Play Book Tag discussion

We start this award-winning YA book when A. enters the body of Justin. We learn quickly that this "person" occupies a different body every day. We don't yet know his name (we later learn he calls himself A) but he explains that he is not always male, but sometimes female, sometimes black, white, brown; sometimes gay, straight, trans, etc. and this has been going on his entire life. (So therefore it might be better to refer to the being as "they" though I always felt "he" was the proper pronoun since he falls in love with Rhiannon, Justin's girlfriend, and she is more comfortable with him as male. I've lived my whole 74 years using either "he" or "she" for individual beings and "they" when referring to a group of people and it's hard for my mind to wrap around "they" as a pronoun for a single individual. But that's just my brain, not my heart. Over time I hope I can adjust - its just semantics for me. Does that make sense?)

There is a lot of tension in the book as A tries to decide how to tell Rhiannon about himself when he can't always be recognized since he is in a different body, male or female. He explains his life to her finally and we learn even more about him. She recognizes that having a relationship together will be nearly impossible but, as a reader, I hoped they'd find a way or at least a way that A could stay in one body. However, he has high morals and knows he can't just steal someone else's life.

Levithan seems to have great empathy and portrays all the different personalities that A inhabits. In every case, he is the same age, he only inhabits bodies of people his own age. But one of the most impressive switches happened when he woke as a girl suffering extreme depression; its so hard for him to get through the day.

Another part of the story that's fascinating happens when he can't get back to the home he first awoke in by midnight - he always switches at midnight. In nearly every body, he tries to get to Rhiannon if he is close enough geographically. This time, the trip is too far and he stops along the side of the road feeling badly leaving Nathan (his current person) stranded. It's bad for Nathan when he wakes in the car to the police questioning him and he thinks he was possessed by the devil. It makes big waves in social media and A is aware of it. This becomes a big part of the story.

There is just so much more to this book and I've only scratched the surface so as not to have spoilers. I definitely want to read the next book. I've also discovered a 2018 movie from the book but I'm hesitant to see it since I enjoyed to book so much. Such a clever book filled with a great understanding of humanity.

wow! sounds really creative and provocative (in a good way!).