David Levithan's Days
David Leviathan's teen book Another Day comes out August 25th. I was "lucky" enough to get an advanced copy. Let me get the legalize outta the way- I cannot quote from an ARC, the copy I read might not be the finished product. Okay lets get to this.
To prepare I read the first in this series, Every Day. This book is a quick read, and has the premise that I have never encountered before: The main character "A" awakes in a new body every day. A can access the memories of the person who's body A is in, but does not have a body of their own. I think this book brings up important social issues of the day as A does not identify with being either woman or man. The body A wakes in is the person A uses (wow it is really hard to not write in genders).
I applaud Leviathan for this work. It was not a book that I would overly recommend, the characters where a bit flat, and the main character falls in love with a girl (Rhiannon) who is a bit annoying (no personality, no self respect), and the writing was choppy. But the idea is original, and the story can make you think about how much you take for granted with your life, and body - how much do you really pay attention to yourself?
Another Day is the second in the series. They are calling it a companion as it is the same series of events but told from Rhiannon's point of view. Here starts my problem, I didn't care for Rhiannon in the first book. She is a one dimensional character who brings all the bad about teenagers to the forefront, and has no real story line to back her up. I want to make it clear that I don't think every character you read needs to be likable, I don't think every story needs to have a point, and I am completely against stories being exhorted, or moral. But more than that I am against teen girl characters who get treated like shit by their boyfriends, and just live with it, which is exactly what Rhiannon does.
Over and over again the main character defends her boyfriend against her friends, and against A- the new person in her life who keeps telling her she is WONDERFUL, and that they are in love with her because of whatever reason. But yet the story gives no indication at all about why a girl should or would put up with her boyfriend constantly telling her she is uninteresting, telling her to not talk to them, yelling at her- basically making her feel she is stupid, annoying and not worth anything.
My tipping point was about half way through the book when Rhiannon is having sex with her boyfriend, while thinking about other things, because that is what he wants. She does not enjoy the sex, she waits for him to finish and then that is it. I believe he went back to his video game after. I was so furious I skipped to the last chapter to see if she grows any, and then gave up.
I don't want to be preachy myself, but PLEASE!! this should never, ever be part of a teen novel. To basically tell girls it is okay to just give your boyfriend sex, because he wants it, even though you do not, is horrendous, and I do not think I am over exaggerating. I truly do not think this was Levithan's point (though I am not sure what his point was with this scene), but when your target audience is impressionable teens, who already get this type of message from their crappy partners, and who are manipulated into having this type of sex, can we please not make it sound like it is okay in the book they read?
Rhiannon is not done teaching bad lessons either, she is a serial monogamist, who will keep her boyfriends until she is completely sure she has the next one lined up. All the while convincing herself she is worthless. It is depressing, and the fact that she does not grow at all through the book is disheartening.
I wish I had something good to say about this book. But other than the fact that lots of people on Good Reads are excited, and don't really seem to care that the main character her is just sad, I got nothing.
Oh wait- read "A Lover's Dictionary" by him, very inventive (he tells a story of a relationship purely through dictionary like entries! So good!). Here are your links:
Good reads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18459855-another-day
Leviathan himself: http://davidlevithan.com/
Teen Crisis Hotline(because no one should be treated like crap and think it is okay): https://teenlineonline.org/
I applaud Leviathan for this work. It was not a book that I would overly recommend, the characters where a bit flat, and the main character falls in love with a girl (Rhiannon) who is a bit annoying (no personality, no self respect), and the writing was choppy. But the idea is original, and the story can make you think about how much you take for granted with your life, and body - how much do you really pay attention to yourself?
Another Day is the second in the series. They are calling it a companion as it is the same series of events but told from Rhiannon's point of view. Here starts my problem, I didn't care for Rhiannon in the first book. She is a one dimensional character who brings all the bad about teenagers to the forefront, and has no real story line to back her up. I want to make it clear that I don't think every character you read needs to be likable, I don't think every story needs to have a point, and I am completely against stories being exhorted, or moral. But more than that I am against teen girl characters who get treated like shit by their boyfriends, and just live with it, which is exactly what Rhiannon does.
Over and over again the main character defends her boyfriend against her friends, and against A- the new person in her life who keeps telling her she is WONDERFUL, and that they are in love with her because of whatever reason. But yet the story gives no indication at all about why a girl should or would put up with her boyfriend constantly telling her she is uninteresting, telling her to not talk to them, yelling at her- basically making her feel she is stupid, annoying and not worth anything.
My tipping point was about half way through the book when Rhiannon is having sex with her boyfriend, while thinking about other things, because that is what he wants. She does not enjoy the sex, she waits for him to finish and then that is it. I believe he went back to his video game after. I was so furious I skipped to the last chapter to see if she grows any, and then gave up.
I don't want to be preachy myself, but PLEASE!! this should never, ever be part of a teen novel. To basically tell girls it is okay to just give your boyfriend sex, because he wants it, even though you do not, is horrendous, and I do not think I am over exaggerating. I truly do not think this was Levithan's point (though I am not sure what his point was with this scene), but when your target audience is impressionable teens, who already get this type of message from their crappy partners, and who are manipulated into having this type of sex, can we please not make it sound like it is okay in the book they read?
Rhiannon is not done teaching bad lessons either, she is a serial monogamist, who will keep her boyfriends until she is completely sure she has the next one lined up. All the while convincing herself she is worthless. It is depressing, and the fact that she does not grow at all through the book is disheartening.
I wish I had something good to say about this book. But other than the fact that lots of people on Good Reads are excited, and don't really seem to care that the main character her is just sad, I got nothing.
Oh wait- read "A Lover's Dictionary" by him, very inventive (he tells a story of a relationship purely through dictionary like entries! So good!). Here are your links:
Good reads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18459855-another-day
Leviathan himself: http://davidlevithan.com/
Teen Crisis Hotline(because no one should be treated like crap and think it is okay): https://teenlineonline.org/
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