David Levithan
This book has a lot to say, and it says it all over and over and over again. You will come away from the experience with no doubt about how the author feels about gender and sexual identity issues. If you aren’t exhausted by the relentless preaching, you might even come away with a touch more compassion for individuals with these issues. What you won’t get is any explanation or resolution to the central questions raised by the story.
In Every Day by David Levithan, the story, such as it is, centers around a parasite that flits from one life to another, suppressing or supplanting the human consciousness of its host for a single day. The concept could have been, and occasionally was, fascinating. Talk about walking a mile in someone’s shoes. This is empathy at its most extreme. However, instead of exploring the possibilities in the idea, the author focuses on furthering his social and political agenda. And, to be honest, it worked for me for a while, but it was so one note that I got bored.
Then the parasite “A” lands in the body of an obese teenager and all of its compassion is just gone. The author evidently has severe body issues because his portrayal of those with eating disorders and his lack of compassion for their plight was jarring when compared to his treatment of otherteenagers who fell outside of the “normal” spectrum.
You can’t blame the author, since fat folks are the last bastion of prejudice and self-hatred. Wait, yes, you can. If the author wants everyone to love everyone regardless of gender or sexual identity, you can’t then say… “Unless they’re fat!” To be fair, he is anti-religion, too. So, God forbid (if you’ll forgive the expression) you’re a fat, religious teenager. No love for you!
To sum up, the book was a quick, easy read, but it would have been even quicker and easier for the author to just tell me – it gets better, but only if you put down the doughnut.
2 Hate-Is-Hate Stars
