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Every You, Every Me

David Levithan (Goodreads Author),

Jonathan Farmer (Photographs)

3.39 · Rating details · 7,875 ratings · 1,161 reviews

In this high school-set psychological tale, a tormented teen named Evan starts to discover a series of unnerving photographs—some of which feature him. Someone is stalking him . . . messing with him . . . threatening him. Worse, ever since his best friend Ariel has been gone, he's been unable to sleep, spending night after night torturing himself for his role in her absenc ...more

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Hardcover, 248 pages

Published September 13th 2011 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

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Average rating 3.39 ·

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· 7,875 ratings · 1,161 reviews

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Feb 17, 2011 Tatiana rated it did not like it

Recommends it for: those who can't get enough of the ANGST

Shelves: starred-2011, 1, tres-annoying, ya, dnf, mysteries-thrillers-horror

I usually like David Levithan, a lot even. But this new experimental piece of his - it caused me physical pain to slog through that little bit of the book that I did manage to read.

Let me recount my problems with Every You, Every Me in order of appearance:

1) the ANGST - the book assaults with an unbearable amount of teen boy angst from the very first page, when you do not even know the main character's name and circumstances. It's just angst, angst, angst with a hint of mystery. The novel breat ...more

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Nov 24, 2011 Jessica Lewenda rated it it was ok

Shelves: library, contemporary, young-adult, as-angsty-as-when-ed-dumped-bella, what-the-hell-happened, oy-vey, mystery, thriller, read-in-2011, 2-stars

Wow, this book was a bit of a trainwreck.

There are a few things I need to point out.

Firstly, the strikethough. Half ~~the novel~~ was written ~~like this~~ and for the ~~most part~~ it seemed pretty ran~~dom~~. I almost dropped it on the first page, because it was just that annoying.

Secondly, oh my god, the angst. Do you remember that part in New Moon, where Edward dumped Bella, and she was just this depressed mess for months? Yeah, well, Evan is like that, but permanently, and for no reason that I can discer ...more

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Oct 10, 2014 Neil (or bleed) rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: gave-away

What a shame.

With black-and-white pictures and strike-through texts, I thought this book will be a disturbing psychological tale but the thing is, it wasn't.

Yes, there was a mystery but it didn't really work for me. I think it has been used just to make someone be compelled and read the book until the end in one sitting (which I did, unfortunately).

But this is a hideous and pretentious technique. Because really, this book is all about angst, teenage angst and nothing more. The angst is strong ...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Laura rated it really liked it

All I needed to know about Every You, Every Me was that David Levithan wrote it. The man has a permanent spot in my heart for giving me Dash & Lily! But this! Well…it was a whole new experience filled with imagination.

Once I opened the book, I could not put it down. The mystery and tension just built page turn after page turn just pulling me deeper into the story. I found myself clutching the book at times trying to get a better look! It truly was an amazing reading experience that blended pictu ...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Chelsea rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: Ppl who only own one book- this one.

Shelves: cover-lust, literary-facepalm, young-adult

Oh god, this book.
I like the books of Levithan's that I've read but this was just awful.

The idea behind this book was actually a great and interesting. I like the way the book was set up and the addition of pictures to it and how the story was written between the author and the photographer.

The problems I had with this book:
1. The characters were COMPLETELY one dimensional and they didn;t develop at all over the book. On top of that the relationships between the characters weren't very convinin Oh god, this book.
I like the books of Levithan's that I've read but this was just awful.

The idea behind this book was actually a great and interesting. I like the way the book was set up and the addition of pictures to it and how the story was written between the author and the photographer.

The problems I had with this book:
1. The characters were COMPLETELY one dimensional and they didn;t develop at all over the book. On top of that the relationships between the characters weren't very convining, mostly because they weren't all presented at the beginning of the story, they just randomly appeared throughout. The main character, Evan, was so emo I couldn't stand it and I kind of wanted to find a hammer and bet myself in the head at some points. Also, Evan's relationship with Ariel didn't really do it for me either. It's hard to judge on this aspect because she is only talked about and never present, but still, their friendship seemed like one that would end come graduation day.

