“Every You, Every Me” by David Levithan (Reviewed by William Henderson)

I rarely (read: mostly never) ask questions at author readings because I do not want to be one of those rabid fans wanting to know what the author is reading or what the author’s motivation was (or is) or what the author is working on next or if the author is reading reviews or or or or or.

Never. Or mostly never.

But when David Levithan read at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts earlier this year, I asked those annoying questions, and he answered my annoying questions, which is when I learned of his now-out YA book, Every You, Every Me (and yes, Placebo fans, the book title comes from the band’s song of the same name).

The book’s conceit is simple: Levithan teamed with a photographer, Jonathan Farmer, to create Every You, Every Me. But this pairing was unusual in that Farmer took pictures and sent these pictures to Levithan, who had no idea what the next picture Farmer would send would be. Similarly, Farmer didn’t read Levithan’s book until after he had completed a draft. Under less able hands, the book could have collapsed under the weight of its cleverness, but Levithan’s hands are able, as he proves with each book (The Lover’s Dictionary, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, etc.).

In Every You, Every Me, Evan is plagued by something that happened to his best friend, Ariel, and this something is something for which Evan feels responsible. Similarly, Ariel’s former boyfriend, Jack, also feels responsible, though less so. And while Evan and Jack tolerated each other because of their respective relationships with Ariel, now, without Ariel, the boys are tethered by a moment they shared with Ariel – a moment we learn about only near the end of the book.

Enter a mysterious photographer, who leaves photos for Evan, first of scenery, than of Evan, and finally of Ariel. Somehow this photographer knows what Evan and Jack did, or what they caused to happen, and this photographer wants revenge, or, as we learn later, to avenge the actions of two boys against a girl each loves.

Along with the photographs, which are stunning, and full-color, and filled with movie-ready models who like every you and every me, some of the words in the text have been crossed-out, as Evan struggles to find the words he needs to describe his feelings and his life and his relationships and the way his world is falling apart and and and and and.

And I think I’m a bit in love with Levithan and his words because I want to be some if not all of the people he writes about and I’d love to ask him to coffee, if only to pick his brain about the way he writes, because I’m a little bit in love with Levithan and his words and if you’re reading this, David, and if you’re single, or even if you’re not single, call me.

While an interesting way to allow us access into Evan’s thoughts and view of the world, over time the device becomes just that, a device, or so I thought the further into the book I got. I read the crossed-out words – of course I read the crossed-out words – but I didn’t think of these words as part of the main narrative, even though I suspect Levithan wants us to think of these words as part of the main narrative.

At one point, Evan remembers thinking that his relationship with Ariel was divided between the things he couldn’t ask her, and the things she chose not to tell him, and I thought, at those lines, how this disconnect could describe Levithan’s oeuvre.

Chance encounters leading to all-night frenzies; letters left in books becoming citywide scavenger hunts; boys meeting boys loving boys loving girls meeting boys meeting boys; two boys named Will Grayson who meet accidentally; a pair of lovers, unnamed, who come together and fall apart and whose fate is left for the reader to decide (does the pair reunite or stay apart?); and here, high school friendships that feel life-and-death and fatalistic and the types of relationships that will last forever, and those these types of relationships that feel like forever become something far less than forever but no less important and life-changing.

I loved these characters because I’ve been these characters and I am these characters and I think you’ve been these characters and you are these characters and I’ve had friends like Jack and Ariel and Evan, and you’ve had friends like Jack and Ariel and Evan, and I can understand the perils of getting in too deep because I’ve gotten in too deep and you’ve gotten in too deep and

And

And

And.