Who's in Control?

Michelle Wong

every day

by David Levithan

(A struggle between the heart and the brain)

Do you feel in control of your life? Don't worry if you don't because personally, feeling in control is something only to be judged on a case by case basis, at least to me it does. I can't always feel or even be in control because honestly, it can be a bit tiring at times. When it's not necessary to be in control, you should just take that time to enjoy life's bliss; there is so much to live for.

What if you actually couldn't control your life though and instead you were controlling others' lives? Ironically, you can't control your life because you don't have one. Your life is another's life because ever since you were born, all you've known is switching between body after body every day. That is the concept of this novel. Funny enough, I can say that the novel itself is a novel idea; I love it.

Speaking of love, this is a romance novel (just a warning for those that don't enjoy this genre). The plot goes that the main protagonist who is later named A, makes many decisions that A typically wouldn't make in response to A's love for a certain someone. In the first chapter of the book, it's clear that A is head over heels for a girl named Rhiannon when A is in the body of Rhiannon's boyfriend. Every mistake that A makes while inhabiting another person's body is due to A's love for Rhiannon. A even admits that to Rhiannon. After sharing a moment with Rhiannon, she confesses that "this is weird" because A is in another body, "it's a different hand. You're different," but A can only respond with,"But I'm not". Rhiannon refutes this by arguing that A "can't say that. Yes you're the same person inside. But the outside matter, too". Arguing continues with A giving the rebuttal, Rhiannon, "You look the same, no matter what eyes I'm seeing you through. I feel the same." "It's true, but it doesn't really address what she's saying," and A knows their response may not be the correct response, but it is the response from their heart. Rhiannon is still bewildered, she asks, "You never get involved in the people's lives? The ones you're inhabiting." A shakes their head and surrenders by conceding that they always try their best to leave the bodies the way they found them, but Rhiannon has changed that (130-131).

Going back to the main subject, Rhiannon. Rhiannon is everything to A. No matter how far apart they are from each other, which is practically every day (title drop) because of A's body swapping predicament. The two of them will try to find each other no matter what circumstances. Because of Rhiannon, A makes the most foolhardy decisions they've ever made. The end goal is Rhiannon. Boy or girl, druggie or not, suicidal or not, any body A is physically in, their mind will always go back to Rhiannon. I know I'm coming off as redundant and the reason behind that is because at the moment I wholeheartedly empathize with A's situation. I definitely don't switch bodies with people on a daily basis, but I do empathize with A's feeling for Rhiannon to a degree. To some, A will come off as annoying. I even tried to emulate A's, at times, aggravating behavior in this blog actually.

If you found this blog a bit annoying, then this novel may potentially not be for you. If you found it annoying, but acceptable, then I definitely recommend this novel still. The last route is that you also are able to empathize with A. On this route, I highly, Highly, HIGHLY recommend this novel. I personally love this novel and, aforementioned, this novel is novel. I'm not saying something novel is necessarily great every time, but for this case, I highly recommend reading, every day. This novel truly is a reading experience.