2. I had no idea what the heck happened to this Ariel girl until the end of the story. At first I thoguht she had commmited suicide, but it was so vague that I had no idea. This normally wouldn't bother me because it adds a sense of mystery, but this unexplained incident is mentioned so often that it started to become annoying.

3. When Jack flips out on Evan because he thought that Evan was leaving the pictures around was so painful. It was so obvious that that was going to happen at one point and when I finsihed reading this I realized that this event was supposed to be a twist, which is upsetting because it was a very bad and over used one.

4. The end of this book, mainly the whole showdown with the mystery person would was leaving the pictures around. This ending was the epitome of a literary face-palm. It was so awful. First, the way they get this person to the woods for this little staring contest/ word fight was so stupid. I feel like it their was more emotional build up and Levithan made the reader feel like Evan was trapped and had no other option, I'd believe it. Then when they were actually in the forest and trying to understand why this girl Dana was doing what she was doing, I rolled my eyes. Typical "you never knew her like i knew her and you never understood. I was really her best friend and i knew what she wanted and you guys are the reason she's locked up in the looney bin". Basically, she blaming Jack and Evan for saving Ariel when she tried to kill herself because this Dana girl felt that she knew that Ariel wasn't super depressed but that she just understood the true nature of the world and wanted to be free from the pain. a true WTF. So then it ends with Evan finally forgiving himself for saving his friends life, which is confusing. P.S. I finally found out @ the end that no, she didn't actually kill herself, but she did try, which is why this chick Dana felt entitled to start stalking and harrassing Ariel's friends.

5. I wish someone could explain to me why 50% of this book is ~~crossed out~~. Seriously! I would understand if it was contributing to the overall story, but it's not. It only add more angst and teenage boy emo-ness, ~~like a male Bella after Edward leaves her dont ask me how or why i know this information o_o~~. I feel like it was mostly to make the book longer because there were literally whole chapters that were strikethroughs. Granted, a lot of the chapters were only a page long, but still.

And that's it. Like most YA books nowadays, you see a pretty cover with a good quote from the text, but when you actually start reading it , the illusion is shattered. The only reason I finished this book was because I thought it was going to go somewhere, but sadly it didn't. How this book made it into print will remain a mystery to me. ...more

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Feb 01, 2015 Jade Diamond rated it it was amazing

Evan is on his way home from school when he finds an envelope on the ground that has a photo inside. He starts to think that Ariel is back to torment him, because of what he did to her. As they unravel the mystery behind the photographs, he soon discovers how little he knows about Ariel and the truth.

This was a heartfelt story of love and loss, and dealing with the tragedy of losing a close friend. It had a very haunting aura throughout the book, so that I felt Ariel’s missing presence right al ...more

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Feb 23, 2016 Camila (previously the opinionated Catruler) rated it it was amazing

Easily, best book I've read all year. However, very different from David Levithan's other books.

...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Daven rated it did not like it

I was intrigued by this novel for the opening 30 or so pages, given its unusual use of ~~strike-through text~~ to indicate retracted internal monologue of the main character. This also made it a bit challenging to read, as one has to read his thoughts on the two levels. But the novelty wore off quickly, and the overdose of teen angst became overwhelming. I felt trapped in what I imagine a really bad episode of "Dawson's Creek" must've been like -- miserable teenagers speaking in tautologies and me I was intrigued by this novel for the opening 30 or so pages, given its unusual use of ~~strike-through text~~ to indicate retracted internal monologue of the main character. This also made it a bit challenging to read, as one has to read his thoughts on the two levels. But the novelty wore off quickly, and the overdose of teen angst became overwhelming. I felt trapped in what I imagine a really bad episode of "Dawson's Creek" must've been like -- miserable teenagers speaking in tautologies and metaphors, and not a single adult character in sight to snap anyone out of it.

