I do not read Young Adult
books, and Every Day simply emphasizes my resolve not to do so
in the future. The idea - of a soul migrating across countless bodies
- has promise, but weighed down by child-like concepts and a long
list of improbabilities it never lifts off the ground. That which is
mind-boggling fails to become thought-provoking, and the story, for me
at least, falls flat on its face.
The
characters are two-dimensional and extremely clichéd, and it is
impossible to connect with any of them. As we know, a relatively
secure environment, with at least one constant adult, is essential if
a child is to learn the basics of love, trust and good behaviour,
and, therefore, the main character, A, having migrated from body to
body since birth, should, by all rights, be a psychological mess. But
this is not the case; instead he comes across as being well-adjusted,
capable of forming a loving relationship and, in most things, a
little ahead of his peers intellectually. For me, A is not an
ordinary sixteen-year-old but some
kind of mirror-reflection of the author himself.
A
review on the back cover of the book says: ‘This
breathless book made me cry’.
Obviously, the review writer and I cry about very
different things; however,
assuming that he is probably no more than twelve or thirteen, still
thinking like a child and unable to take the step into proper
literature then perhaps there are things in the novel that may make
him want to cry. I could well have cried after having wasted so much
time reading the book.
Finally,
I could not but be amazed at the number of sixteen-year-olds with
access to cars (often their own), the financial wherewithal to meet
the cost of six-hour round car trips, and the absence of any adult
intervention when the children decide to take time off from school
and engage in under-age sex.
Is this the way it actually is in America, or is it wishful thinking
on the part of the author and his readers?