Other Reviews of Every You, Every Me by David Levithan: In all, I thought Every You, Every Me would make a fantastic quick read for reluctant readers, especially the cynical type who know that being a teenager isn’t all sunshine and rainbows and crushes.ĭisclosure: Received For Review From Amazon Vine. But, it’s a small bit to put up with while reading. Was I supposed to skip the strike-throughs and read as though they weren’t there and then go back to read the strikes to see how they would change the meanings of the phrases? I suppose a more literary reader could appreciate the form, but it wound up frustrating me. As a reader, I wasn’t sure how to read them. Every You, Every Me contains lots of strike-throughs, which is confusing. There is sparse prose with what seems to be painstakingly chosen phrases with no words wasted. The writing style is what I would call typical David Levithan. And we get this contrast between Jack who is attempting to move on in his life without Ariel and Evan who can’t seem to let go or adjust. He is not the only one receiving photos, also receiving is Ariel’s old boyfriend Jack. He becomes obsessed with the photographs and discovering the identity of the person who is sending them. Evan then begins to question himself and his decisions.

The photographs and notes are not cheerful and areÂ rather unnerving. Evan begins to receive mysterious photographs and notes relating to Ariel’s disappearance. As readers we don’t know where she went and are kept in the dark as to whether she is alive or not until the very end. Even so, this book will challenge readers to reconsider storytelling and what it means to know and truly care for someone. There is a lot of emotional buildup, and readers may feel let down by the unraveling of the mystery. Through the haunting photographs, redacted text (much of the text has been struck through, as Evan edits, revises, and negates his thoughts and feelings), readers learn more about Ariel’s mental problems and the psychological damage Evan feels in her absence. High school students Evan, who narrates, and Jack, both loved troubled Ariel and feel guilty for the role they played in her being “gone.” When Evan finds a photograph in an envelope, it leads him to other images and to the conclusion that someone is stalking them, someone who blames them for what happened to Ariel.

Levithan (Love Is the Higher Law) is back with an unusual book that has an equally unusual path to creation in his afterword, Levithan explains that the novel was inspired by the cover photograph, and that the book’s mystery was shaped by photographs Farmer supplied him along the way.