The premise of the book is straightforward: the protagonist, A, wakes up every day in a different body. He can access the bodys memories, but has no connection to the emotions. Hes always woken up in a body thats appropriate for him chronologically (at the start of the novel he is 16). Hes learned to deal with this daily switch and has (surprisingly) evolved rules to live by. This changes when he wakes up in Justins body and meets Justins girlfriend, Rhiannon. He doesnt believe that Justin treats Rhiannon very well, and so for his one day in Justins body he treats Rhiannon nicely. Unfortunately, the result is that A falls in love with Rhiannon, and this knocks his previous equilibrium off-kilter.
One of the best things about this novel is that Levithan explores lots of different situations that A wakes up in. A is alternatively male, female, straight, gay, Black, White, Asian, nerdy, athletic, drug-addicted, suicidal, etc. Levithan spans the gamut of the teen experience. While some of As statements seem heavy-handedly politically correct, Ive met my fair share of teens who sound like that so its not jarring.
If the book does hit a false not, its in the ending. For me, the ending is either a blatantly obvious setup for a sequel, or the author screwed up and makes As character deliberately weaker by introducing a subplot that is left unresolved and yet drives his decision to resolve the situation. While the book does clearly standalone, without a sequel I feel that Levithan diluted the strength of the ending for no good reason.
Nevertheless, this is one of the better novels Ive read in a while and a relentlessly compelling read. Recommended.
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