Every Day by David Levithan

Every Day

Judul: Every Day

Penulis: David Levithan

Penerbit: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Tahun: 2012

Read in Ebook copy

***

In his New York Times bestselling novel, David Levithan introduces readers to what Entertainment Weekly calls a "wise, wildly unique" love story about A, a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life.

Every day a different body. Every day a different life. Every day in love with the same girl. 

There’s never any warning about where it will be or who it will be. A has made peace with that, even established guidelines by which to live: Never get too attached. Avoid being noticed. Do not interfere.

It’s all fine until the morning that A wakes up in the body of Justin and meets Justin’s girlfriend, Rhiannon. From that moment, the rules by which A has been living no longer apply. Because finally A has found someone he wants to be with—day in, day out, day after day.

With his new novel, David Levithan, bestselling co-author of Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, has pushed himself to new creative heights. He has written a captivating story that will fascinate readers as they begin to comprehend the complexities of life and love in A’s world, as A and Rhiannon seek to discover if you can truly love someone who is destined to change every day.

***

Kalau mau di-summarize, isi dari buku Every Day mungkin begini. A, tokoh utama kita, adalah sebuah jiwa. Setiap hari ia terbangun dalam tubuh orang yang berbeda, mengambil kontrol atas kehidupan seseorang yang ia 'tempati', masing-masing satu hari seorang. A merasakan 24 jam hidup dalam tubuh orang tersebut dan menjadi bagian dari dunianya. A tidak tahu kapan semuanya dimulai dan darimana sesungguhnya ia berasal, yang ia tahu, sejak lahir, inilah yang ia alami.

“I stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago. I'm never going to figure it out,any more than a normal person will figure out his or her own existence. After a while, you have to be at peace with the fact that you simply are. There is no way to know why. You can have theories, but there will never be proof.”

Selama ini, saat A menempati sebuah tubuh, ia tidak pernah mau melibatkan perasaan dalam melakukan kegiatannya, karena toh keesokan harinya ia sudah tidak lagi di tubuh orang itu, ia akan menjadi orang lain. Eh tapi, pada suatu hari, A terbangun dalam tubuh seorang cowok bernama Justin. Kemudian, ia justru jatuh cinta sama Rhiannon, pacar Justin.

Buat saya buku ini spesial karena isinya berbicara tentang manusia; tentang merasakan 'to really walk in someone's shoes' (pasti udah banyak kan yang tau quote 'don't judge someone if you haven't really walked in her/his shoes' yang rasanya udah mulai basi itu), tentang tahu dan paham lebih jauh jalan pikir orang yang berbeda-beda dan melihat cara mereka memandang dunia; every mind is different, bahkan perbedaan tinggi badan aja pun memengaruhi cara pandang kita akan sekeliling.

Fokus masalah memang tentang A yang jatuh cinta sama Rhiannon. A yang kemudian berusaha supaya Rhiannon tahu, dan setelah tahu, pastinya nggak gampang buat seorang cewek biasa untuk nerima bahwa ada jiwa yang berkeliaran di tubuh orang dan setiap hari berganti-ganti jadi orang yang berbeda; jiwa itu jatuh cinta sama dia, pula. Things get complicated waktu Rhiannon ngerasa susah untuk bisa cinta balik ke A dan mertahanin hubungan mereka. Coba, gimana caranya bisa stay in love ketika pacar kamu itu orangnya beda fisik tiap hari, bahkan A bisa aja tinggal di tubuh cewek?

Iya, pilihan tokoh-tokoh yang tubuhnya ditempati A itu beragam. Dia bisa aja bangun di tubuh cowok hari ini, tapi jadi cewek besoknya. Pilihan David Levithan disini unik-unik, dan saya selalu suka bagian-bagian awal dari setiap hari baru, dimana A mulai nge-recognize tubuh yang dia tempatin dan nyeritain secara singkat tentang orang itu. A drug addict, a football player, a twin, a geek, a popular mean girl, a homeschooled guy, a fat unrecognizable person, suicidal girl, transgendered, gay, lesbian, a rich girl, a latino, a stunning black girl, siapapun bisa jadi 'sasaran' berikutnya. Setiap dari mereka punya masalah masing-masing, setiap hidup dari mereka unik, dan setiap kisah dari mereka kita pasti selalu dapet pelajarannya.

“If other people see you differently, you’ll end up seeing them differently, too.”

