David Levithan’s Every You, Every Me

Every You, Every Me\David Levithan\Contemporary, Young Adult\Knopf Books\September 13th 2011\245 pages

“I had gotten so used to being alone, but never entirely used to it. Never used to it enough to stop wanting the alternative.” 

If you are looking for a fast-paced, sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, or romance novel don’t read this book.

The story is about finding out who is the mysterious photographer who’s avenging Ariel. The past keeps haunting Evan, thinking he made the wrong decision, whether he truly helped Ariel or not. It’s a youth drama about suicide, friendship, and love.

“That whole week, we started to divide things into those two categories: anything or something. A piece of jewelry bought at a department store: anything. A piece of jewelry made by hand: something. A dollar: anything. A sand dollar: something. A gift certificate: anything. An IOU for two hours of star watching: something. A drunk kiss at a party: anything. A sober kiss alone in a park: something.” 

What I look for in a novel is something engaging that will make me holding on to the story chapter by chapter. This one definitely satisfies that wanting. It’s the collection of words, David has compiled that made me hold on to it. It’s readable and easily understandable. Though, the message is something deeper than the sugar coat meaning of the words and story as a whole. It will make you think if it ever hit that pumping thing inside you.

There's a lot of anticipations from me, while reading it. Like is Evan's the one haunting himself at all? Or Ariel's the one? In the end, it's not really a surprise but the climax is really interesting. Though the revelation become quite explosive, it didn't need much thinking.

“If you zoom close-if you get really close to someone, if you really get close to yourself-then you lose the other person, you lose yourself entirely. You get so close you can't see anything anymore.” 

It’s quite sad and boring really, when you’re expecting actions. It received an average rating in book reviews. Yet I still appreciate it. For emotional persons like me, words matter and story is second honor to my priorities.

“You don't know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. And you can't know every me, and I can't know every you.”