always recognize A from the eyes, at least. Still, she is heterosexual, and it is hard for her to give herself to another female. More disturbing in a way is the fact that even when A is in the body of an *unattractive* male, she feels herself pulling away. Plus, she could never have a normal life with him; never have him be part of her circle of friends, or even part of her family:

"I can’t picture it with a different person every day. That doesn’t feel like a life. That feels like a hotel.”

And yet, neither can she stay away from A, because emotionally, he does give her what she needs.

Then one day, when A is in the body of Alexander Lin, he thinks this boy is someone Rhiannon could like a lot, and who would appreciate her a lot as well. So he manages to have Alexander keep memories of being with Rhiannon (most "hosts" just have foggy recollections of the day A has spent in their bodies), and A tells Rhiannon that he is leaving. A needs to find out what he is and if he can change it, and he wants Rhiannon to be happy. Rhiannon is torn; she likes Alexander, but she *wants* A.

Discussion: As Rhiannon learns what A’s existence is like and tries to adjust her feelings to his ever-changing appearance, she has an opportunity to contemplate the effects of looks, gender, clothes, and other outward indications of who is “inside” the outer trappings. She gets a keen sense of how unfair it is, but has difficulty overcoming her own socialization and “wiring.”

Leviathan doesn’t really provide an answer to the problems presented by A’s situation, but at least he brings them to our attention. This story is an excellent catalyst to get readers to think about social conventions.

Levithan leaves his story open-ended but not in an unsatisfactory way. We can see it could end up better for everyone, but we can also see there is room for a sequel if Levithan wants to write one.

Evaluation: This is a very creative book, although you might feel you are already familiar with much of it if you read the first book. Still, it is a great choice for book clubs. show less

Again, I say every teen needs to read David Levithan!
Every Day was thought provoking and very well done, but I always wondered how Rhiannon processed all this. To be a teenager is hard enough. How did she handle A's changing physical appearance? How did she come to love him/her so much?

All my questions were answered here in perfect Levithan style!

As the reader, you get an inside view of Rhiannon's struggle to love the person inside, without thought to A's physical appearance.
But true to life, the visual world, with all it's bias, comes crashing through.
The question lies....can we truly love the person inside without the bias of appearance?

I stand and applaud David Levithan for bringing yet another thoughtful, powerful book to the world!