Someday by David Levithan

Summary from Goodreads:

Every day a new body. Every day a new life. Every day a new choice.

For as long as A can remember, life has meant waking up in a different person's body every day, forced to live as that person until the day ended. A always thought there wasn't anyone else who had a life like this.

But A was wrong. There are others.

A has already been wrestling with powerful feelings of love and loneliness. Now comes an understanding of the extremes that love and loneliness can lead to—and what it's like to discover that you are not alone in the world.

In Someday, David Levithan takes readers further into the lives of A, Rhiannon, Nathan, and the person they may think they know as Reverend Poole, exploring more deeply the questions at the core of Every Day and Another Day: What is a soul? And what makes us human?

Review:

This is another book that I read at just the right moment. I don’t know why I go into Levithan’s books with such trepidation. Maybe I’m afraid that his next one cannot possibly as good as his previous one. And I kind of liked the tragic ending to Every Day. I had so many questions left unanswered, but I was also kind of afraid how Levithan would answer the questions in this last installment. Maybe some things need to be open and unclear.

I’m not going to lie; this past week has been hard for me. It’s been a week of hatred and tragedy. Between explosives being sent to Democrat leaders, a racist man shooting black people in the south, and then a mass shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, I’ve been feeling really depressed, and honestly frightened. I almost read a fantasy book I’d been anticipating this week, but for some reason, this book called to me instead. And I’m so, so glad it did.

I needed the character, A, this week. I needed to read about someone so genuinely kind and loving. I needed to read about the equality march the characters attended in this novel. I needed to read about how A felt so powerful and at peace around everyone at the equality march. I needed to read about A telling X (another bodiless soul) what was morally acceptable. I needed to feel what A felt looking at art in an art museum and connecting the most to the abstract.  I needed A’s goodness. I needed a book that could be one giant hug of acceptance for all people, no matter their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or beliefs. Thank you for this book, David Levithan. It came at just the right moment for me.

I didn’t love this book immediately like I have with books by this author in the past. I kept asking myself the question: does this book need to exist? Is it helping the story or is it just irrelevant thoughts on a remarkable concept that was already done? At first, it didn’t feel like it was going anywhere. And I was confused about all the chapters in the points of view of other souls like A. Why was this important? Did A really need to reunite with Rhiannon? And why was I going into the point of view of such an awful soul (X)?

To be clear, I never felt like I was not going to finish the book. It just didn’t feel as strong or as incredible as the other books in the series until the half way mark. When some questions were finally answered, and one character was being targeted and bullied to get the attention of A, I could not put this book down. I had to know what X wanted. I had to know so many things.

Also, I loved Rhiannon in this book. That girl has come such a long way since book 1. It’s gotten to the point where it’s not just Rhiannon and the world learning from the goodness of A, but A and the world are learning a thing or two from Rhiannon.  There’s a certain passage I read from her over and over, and I wasn’t expecting the wisest words to come from her, but they do. “…The whole point of love isn’t to have fun times without any hard times, to have someone who is fine with who you are and doesn’t challenge you to be even better than that. The whole point of love isn’t to be the other’s person’s solution or answer or cure. The whole point of love is to help them find what they need, in any way you can…(382)”

I loved these words. I loved her relationship with A in this novel. I loved some of the last pages of this book so much, I clutched the novel to my chest in a tight hug. The other points of view that I found interesting (but maybe not so relevant) became relevant at the end. And I loved them so much. I loved what A came to learn from everything. And I loved what Rhiannon came to love from everything too. At it’s core, Every Day was a love story. Another Day was a coming of age story. And Someday is a story of acceptance. I have loved each book differently. The concept behind it all is so utterly unique and eye-opening. And each story has been able to capture something a little different for me. I give this a 10/10. I highly recommend these books to everyone. They are such teachers of empathy and love.