Every Day

Every Day by David Levithan, 324 pages

Every day, A wakes up in a different person's body. It's been going on for their entire life, moving from person to person, day after day, never knowing if the person is going to be male, female, transgender, gay, straight, something else; never knowing race or body type or ability or allergies or mental health or relationship status or anything. All A knows is that they always end up in someone their same age. A has been going through this for 16 years when we meet them, and up until now, has never had an attachment to another human being that makes them want to stay in one body (plenty of other reasons to want to stay, but never a relationship). That all changes when A meets Rhiannon. Suddenly, A is doing everything they can to figure out a way to see her again, taking both A and the person he's temporarily inhabiting on some unexpected trips.

I picked up this book because of its premise, not at all expecting it to be anything more than a quirky teenage love story. And while it is that, it's also so much more — an in-depth look at the spectrum of genders and sexual orientations, an exploration of attachment and relationships, and a meditation on humanity as a whole. I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and I'll happily recommend it.

*Side note: This will soon be adapted into a movie, due out next year. I'm curious how exactly that will work out (I'd expect a lot of voiceover work), and I hope that it gets the kind treatment it deserves.