“I no longer think she's just being nice. She's being kind. Which is much more a sign of character than mere niceness. Kindness connects to who you are, while niceness connects to how you want to be seen.”

“I nod. If there's one thing I've learned, it's this: We all want everything to be okay. We don't even wish so much for fantastic or marvelous or outstanding. We will happily settle for okay, because most of the time, okay is enough."

 “People are rarely as attractive in reality as they are in the eyes of the people who are in love with them.”

“If smart people are parodying it, that's a sure sign that some less smart people are believing it.”

Saya jadi suka sama David Levithan. Lewat tutur kata dan kalimat-kalimatnya dalam buku ini, jelas kelihatan bahwa beliau orangnya open minded. Buku ini banyak ngebahas masalah-masalah sosial, moral, sampai keagamaan. Hampir setiap kalimat quotable dan relatable; David bener-bener ngajak saya 'ngeliat' dengan sudut pandang baru, tanpa harus maksa ataupun berasa 'lagi diajarin'. Jiwa adalah jiwa, tubuh hanya sekedar onggokan bentuk yang nggak akan berarti apa-apa tanpa jiwanya. Fisik cowok belum tentu berjiwa cowok, begitupun sebaliknya. Sayangnya kebanyakan kita sampe saat ini masih cenderung memperlakukan orang menurut bentuk mereka, bukan isi; orang tinggi lebih disegani sementara orang gendut diremehkan, orang cantik/ganteng diperlakukan lebih istimewa dibanding yang jelek/biasa-biasa aja. Hayooo jadi koreksi banget kan buat yang baca? :)

Buku ini juga lumayan ngaduk-ngaduk perasaan. Karakter A jadi sangat likeable karena dia itu insightful, dia udah pernah merasakan berbagai macam kehidupan jadi jelas jalan pikirannya mengagumkan. Sementara Rhiannon cuma cewek biasa, masih terjebak dengan paradigma-paradigma masyarakat saat ini. Saya ikutan frustrasi waktu bagian A berusaha meyakinkan Rhiannon yang nggak yakin sama hubungan mereka, apalagi karena emang keadaan A yang seperti itu bener-bener masalah besar yang nggak bisa diapa-apain lagi. Ih sebel deh pokoknya! Saya sempet berharap ada satu cara dimana A bisa stay di satu tubuh terus-terusan dan nempatin tubuh itu untuk waktu yang lama, jadinya dia bisa sama Rhiannon (secara ini fiksi, apapun bisa terjadi, iya nggak? :p) tapi untungnya David nggak ngebelokin ceritanya ke arah situ karena ya, pastinya jadi nggak realistis dan nggak lucu aja gitu.

Untuk endingnya.............. Saya lumayan suka eventhough it broke my heart in two hahauhuahuaha. It's the perfect ending to the story dan bikin belajar satu hal baru lagi........... bahwa kadang perwujudan cinta paling besar dan paling murni itu justru ketika kita bisa ngelawan semua selfishness dan mau mengebelakangkan diri sendiri. :')

Saya jadi bertanya-tanya nih kenapa di Indonesia sendiri belum ada yang nerjemahin buku-bukunya David Levithan. Buku beliau udah banyak lho! Dan rata-rata best-sellers semua. Atau udah ada tapi sayanya aja yang kuper jadi nggak tahu? Ada yang bilang The Lovers Dictionary udah diterjemahin tapi kok rasanya saya nggak pernah lihat di toko buku lokal. Mudah-mudahan ada yang nerjemahin Every Day ini ya, soalnya bagus banget!

“I have been to many religious services over the years. Each one I go to only reinforces my general impression that religions have much, much more in common than they like to admit. The beliefs are almost always the same; it's just that the histories are different. Everybody wants to believe in a higher power. Everybody wants to belong to something bigger than themselves, and everybody wants company in doing that. They want there to be a force of good on earth, and they want an incentive to be a part of that force. They want to be able to prove their belief and their belonging, through rituals and devotion. They want to touch the enormity.

It's only in the finer points that it gets complicated and contentious, the inability to realize that no matter what our religion or gender or race or geographic background, we all have about 98 percent in common with each other. yes, the differences between male and female are biological, but if you look at the biology as a matter of percentage, there aren't a whole lot of things that are different. Race is different purely as a social construction, not as an inherent difference. And religion--whether you believe in God or Yahweh or Allah or something else, odds are that at heart you want the same things. For whatever reason, we like to focus on the 2 percent that's different, and most of the conflict in the world comes from that.”

- Tirta.