Every You, Every Me by David Levithan (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9/13/11)
Review by Kelly Lucas
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.*
DL Rocks.
Every You, Every Me was dauntingly beautiful and terrifically scary. David Levithan has such a way with words. He can take a simple plot and a simple character and turn it into one of the deepest books I have ever read.
All we know is that Ariel is gone. We don’t know how, we don’t know where. We just know that she’s gone and she’s left Evan, her best friend, and Jack, her boyfriend, in the wake of it all. When Evan begins receive the mystery photos, he wants to find out who is sending them. Jack just wants to move on. But from what, exactly? What happened to Ariel? Every You, Every Me is a mystery worthy of Margo Roth Spiegelman of Paper Towns** by John Green.
Just like Margo, Ariel haunts every page of this book. She’s there, but she’s not. Evan is our narrator and he is very troubled by the disappearance of Ariel. Matched with photos by Jonathan Farmer, Levithan really brought Evan, Jack, and Ariel to life quickly and fully. I cared about these characters from page one, even though I knew nothing about them. That is the beauty of David Levithan’s writing; it was the heartache of friend lost that I connected to.
This is annoying.
I love how David Levithan really attempts to go outside of the box with his writing. He writes so differently and is constantly creating new ways to tell a story. With this story, I learned that he and his photographer, Jonathan Farmer, “wrote” the book together. Levithan would get a picture from Farmer and write a bit, then ask for another photo. New and innovated; that’s David Levithan and that’s why I love him.
About half of the book has its narration striked through. This technique was very different than what I am used to. I understand that Levithan wanted the reader to know these thoughts of Evan’s but Evan wanted to take them back. Unfortunately, it annoyed me. The effect was done well, but done a lot and I just didn’t like it. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t love the book, though.
Still a Must-Read
Evan’s voice and his journey to find the messenger of the photos and our journey to figure out how Ariel disappeared was brilliant. Truly, truly brilliant. I’m not a fan of mysteries, but this was not a traditional mystery, it was a contemporary mystery. And it was Evan’s mystery; we were just along for the ride. He sought out the clues, which were far and few. The answers to his questions just led to more questions. Kind of like LOST, but with better writing. There are times when I knew what happened to Ariel, but then I would turn the page and Evan had me recanting those thoughts.
Unlike most of Levithan’s books, Every You, Every Me moved a little slowly. Yet, by the time you hit the climax, it’s a straight drive home. I loved the ending and the “solving” of the mystery was not what I expected. Levithan has never disappointed before and he did not disappoint me again. This book is a must-read for anyone who loves DL, loves contemporary mysteries, or had loved a friend and lost them.
*Thanks, Amazon!
**If you haven’t read Paper Towns, you should. Margo is a mystery herself, which is why Ariel reminds me of her.
Hey, Guys.
The Magic Hoodie Lit Society is going through some changes.
One of our great girls, Bailey, has chosen to bow out of MHLit in order to dedicate her time to her academics. While we’ll miss her a lot, we wish her the best with her studies and encourage her to do her best.
In her absence, we’ll still be writing reviews and updating just as quickly as we always have. We still love all of our followers and hope that you will continue to read our posts.
Thanks for being so awesome!
Black Heart by Holly Black (Margaret K. McElderry Books, April 3, 2012)
Review by Kenzie Helene
Nearly two years since the series began, we are finally getting the magnificent conclusion to Holly Black’s Curse Workers series. Now, if you haven’t already read White Cat and Red Glove, you should leave this review, since it will contain spoilers for the first two books. But your lack of preparation for Black Heart can be fixed! All three books have been released, so it’s the best time to launch yourself into this brilliant series.
Summary
Cassel Sharpe knows he’s been used as an assassin, but he’s trying to put all that behind him. He’s trying to be good, even though he grew up in a family of con artists and cheating comes as easily as breathing to him. He’s trying to do the right thing, even though the girl he loves is inextricably connected with crime. And he’s trying to convince himself that working for the Feds is smart, even though he’s been raised to believe the government is the enemy.
But with a mother on the lam, the girl he loves about to take her place in the Mob, and new secrets coming to light, the line between what’s right and what’s wrong becomes increasingly blurred. When the Feds ask Cassel to do the one thing he said he would never do again, he needs to sort out what’s a con and what’s truth. In a dangerous game and with his life on the line, Cassel may have to make his biggest gamble yet—this time on love.*
Musings
Red Glove left Cassel -- and us --in a few too many awkward situations. Shandra Singer is in trouble for making the governor of New Jersey fall in love with her. Lila has joined her father’s mob gang. And meanwhile Cassel and Barron, Cassel’s older brother, have gotten involved with the Feds. Left with this big mess to clean up, I eagerly awaited the arrival of Black Heart. On April 3rd, I woke up early, headed straight for the bookstore, purchased my copy, and was a 87 pages into the novel before classes swept my time and attention away.
In my opinion, Black Heart is the perfect ending to this series. Not every character got their happy ending (or, at least, the ending that would have made them the happiest), but even the complicated ones are heartwarming. Cassel’s dysfunctional relationships with Barron and Shandra held the most interest for me-- seeing the family dynamic change through their interactions and discoveries in Black Heart was great.
Holly Black is an undeniable master of back story, so the characters in the Curse Workers series have never been flat, and yet she manages to add more depth throughout Black Heart. The new motives and emotions that emerge from characters who had minor roles previously offer the reader a more engaged experience during this last book.
The plot is spectacular, not that anyone would expect less from Holly Black. Every time I thought I had a grasp on Cassel’s intentions, he’d turn ‘em around and leave me with my jaw on the floor. It isn’t just Cassel, though. Every character seems to have secret, unexpected plans, and I wanted to facepalm several times for not jumping to the right conclusion the first time... or second time... or third time.
While the end pairings were predictable, the journey to get there was more than worth the trip.
I’m sad that I don’t have anymore Curse Workers books to look forward to now, but I’m certainly happy with how things work out for Cassel, Lila, Sam, and Daneca. I’ll just have to keep rereading these great books, while I wait for new genius plots from Holly Black.
*Taken from Barnes and Noble Website.
