🟪▪𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄: 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐁𝐎 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆▪🟪

There were quite a few times when we talked to you about Placebo songs inspired by the books or the ones that got their titles ‘borrowed’ from Brian’s favourite novels. Today, I’m going to tell you about a book which, other way round, was named after Placebo song, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄 by the American author 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏.
The novel was published in September 2011 in the United States and consists of photographs by 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓 and corresponding text by 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏.

Photo credit: Scarlet Page; book cover / edit by Olga

The book tells the story of Evan, a young boy whose best friend, Ariel, has recently suffered a psychotic break. The narration is addressing Ariel and tells how Evan is dealing with much guilt surrounding this experience. This guilt is made worse by mysterious photographs that are being strategically left for him.
▪ ▪ ▪
📢As for the title, 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑳𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 said that "when I started writing the book, I wanted the novel to be my equivalent of a Sleeping with Ghosts era Placebo song. But in the book itself, it never says that the character listens to Placebo. The reference is more to the writing than to the events of the story, or the point of view."


𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 - 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨)
➡️ https://bit.ly/3NZqEFf


🟪Here are some excerpts from the book 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 I’ve found for you.
"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.

Screenshot from Every you Every me promo video

𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈.
And like with other David Levithan’s novels, Every You, Every Me is full of David’s thought provoking ideas and views of things and life. His philosophy is scattered in the story making Evan’s thoughts more profound than a usual teenager character. David’s words as always carry something bigger and deeper in them – they are not just strings of words put together to tell a story but words of wisdom from a genius person like David.


𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔, 𝒈𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏, 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔."
(𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑝𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒.𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠.𝑐𝑜𝑚)


🟪▪𝑸𝑼𝑶𝑻𝑬𝑺▪🟪
☑️“You don’t know me. You know one me, just like I know one you. And you can’t know every me, and I can’t know every you.”
☑️“A photograph it a souvenir of a memory.
It is not a moment. It is the looking at the photograph that becomes the moment. Your own moment.”
☑️“I had gotten so used to being alone, but never entirely used to it. Never used to it enough to stop wanting the alternative.”


🟪𝐃𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 is an American young adult fiction author and editor who, particularly, has written numerous works featuring strong male gay characters. Six of Levithan's books have won or been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making him the most celebrated author in the category.


Some other David Levithan’s young adult novels:
▪Survivor (2000)
▪Boy Meets Boy (2003)
▪The Realm of Possibility (2004)
▪Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006)
▪Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2007)
▪Invisibility (2013)
▪You Know Me Well (2016)
▪Dear Diary (2017)
▪Take Me With You When You Go (2021)
▪Anwers in the Pages (2022)
▪The Lover's Dictionary (2011) is the author’s only adult novel so far.

The book by Leviathan

🟪The whole story of how 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐄 book came into being, started with David Levithan’s fascination with photography…
📢“For the past sixteen years and three months, I’ve taken at least one photograph every day. It started as a new year’s resolution, and for about a decade, it existed on film. … When I started, photographs were physical objects – to see them, you had to have them developed, usually handed back by the batch in unmailable envelopes. Now, photography is everywhere but photographs –physical photographs – are harder to find. […]
𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆? 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝑰 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏?
[…] Every roll of film became the smallest of time capsules – pieces of memory sealed away until they were unearthed at a later date. […]
I also like sending photos in the mail. […] 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. […]


I started writing novels at about the same time I started taking a photo a day, and a recurring thought I had as my novel-writing career developed was whether I could combine the two in some way. I love visual-hybrid novels, and since I will never, ever be able to draw like Brian Selznick, the most obvious form of illustration was photography. ... The problem was: When I saw my own photographs, I could not separate them from what they already were.


[...] It took a while for me to figure out a way around this. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒆𝒓’𝒔 𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 – 𝒂 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 – 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓. 𝑰𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝑰’𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔. 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎.
Which made me realize: the way around my dilemma was to use someone else’s photographs, not my own. If I didn’t know the story behind them, I could make up whatever story I wanted.
Farmer ... gave me photographs, one at a time, whenever I asked for one. I wrote a novel involving these photographs. He had no idea what I was writing; I had no idea what photograph he would give me next. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒀𝒐𝒖, 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑴𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆.

Photo credit: David Tonge

Every You, Every Me is many things – the story of a pretty messed-up mind, a mystery in both an actual and an existential sense, and an examination of the things we bring and the things we take from a friendship . . . and how confused the bringing and the taking can become. It also, in many ways, is a testament to the power of the physical; within the novel, the main character, Evan, is both haunted and taunted by photographs being left for him by an unknown person. It is the actual presence of the photos that unhinges him – and also forces him to confront the things he is trying hardest not to confront.
The book would not work if Evan were simply being emailed the photos; it would not work if hitting a delete button were an option.


Photographs are easy enough to destroy – all it takes is a few rips, or the kiss of a lighter – but they also bear a certain permanence when held and seen. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒖𝒔.
… 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅.”

You can read the full story in David’s own words here:
➡️ https://bit.ly/3yyUXg7

Post by Olga