Levithan admits to writing this novel in jump-started bursts, fueled by a friend-photographer's randomly delivered prints intended to inspire a narrative. There's something to be said for an author having a clear vision of an intended story before the writing begins. Levithan had absolutely no vision, and the teeth-gnashing meanderings of his characters make that quite evident.

Consider this excerpt of dialogue between Evan, the anguished main character, and a classmate named Matt:

"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I don't know what okay is," I said.
"What?"
"I mean -- I don't know what okay means. No, not what it means. Where it comes from. Where does okay come from?"
We looked it up.

[Evan and Matt then eagerly research the etymology of "okay", discuss it, and the scene closes with Evan ruefully noting that Matt didn't realize that he'd never received an answer to his question of "are you okay?".)

Aaaagh! Two teenage guys, not even necessarily best friends, having this conversation? And this is only one example of the long, lost wanderings, vague mutterings, and struck-through words, phrases, even entire chapters.

By two-thirds the way through, Evan muses: I had to see it through to the end. Because the end could be better. It couldn't be worse than this.

At that point, drifting in and out of consciousness with the novel, I lost touch with whether that was me thinking, Evan thinking, or could it have been Levithan himself momentarily coming clean on what he had by then realized was just a really bad idea. ...more

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Mar 05, 2015 salmaagroudy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebooks

I finished this book in around 4 hours and i have no regrets. I enjoyed it. I loved every single page of it. I was fascinated by each and every photograph within its pages. Read it. Just read it.

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Sep 10, 2011 Maria rated it liked it

This book would not be my first encounter with David Levithan. The first book I read of his was Lover’s Dictionary which I loved completely because of how he unconventionally told the story of the lovers whose names were never mentioned (their gender was never mentioned too).

Every You, Every Me was eccentric. It was odd. It would put you on the edge of your seat. It would keep you reading until you find out what really happened.

Evan started getting weird photographs.
First when he was on his wa ...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Alisha Marie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, mystery-thriller, arc-s

Now THIS is what a young-adult thriller should be like. After being a bit disappointed at the mystery-thriller aspect of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Blood Wounds (but not disappointed in the book as a whole), Every You, Every Me was definitely a welcome surprise. I had expected the book to focus heavily on the gimmick and let the actual mystery plot, of what happened to Ariel and who's sending Evan those mysterious photographs, fall to the wayside. But it didn't. In fact, Every You, Every Me wouldn't h Now THIS is what a young-adult thriller should be like. After being a bit disappointed at the mystery-thriller aspect of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Blood Wounds (but not disappointed in the book as a whole), Every You, Every Me was definitely a welcome surprise. I had expected the book to focus heavily on the gimmick and let the actual mystery plot, of what happened to Ariel and who's sending Evan those mysterious photographs, fall to the wayside. But it didn't. In fact, Every You, Every Me wouldn't have suffered one bit if it didn't include any of the photographs. It still would have been an intriguing story and one hell of a mystery. Yet the photographs do add something extra to it.

Since I had an advanced reader's copy of Every You, Every Me, I didn't get the full effect of the photographs. Not that that part of the book was bad at all. The book was still pretty amazing, but the final released copy of Every You, Every Me is supposed to include full-length color photographs, while those with an ARC had small-ish black and white photos. But again, the photographs do add something extra. For me, it had me feeling that much more freaked out for Evan. The slashed out lines (that were still completely readable) were an interesting way to show what Evan was really thinking as opposed to what he was actually saying. So, the gimmicky parts of Every You, Every Me actually worked and were very well-done.

Every You, Every Me was also superbly written. You can just feel how screwed up Evan is due to everything that happened to Ariel. You really do start to wonder about Evan's state of mind and that just intensifies the disturbing factor. Every You, Every Me just drives home the fact that we never really know someone completely. We just know one facet of them. Who they are when they're with you can be completely different than who they are when they're with someone else.

