Every You, Every Me

Zusatztext Starred Review! The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books ! October 2011 Between us! we were supposed to know you! says the narrator of this poignant novel. The you he addresses there is a girl named Ariel! whose lacerating absence is keenly felt; the us is narrator Evan! who loved her beyond anything but couldn't have her to himself! and Jack! Ariel's boyfriend! to whom Evan turns after Ariel's departure. Evan narrates in tense! jagged sentences that bleed with raw emotion as he fights for control! often crossing out the most revealing utterances as he tips into stream of consciousness! and reveals piece by piece that the very troubled Ariel attempted to kill herself. Already haunted by guilt and grief! Evan is further tormented by the photographs someone has been strategically leaving for him! photographs that shadow his actions with Ariel and suggest there was someone in Ariel's life about whom he knew nothing. Levithan creates an immersive emotional experience here! with Evan easily recognizable as the boy who was already settling for being a friend when he ached to be more. The mystery is poetically enigmatic! with the reproduced pictures tantalizingly ambiguous even as they fit into the narrative; on the way! however! there are other mysteries readers will be exploring! piecing together the answer to questions such as What happened to Ariel? and Is this all in Evan's mind? The book manages to imbue a not-uncommon teen crisis and dynamic with the sharp significance of the rare! and the slight artifice of its approach will only enhance the draw of what is undoubtedly the Emo Book of the Year. DS Informationen zum Autor David Levithan; photographs by Jonathan Farmer Klappentext 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 absence. And as crazy as it sounds, Evan's starting to believe it's Ariel that's behind all of this, punishing him. But the more Evan starts to unravel the mystery, the more his paranoia and insomnia amplify, and the more he starts to unravel himself. Creatively told with black-and-white photos interspersed between the text so the reader can see the photos that are so unnerving to Evan, Every You, Every Me is a one-of-a-kind departure from a one-of-a-kind author.1 It was your birthday. The first one after you [left vanished] were gone. When I woke up, I [dreamed] thought about other birthdays. Ones where we'd been together. Like two years ago. Freshman year. [When I had you all to myself.] I asked you what you wanted and you said roses, and then you said, "But not the flowers." So I spent weeks gathering presents: a polished piece of rose quartz, White Rose tea, a ceramic tile I'd bought at the White House in fourth grade featuring the Rose Garden. A novel called Rose Sees Red, a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee, a mix of songs by bands called Blue Roses, the Stone Roses, White Rose Movement. Then I rigged your locker with pulleys, so when you opened it, all the objects rose. I'm not sure you got that part, not until I told you. But you were so happy then. [This was before happiness became so complicated. This was when you could ask me for something, I could give it to you, and the world would be right.] And then there was last year. [You went out with Jack at night, but I at least had you for the afternoon.] I asked you what you wanted and you said you didn't want anything. And I told you I wasn't planning on giving you anything; I was planning on giving you something. That whole week, we started to divide things into those two categories: anything or something. A piece of jewelry bou...

Starred Review, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, October 2011
“Between us, we were supposed to know you,” says the narrator of this poignant novel. The “you” he addresses there is a girl named Ariel, whose lacerating absence is keenly felt; the “us” is narrator Evan, who loved her beyond anything but couldn’t have her to himself, and Jack, Ariel’s boyfriend, to whom Evan turns after Ariel’s departure. Evan narrates in tense, jagged sentences that bleed with raw emotion as he fights for control, often crossing out the most revealing utterances as he tips into stream of consciousness, and reveals piece by piece that the very troubled Ariel attempted to kill herself. Already haunted by guilt and grief, Evan is further tormented by the photographs someone has been strategically leaving for him, photographs that shadow his actions with Ariel and suggest there was someone in Ariel’s life about whom he knew nothing. Levithan creates an immersive emotional experience here, with Evan easily recognizable as the boy who was already settling for being a friend when he ached to be more. The mystery is poetically enigmatic, with the reproduced pictures tantalizingly ambiguous even as they fit into the narrative; on the way, however, there are other mysteries readers will be exploring, piecing together the answer to questions such as “What happened to Ariel?” and “Is this all in Evan’s mind?” The book manages to imbue a not-uncommon teen crisis and dynamic with the sharp significance of the rare, and the slight artifice of its approach will only enhance the draw of what is undoubtedly the Emo Book of the Year. DS

Autorentext

David Levithan; photographs by Jonathan Farmer

Klappentext

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 absence. And as crazy as it sounds, Evan's starting to believe it's Ariel that's behind all of this, punishing him. But the more Evan starts to unravel the mystery, the more his paranoia and insomnia amplify, and the more he starts to unravel himself. Creatively told with black-and-white photos interspersed between the text so the reader can see the photos that are so unnerving to Evan, Every You, Every Me is a one-of-a-kind departure from a one-of-a-kind author.

Leseprobe
1

It was your birthday. The first one after you [left vanished] were gone.

When I woke up, I [dreamed] thought about other birthdays. Ones where we'd been together.

Like two years ago. Freshman year. [When I had you all to myself.] I asked you what you wanted and you said roses, and then you said, "But not the flowers." So I spent weeks gathering presents: a polished piece of rose quartz, White Rose tea, a ceramic tile I'd bought at the White House in fourth grade featuring the Rose Garden. A novel called Rose Sees Red, a biography of Gypsy Rose Lee, a mix of songs by bands called Blue Roses, the Stone Roses, White Rose Movement. Then I rigged your locker with pulleys, so when you opened it, all the objects rose. I'm not sure you got that part, not until I told you. But you were so happy then. [This was before happiness became so complicated. This was when you could ask me for something, I could give it to you, and the world would be right.]

And then there was last year. [You went out with Jack at night, but I at least had you for the afternoon.] I asked you what you wanted and you said you didn't want anything. And I told you I wasn't planning on giving you anything; I was planning on giving you something. That whole week, we started to divide things into those two categories: anything or something. A piece of jewelry bought at a department…