Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Audiobook
Published: September 1, 2015
Dates Read: April 27- May 6, 2017
My Rating: 4 stars
Book Summary from Amazon:
My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house; have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.
But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly.
Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.
My Review:
I saw the trailer for the movie version of Everything, Everything and it left me wanting to read the book. I saw my library had it available as an audiobook, so I reserved it. It is a shorter audiobook of six discs. Madeline (Maddie) suffers from SCID (Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Syndrome) and can’t leave her home or she will get deathly ill. She only sees her mom and her nurse. She is fine with the life she is leading, but then a family moves next door. She soon ‘meets’ Oliver (Olly) and they become friends. They have conversations via email and instant messenger. They start to fall for each other and then Maddie begins to want more in her life as she starts to realize what she has been missing.
Everything, Everything is a cute YA novel that I enjoyed. Maddie is our narrator through her diary. She is very smart, and also a voracious reader (I like her!). Though, in the beginning of the novel Maddie does come off as a little ‘stalker-ish’ with her constant watching of Olly’s family and learning their schedules. I had to remind myself that she is unable to leave her home so what else is she going to do? A new family moved in and they have a cute son… Of course she is going to watch them!
Olly is adorable and they are delightful ‘together’ through their communications. They have the problem of wanting to be together, but her disease is preventing this from happening. You can’t help but want Olly and Maddie to be together despite her disease. Through her diary, we experience all of Maddie’s feelings.
SCID is at the forefront of Everything, Everything, but the author did not research it enough as it is not accurately portrayed. I will say this in regards to that issue: We get a small idea of what SCID or a serious disease could be like for someone that affects all aspects of their life. Although, I feel that if an author is going to use a particular disease at the forefront of their novel then it should be meticulously researched to be accurately portrayed. Despite the inaccurate portrayal of SCID, Everything, Everything is about a girl looking for some kind of normalcy in her life despite her disease.
There is an unexpected twist about ¾ into the novel. People seem to either like the twist or not. I was shocked with the twist and enjoyed all of Everything, Everything. I can’t say anymore without giving away this twist.
The only negative for me with the novel was in the audiobook. There is a male narrator that was used for Olly when he and Maddie are communicating via email and instant messenger, but when they talked in person he was not used. I did not see the point of having a male narrator for part of the novel when he could have been utilized for all of Olly.
Everything, Everything is recommended. If you are going to read it, forget the inaccurate portrayal of SCID and enjoy it for the novel that it is. I do plan to see the movie as well.