Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Everything, Everything
By Nicola Yoon

Hardcover, 310 pages
Published September 1st 2015 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Average Rating: 4.07

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Fiction
POV: First Person (Madeline)
Cover Love: Symbolic, and so beautiful. It’s simple yet not and I think it really reflects Madeline’s life
My Rating: 4.5/5

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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.

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This is as good as I hoped it would be. This is such a feel-me-good book and Nicola Yoon has become an automatic buy. Recommended to me by a close friend, I’m so happy I picked this up.

The format of the book gave short, entertaining and unique chapters that kept the story going. We follow Madeline’s story through text messages, doctor’s notes, emails, lists, dictionary definitions and regular chapters from her POV. There were even one-lined chapters! This is one of the characteristics why this book stands out to me. It was extremely effective in telling Madeline’s story as I could see there could have been very blah if it weren’t for this unique format.

I think of Olly, decontamination-cold and waiting for me. He’s the opposite of all these things. He’s not safe. He’s not familiar. He’s in constant motion.

He’s the biggest risk I’ve ever taken.

Every time I think of this book, I get so giddy. I laughed out loud so many times, and melted at the main character’s personality. Being inside her head in a world of ultimate protection is interesting. She’s lovable, and quirky and oddly relatable in the ways of a teenage girl, especially when dealing with her growing attraction to Olly.

Olly is the one of the best male character I’ve come across in YA fiction. His cockiness was endearing, he made me melt and I found him utterly attractive because of it. Olly is super sweet and [spoiler: highlight to see] waits for Madeline. I love the parkour addiction he has, and the way he can’t sit still. He was a little bit too trusting at one point, [spoiler:highlight to view] when Madeline says she got a pill to help with her illness, so now they can go off to Hawaii!! but I’m going to write it off as his love for Madeline blinded him from the truth? Or, he just really really wanted it to be true. His fascination by math is also super attractive and he’s just the best BBF I have come across.

Olly’s Math says you can’t predict the future. It turns out that you can’t predict the past either. Time moves in both directions–forward and backward–and what happens here and now changes both.

The romance between Olly and Madeline was less cliché than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting insta-love, and amateur written angst and romantic moments. The romance was a feature I was pleasantly surprised with, again making this a very memorable read for 2016. It was super sweet, and realistically expressed the mood of first love. It was a nice balance of young yet mature love. As the story continued, the relationship developed nicely.

However, the one thing that knocks off half a star off the rating is the predictability of the plot. From the very beginning, anybody with notable observation skills could identify certain words that could suggest how the novel was going to end. I had my suspicions, which I was ultimately correct about. Maybe I watch too many medical dramas? I was hoping the ending was going to be different than expected, to match with the style of the novel. It did not, which was disappointing.

Life is a gift. Don’t forget to live it.

For the ending, we see Madeline become an independent woman in regards to her horrifying situation. Although I found the relationship between her mom rather harsh and somewhat unnecessary to the point of irrational immaturity, the last chapter was too sweet for words; it made up for this negative opinion. Hint: the foreshadowing is SO real, and IT’S JUST SO DAMN CUUUTE!! 😍😍 If you thought the feel-good feelings were strong in the beginning, the ending just puts this story in a nice pretty package, complete with a bow. Absolutely melted by heart.

Her pain is endless. It falls of the ends of the world.
Her pain is a dead sea.
Her pain is for me, but I cannot bear it anymore.

This novel addresses life, and time, and what makes you who you are. Madeline goes through the struggle of “what if” and she can’t help but feel her desire to be free and able to experience the world. This is what made this so intensely relatable for me: I also want to feel free and just live. I want to experience all the world has to offer, and through Madeline, I got a little bit of that dream.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon is a wonderful debut that encompasses young love, the fear of the unknown and living life to the fullest. This story will give you a sweet tooth and melt even the iciest of hearts.

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