Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Genre: Contemporary YA
Format: Paperback
Length: 310 pages
Publisher: Corgi Childrens
Publication Date: 3rd September 2015
My Rating: ★★★★★ (5 stars)
Goodreads | Storygraph
Synopsis:
Madeline Whittier is allergic to the outside world. So allergic, in fact, that she has never left the house in all of her seventeen years. But when Olly moves in next door, and wants to talk to Maddie, tiny holes start to appear in the protective bubble her mother has built around her. Olly writes his IM address on a piece of paper, shows it at her window, and suddenly, a door opens. But does Maddie dare to step outside her comfort zone?
Everything, Everything is about the thrill and heartbreak that happens when we break out of our shell to do crazy, sometimes death-defying things for love.
My Review:
This is a YA Contemporary novel that follows Madeline who has a rare disorder called SevereCombined Immunodeficiency (SCID) which means she is literally allergic to everything. She hasn’t left her house in 17 years. She has only ever had contact with two people, her mother and her nurse Carla until Olly moves into the house next door. They become fast friends and I absolutely adored both of them.
The writing is really cool, it’s not just blocks of text there’s like chat logs, emails and text messages. One of my favourite things are her spoiler book reviews like:
LIFE IS SHORT
SPOILER REVIEWS BY MADELINE
LORD OF THE FLIES BY WILLIAM GOLDING
Spoiler alert: Boys are savages.
The great thing about the reviews is that they seem to correspond with her life and what’s happening in it which I found really great. It made this book quick and an experience to read.
This novel is very character-driven, I loved Madeline. She is such an amazing character and she is so content with how her life is and her relationship with her mom is great. She is a very inspiring character, positive despite the circumstances. It was interesting to see her interpretation of the world. She sees the world differently and thinks it’s a beautiful thing because she’s been housebound all her life so she has a naive view of the world. It’s very interesting. She turns to books as an escape, it’s her way of “going outside”. It drew attention to this disorder and the strict regime that has to happen in order to ensure that Maddie is safe. Everything has to be sterilized before it enters the house and it really made me feel for the character. As someone who loves the outdoors, I couldn’t imagine not being able to explore the world.
Olly has a pessimistic view of the world, he is the opposite of Madeline and they ended up connecting. He comes from a difficult family. He’s the perfect character to take her out of her bubble. The relationship between the two characters is so honest and cute and I couldn’t help but root for them.
Now, I loved the plot, to begin with but I originally had mixed feelings about the ending. I was disappointed at first but then I stepped back and thought about it and decided that liked the attention that was given to her mother’s psychological issues and I felt that it was such an important point. That this woman was so traumatised by the loss of her son and husband that it caused her to be very protective over Madeline. I saw some reviews who felt that it should’ve been hinted at before we are told but I don’t think that the issues needed to be hinted at. The reader is getting Madeline’s POV and so we see her mother how Madeline sees her.
Her face crumbles, falls completely apart. Whatever structures was holding it up give way in a sudden and catastrophic failure. She’s broken. She’s been broken for a long time. Carla was right. She never recovered from their deaths.
This is a really beautiful book and I really enjoyed it. It’s far from ordinary and I absolutely loved Nicola Yoon’s writing style. This book isn’t ‘sick-lit’ and I really appreciated that. Even though Maddie’s illness stops her from doing a lot of things, it doesn’t define her and I thought that was brilliant.
It’s worth noting that this novel brings some diversity, Maddie is a POC and has a disability, I don’t think I have come across a novel that does that. I eagerly await more of her novels. If you’re a fan of YA contemporary then I definitely think that you should pick this up.
