{Review} Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

{June 9, 2014} {Review} Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

From Goodreads: 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.

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I really loved how this novel connected pictures with the storyline, and if I read the acknowledgments correctly, Johnathan Farmer provided random photos and David Levithan wrote them into his story–neither of them knowing what exactly the other was doing. That’s really neat, and the fact that it worked into a viable story just blows my mind! I wouldn’t be able to write a story based on a photo and then keep it going through other random photos given to me, but that’s why I’m not a talented author and Levithan is. The photos really worked out very well, and I’m glad that Farmer chose to stay in one genre because it added a little bit of spook factor as well.

I liked that this novel was difficult to pin down–I didn’t know who to trust, who was really crazy, and what happened to Ariel; if she’s dead or in an insane asylum… it’s not made clear for some time, though allusions are made. Though I never connected with the characters on a deep level, I was definitely entwined in their story and I really enjoyed it, until the revelation. For me, I just felt like the revelation of Ariel was forced; not possible, if you will. And I basically feel this way because I can’t fathom how someone would be able to do what Ariel did, or how her boyfriend and best friend wouldn’t have known… I’m being cryptic here because I don’t want to give away the story, but overall, the execution and plotline was great until the very end. That’s where it lost me. Do I recommend it? Yes I do—perhaps you’ll enjoy the ending more than I did. Three stars.