October 22, 2011

REVIEW: Every You, Every Me by David Levithan


Every You, Every Me by David Levithan
Hardcover 245 pages
Published September 13, 2011 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
In this high school-set psychological tale, a tormented teen named Evan starts to discover a series of unnerving photographs—some of which feature him. Someone is stalking him . . . messing with him . . . threatening him. Worse, ever since his best friend Ariel has been gone, he's been unable to sleep, spending night after night torturing himself for his role in her absence. And as crazy as it sounds, Evan's starting to believe it's Ariel that's behind all of this, punishing him. But the more Evan starts to unravel the mystery, the more his paranoia and insomnia amplify, and the more he starts to unravel himself. Creatively told with black-and-white photos interspersed between the text so the reader can see the photos that are so unnerving to Evan, Every You, Every Me is a one-of-a-kind departure from a one-of-a-kind author.

I’ve heard nothing but good things about David Levithan’s books, and I was excited to finally read one. I’ve heard from a few different sources that this book wasn’t as good as his other books, but I absolutely loved it, so now I feel like I need to move his others up the TBR pile!

One thing in particular that I loved about this book was Ariel. She’s a troubled girl and her absence is taking its toll on Evan’s psyche. Most often in YA, we see the boy as the “troubled” character, as the manipulative character, as the bad boy. There are a few books that I’ve read that come to mind that do feature a troubled female character, but nevertheless, they don’t seem to be too common.

The photographs throughout the pages were a nice touch. I liked seeing what Evan was seeing, and it helped to understand why they were bothering him so much. The pictures didn’t take away from the story, and they weren’t overpowering, which was another bonus.

Every You, Every Me is a book that made me contemplate life, and how well you really know people. Being inside Evan’s head made me think about things that rarely crossed my mind otherwise.   I’m not generally a psychological thriller fan, but every now and then a one crosses my lap that I fall in love with.   Every You, Every Me is a thrilling character driven novel that I would recommend everyone to at least give a chance.

5/5 Stars

1 comment:

  1. I didn't really know much about this one... but WOW it sounds so awesome! I love photography and tormented books... this sounds SO up my alley! Great review! :)

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