Book Review: Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

Wow….this book is…sort of crazy.

It’s amazing, first of all. Incredibly unique. It is a photographic novel–basically there are actual photographs worked into the story and printed in the novel. I don’t know if other people have done this before but this one (a collaboration between David Levithan, the author, and Jonathan Farmer, the photographer) is breathtaking. I’m not sure what the genre name is but I’d say psychological contemporary–not sure if that exists. It’s real life with a slightly-mentally-unstable narrator dealing with the traumatizing and mysterious absence of his best friend.

The writing is perfect. It captures the mental state of the narrator, dragging you into the scattered, damaged psyche. The novel is powerful and insightful and really well done. Dark and fast-paced. Also, short–I read it in a couple of hours. I literally did not put in down until I finished it.

The book is dark. In dragging you into the mind of the narrator it takes over your own mind. The plot is downright creepy. If you have read Susan Vaught’s Freaks Like Us (which is also amazing), it’s like that. If you’ve read Truly, Madly, Deadly by Hannah Jayne, it’s like that, but better. Just, be warned. But if you like that sort of thing–read it.

P.S. David Levithan’s other book, Every Day, is amazing as well. Less creepy. Just as intense. SOOO worth reading.