Imagine waking up every day as a new person. Literally as someone else in a different, new body every single day of your life. Would you enjoy it? Would it scare you? Would you survive? What if it was all you had ever known?
For A, waking up as someone else has always been the norm. The day requires A to exist as the person, male or female, who owns that body. Always the age that A is. One day is all A gets, because at midnight A is stripped away from the host and wakes up again as someone else.
Day 5994 (a day at age 16) is different. That is the day A wakes up as Justin, meets Justin’s girlfriend Rhiannon, and falls in love for the first time. And even though A knows that tomorrow will bring a new body in a new place, A is determined to find a way to see Rhiannon.
Why I picked up the book: It has been on my radar for awhile. We chose it for our Jan2014 Never Too Old book club.
Why I finished it: Once I started it, I hated putting it down. I loved the concept and how it is the perfect metaphor for teenage life: trapped in a body that doesn’t feel like yours, trying on different personas, finding that balance between who you are and how others perceive you. While it took a while to dismiss trying to determine whether A is male or female, it again makes perfect sense. The book really makes you think “how”, “why”, “would you want to”, “could they”, “How do you keep from disrupting the body’s real life”.
The paperback edition also includes the shorts: Six Earlier Days.
I’d give it to: Teens and adults. It reminded me a bit of “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer.
Not sure how I feel about the 2015 scheduled release of Rhiannon. The ending of Every Day makes sense, although I would like to know what happens to A next. A sequel, even from her perspective, might fill in too many of the blanks that let the story linger in your mind.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Review by Jenn, YA Librarian (View all my Goodreads reviews)