So, I thought Every You, Every Me was a fantastic novel. Every single aspect of it worked wonderfully. I do think that it will be even more amazing as a finished product with the full-length cover pictures included. Either way, Every You, Every Me is highly recommended. ...more

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Oct 06, 2011 raya (a little mango) rated it it was ok

Recommends it for: fans of David Levithan

Shelves: whine-and-cheese, mister-ee, stale-bread

Two words: teen angst! And how does one evoke more teen angst? ~~Strike through~~ wording!

Evan has lost his best friend, Ariel, but how? Readers are not meant to discover a solid explanation until the end. In the mean time, Evan is haunted by her through memories and his own guilt for actions that resulted in her absence. Then, beginning on Ariel's birthday, someone starts leaving photos for Evan: a picture of trees, a picture of him, more trees, more Evan, and finally... pictures of Ariel. Evan, no ...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Charlie rated it it was ok

Shelves: teen-ya

Every You, Every Me is an artistic endeavor that falls short. The idea of basing a story on random photos is intriguing and I was rooting for it to be an inspiring hit, but sadly I did not care very much for this work by David Levithan. Although I'm a fan of previous stories by the author, Every You, Every Me, didn't provide the level of intrigue or mystery the synopsis promises. At no point did I truly believe Ariel was behind the scheme and although this had depth potential, the plot wavered a ...more

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Jun 07, 2012 Bridget rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

If somebody wanted to know what it was like to have depression I would tell them to read this book. Not because I think its awful: The opposite! The thoughts that Evan has and how he reacts match very nearly perfectly with how having depression really feels.

Beyond that, the descriptions and photos and mysteries were all brilliant, although the climax was a bit of a let down in some ways. (Dana is an idiot. It felt too simple. Why did the book have to end?)

I found myself confused about Ariel. Li ...more

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Dec 22, 2013 Tina rated it it was ok

Shelves: owned-books

I feel kind of disappointed after finishing Every You, Every Me. I love me some David Levithan from time to time and this one has definitely been the one book of his that I've been really meaning to read for a long time. Maybe it was the title or the cover, not sure exactly, but the book as a whole was really appealing to me, and I was really excited once I got my own copy and started reading it. Boy, did I get disappointed...

I mean, this is definitely David Levithan style: It's different, it's ...more

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Dec 21, 2016 Carolina rated it it was ok

Shelves: borrowed

I've been in a bad reading slump and I thought this book would be perfect to end it. Written by David Levithan, in what seemed to me a style almost like poetry and with photographs, what could go wrong? Well, as short as the book was, it took me almost a month to get through it. It didn't grab me or captivate me in any way. I found the story to be just flat. The main character was the only one that seemed to show a bit more depth, but I still couldn't connect or find myself to care for any of th ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Adam Silvera added it

Shelves: 52-youngster-books-for-2011, signed-copy

Interesting story told in a very unconventional style that at times felt experimental, but was also successfully executed in many other areas. I connected most with Ariel - a character who is spoken about on every page and never a physical presence. With that said, the ending was absolutely worth reaching.

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Apr 23, 2020 Eлина rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-english, e-read, 2020

So that was a big bowl of WTF and MEH.

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Jun 13, 2018 Sarah Hadd rated it liked it

Shelves: 2018

On one hand, in a weird way, in the far recesses of the weirdest places in my mind, I did actually like this book. On the other hand, WTF did I just read?!?

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Feb 06, 2014 Michelle Wrona rated it really liked it

Shelves: contemporary

Ahaha, so this is what I really felt like while I was reading this book, but hey, not in a bad or negative way. Most of the time, I was just like "Hey! Oh yeah! That point there's cool! Where's the next interesting thing?" I was kind of lost reading this book, but I don't know if it was just me.

This definitely is not one of David Levithan's best novels. I loved how he chose this to be written with photographs, that is absolutely hipster and gorgeous all at the same time.

