Okay, I just had to write a blog post on this, especially because it concerns one of my favorite authors ever. I was making my usual rounds of browsing through GoodReads giveaway when I stumbled upon the cover of Maybe, Maybe Not. That bright shade of blue… The candy hearts… The placement of the text of the author’s name…
It looked a lot like the cover of Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan.
The problem of copying the concept of the cover like Boy Meets Boy is the fact that, personally, I think it is a classic. The book’s been around for a while. Levithan is a popular author and this is one of his most – if not the most – popular books that he has written. The combination of the blue background, candy hearts, and yellow text just reminds me of Boy Meets Boy. The hearts on Maybe, Maybe Not have a different arrangement, but the overall design of the cover is just too similar.
… And don’t get me started on the horrible Photoshop of Maybe, Maybe Not.
Permalink
Random - Author: David Levithan, Book: Boy Meets Boy, Book: Maybe Maybe Not | 
249 words
EVERY YOU, EVERY ME by David Levithan
Publication Date: September 13th 2011 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Rating: 
| 
Summary: 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.
Review Overview:
- Writing style forced me slow down when reading
- The photographic addition to the narrative is different, but I can’t say I was stunned by the photography
- Not my favorite Levithan book but still worth picking up for the mystery
The style of EVERY YOU, EVERY ME is not one that I’ve encountered before. At his book signing, Levithan properly gave credit to the author that used it first, but of course, I can’t remember who that certain author is. Written from the perspective of Evan, the narrative style is very stream of consciousness. Evan says whatever he wants to, but he constantly strikes out words when he second guesses what he says. You’ll see a lot of excess adjectives crossed out; sometimes entire sentences. I found that the writing style forced me to slow down while I read. While it made me appreciate the style a bit more, I also found it a lot more challenging to read. The combination of constant striked out sentences and the stream of consciousness writing felt extremely choppy to me. The novel doesn’t flow as much as I preferred as a reader, and as a result, I read a lot slower than usual.
Of course, it’s difficult to talk about this book without touching on the photographs – because let’s be honest: that’s one of the other reasons that make this book unique. Levithan worked with his friend Farmer to create a novel that worked with photographs. Farmer took each photograph featured in the book and it was up to Levithan to find a way to incorporate every single one. Farmer had no idea what Levithan was writing, and Levithan had no idea what photograph would follow. It was great to take a break from the usual storytelling format, but I wouldn’t say that I was stunned by any of the pictures in the book. I love the idea that both of them were able to work so well together to create a story – even if they had no idea that it would work at the time.
Nonetheless, the mystery behind Ariel kept me hooked. I had some theories as to what had happened to her, but Levithan still managed to keep me on my toes the entire time. Just when I thought I was coming to a conclusion, the characters would just say something that made me second-guess myself.
The combination of photographs and choppy sentences also makes this book a really short read. The book isn’t long to begin with, and since many pages are not filled entirely with text, it is very easy to read this book in one sitting.
I would definitely recommend this book to fans of David Levithan. This one isn’t my favorite work of Levithan, so I wouldn’t exactly recommend this book to someone who has never picked up one of his works. However, if you’re really in the mood for a book that will keep you guessing, pick this one up!
If I wasn’t such a huge Levithan fan, I would have been disappointed that I bought this book instead of just borrowing it from the library. This one is definitely a Borrow It for me if it was written by anyone else.
Why I’m Biased: David Levithan is one of my favorite authors. Ever. So I admit I have a tendency to hold high standards.
Other Reviews:
Gone with the Words
Good Books & Good Wine
About the Author
|
Find the Author
|
David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children’s book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.
Permalink
Book Review, Three Stars - Audience: Young Adult, Author: David Levithan, Book: Every You Every Me, Borrow It, Genre: Contemporary, Keeps You Guessing, Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers | 1107 words
Last month was an epic fail. I only managed to read 3 out of the 7 books that I had planned to read. With the exception of Every You, Every Me by David Levithan, all of the books that I didn’t get to last month will be bumped back to the bottom of the TBR pile. Keeping it realistic this month, my goal is only four books, especially since one is quite epic.
The Definites
I am so incredibly behind on my GoodReads Reading Challenge… I don’t know how I could possibly catch up now.
Permalink
Random - Author: David Levithan, Author: George R R Martin, Author: Leanna Renee Hieber, Author: Maggie Stiefvater, Book: A Game of Thrones, Book: Darker Still, Book: Every You Every Me, Book: The Scorpio Races, TBR Pile | 487 words
- Action Packed
- Hahaha Funny
- Heartwarmer
- Makes You Think
- Masterful World-Building
- Must Buy
- Page-Turner
- Poetic Prose
- Romantic Read
- Tear-Jerker
