Another Day is a YA novel published by David Levithan in 2015. Not quite a sequel, it is instead a perspective-shifting retelling of the events which take place in Levithan’s 2012 novel, Every Day. Whereas the events of the earlier novel are conveyed through the perspective of a bizarre character known as “A” the follow-up offers a more relatable portrait of the same events through the eyes of a completely human character that appears in the first book, Rhiannon.
The story begins with teenage Rhiannon enjoying atypically wonderful day at the beach with her boyfriend, Justin either because of or despite the fact that he seems a little off and not quite the same Justin as usual. The next day Justin seems to have no memory at all of being with Rhiannon at the beach. Not long afterward she meets a new guy named Nathan and is surprised to find herself experiencing the same feelings toward him that she has felt toward Justin. This is strange enough but things are about to get much weirder as Rhiannon finds herself repeatedly coming into contact with new people who stimulate the same exact sort of emotions. Eventually the unbelievable truth is revealed. All those random people with whom she has been feeling the same emotional impulse were actually not those people at all. Their bodies had been briefly inhabited by an inexplicable entity calling themselves “A” who has been trying to make their presence known to Rhiannon. What follows is an expansive bizarre love triangle of sorts in which “A” tries to make their love for Rhiannon clear while Rhiannon tries to reconcile the impossibility of a human relationship with “A” against the discontent of continuing a toxic relationship with the very tangible Justin.
The structure of the book as an alternative view toward events already known to the reader of the earlier novel cements the conceptual theme of the story as being about opening one’s eyes to perspectives outside their own. Within this encompassing thematic exploration fits the idiosyncratic uniqueness of “A” as a character living outside of the human norms of gender convention and sexuality. “A” can only communicate and relate with Rhiannon while occupying the body of a human. The jumps from one body to another take “A” from male to female and from homosexual to heterosexual as well across different races and ethnicities. Rhiannon, meanwhile, is forced to eventually understand and contend with the fact that “A” has a distinctly unique personality that is often directly at odds with the real personality of the human being occupied.
At the center of this complexity is the character of Justin. He is an unpleasant person as his real self and this leads to a toxicity in his relationship with Rhiannon. That level of toxicity is not quite as present to the same degree in the earlier version of events as seen from the perspective of “A.” This abusive element of the novel has led to some criticism that Rhiannon is not as likeable as she is in that version. As a result, some critics have questioned whether this alternate version which is not really a sequel not only wasn’t necessary but has proven to be harmful to the view toward Rhiannon established in the other narrative. This particular criticism is surely valid but at the same time the very fact that it exists seems to prove the point that writing a version from a different perspective than the original is not entirely as superfluous as it may seem. The very fact that readers of the first book have come to view Rhiannon in a slightly more negative light could be considered the most powerful affirmation of the precise point of its very existence.
The author has written a novel that explores the concept of shifting perspectives toward other people that engages this idea both structurally and narratively. With publication, many readers added to those twin aspects a third one in which critical engagement also confirms—even that criticism which directly questions—the point that every story involving two people has at least two different sides worth telling.