"This is it. Thi ...more

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Mar 28, 2018 ✦ Maica ✦ rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2018-reads

I don't want you to think I got through this undamaged, okay? But I'm learning to live with it. Because otherwise, the damage is all you have."

Actual Rating: 3.5 stars

It took me a while to get into the story but once it did, it was hard to put down. This is a very unique read for me. I don't think I've ever encountered a book similar to this before. The writing process the author did really intrigued me as well. It's amazing how he weaved a coherent story by basing everything on the ...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Rebecca rated it liked it

The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. The boy on the cover looks so sad and thoughtful, not to mention he is wearing some odd clothes. It made me wonder more about this boy on the cover.
As I got into the book I thought it was a little bit creepy and a whole lot mysterious. It has this sort of unnerving edge to it, that someone is sending these weird photos to Evan. I feel like the photos in the book add to the unnerving vibe.
I liked the mystery surrounding who was leaving the ...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Hazel (Stay Bookish) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-copy-read, young-adult, paperback

There are so many versions of a person. We never completely understand a person, even if he/she is our closest friend, because we will only see one side of them. "You know one me. Just like I know one you. But you can't know every me. And I can't know every you."

Evan lost his best friend, Ariel. Evan blames himself. Suddenly, he comes along a mysterious photograph that is followed up by more curious pictures. Evan thinks Ariel is back to torment him, because of what he did to her. Photographs, m ...more

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Jun 12, 2016 Katrina♡•• rated it it was ok

This was quite pointless and plotless. A let down. It was an utter shame made up of literal and figurative madness.
description

I am not as annoyed at this book as I am with others because I did not have any expectations. So I guess that's why I gave it 2*.

Our MC
description

...more

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Nov 08, 2013 Katelynn rated it did not like it

Shelves: own, ugh

No.

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Feb 07, 2019 Moi Baltazar rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary, romance, read-in-2019, young-adult

“That's the question, isn't it?" you said one night. "Does death bring freedom, or is it the end of freedom?” ...more

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Apr 13, 2018 Catie Currie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: uno-2018, young-adult, mental-health, scary, sad

I had so many feelings about this book in the process of reading it. Initially, I was just like "ugh, this is all the bad parts of Shatter Me (overdone plot, underdeveloped characters, constantly repeating phrases and striking out every other line), then, as it progressed, I started to get into it, the striking out ~~of entire pages~~ stopped bothering me and I started to get more invested in the plot (probably bc of the photos, that was a cool idea I hadn't seen before-- not in the way that he did ...more

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Jun 11, 2017 Denisa Ciubotaru rated it it was ok

Shelves: what-just-happened, meh, hate-the-cover

I'd give it a 2.5. I was really close to 3 stars but it was just so weird and dark, not my taste at all. I didn't like the photos in it either. The plot is alright but like I said, it makes you cut your wrists man. This main character is too depressive. The most depressive. ...more

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May 04, 2018 Victoria rated it liked it

Shelves: books-i-own

*3.5 stars*
Really intriguing concept, but everything was still a little too vague by the end.

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Dec 14, 2011 Leigh Collazo rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2011

READALIKES: Thirteen Reasons Why (Asher), Hold Still (LaCour)

RATING BREAKDOWN:

Overall: 3/5
Creativity: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Engrossing: 2/5
Writing: 4/5
Appeal to teens: 5/5
Appropriate length to tell the story: 4/5

CONTENT:

Language: mild

Sexuality: mild-medium; some talk of teens having sex; some remembered kissing

Violence: mild; stalking, talk of suicide

Drugs/Alcohol: none

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: I just ordered it. While the subject matter is somber and the presentation quiet, I think You Again ...more

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About David Levithan

David Levithan

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David Levithan (born 1972) is an American children's book editor and award-winning author. He published his first YA book, Boy Meets Boy, in 2003. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a Young Adult imprint of Scholastic Press.

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