Everything, Everything

by Nicola Yoon

Risk everything for love with this #1 New York Times bestseller from Nicola Yoon • "Gorgeous and lyrical"—The New York Times Book Review

What if you couldn’t touch anything in the outside world? Never breathe in the fresh air, feel the sun warm your face . . . or kiss the boy next door? In Everything, Everything, Maddy is a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly is the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken. 

"This extraordinary first novel about love so strong it might kill us is too good to feel like a debut. Tender, creative, beautifully written, and with a great twist, Everything, Everything is one of the best books I've read this year."—Jodi Picoult

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.

Everything, Everything will make you laugh, cry, and feel everything in between. It's an innovative, inspiring, and heartbreakingly romantic debut novel that unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more. 

And don’t miss Nicola Yoon's bestselling novels The Sun Is Also A Star and Instructions for Dancing.

• ISBN10: 0553496646
• ISBN13: 9780553496642
• Publish Date: 1 September 2015 (first published 28 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553496642

Reviews

[Jamie]

I enjoyed the story of how Madeline met Olly and how their lives changed after that moment. I liked how the story was told in short chapters as if reading from Madeline's diary. I wish there was more to the epilogue as to know what happens next in the Madeline & Olly story, or at least knows what happens next in Madeline's life after she discovers her mother's secret.

[kiracanread]

This book is so heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. The journey the main character Madeline goes through is so unique to anything I've read before, and I adore Nicola Yoon's character creation and writing style.

[vagasker]

The reason I finished this book is because it was such a quick and easy read. If it hadn't been I would've put it down and not picked it up again. While I really liked The Sun Is Also a Star I did not care for this book. The characters felt flat and the story was slow. I did like the twist in the end and that is what brought it up to 3 stars.

[empressbrooke]

This book is trash. I've been on a roll lately with a bunch of contemporary YA novels where romance is a plot-line, but not the plot-line. They've all contained well written characters whose relationships (romantic and platonic) feel authentic and organic. Everything, Everything is A Romance, and it's eye-rollingly melodramatic and emotionally manipulative, and it does nothing to earn its manipulations. If you plan on reading this book and want to remain surprised about the end, walk away from this review right now.

The main character, Maddy, has never left her house because she has a rare disease that leaves her immunocompromised (think Bubble Boy but not a ridiculous comedy). Her only face-to-face contacts her whole life have been her mom and her full-time nurse. She reads lots of books and is home-schooled on the internet, but otherwise is sheltered from the outside world. I spent most of the first third of the book thinking, "I don't think this is how germs work...how is her mom able to be a doctor who is around patients and not bring home illnesses? I don't think a decontamination chamber would help that...? Why does the house need to expel all its air every 4 hours? What's wrong with the air that's in there once it's been filtered?"

And then at the 35% mark, when the main character mentions that they paid for all of her medical equipment with settlement money from when her dad and brother were killed by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel, I thought, "Oh fuck no. We're gonna find out she's not really sick, and her mom just keeps her trapped in the house with this lie because she's afraid of losing her like she lost the rest of the family."

Aaaaaaand...nailed it.

There is just so much wrong with this twist. It's the sort of twist that belongs in a thriller or something less fluffy. It is utterly ridiculous when shoved into a teen romance novel where the two main characters are basically walking heart-eyes emojis.

The book doesn't grapple with the seriousness of this at all. None of the adults in the book even mention abuse or criminal charges. At one point, Maddy runs away and flies her sheltered ass off to Hawaii as if it was the sort of thing she did every day, and ends up in the hospital (being fake-sick left her unexposed to germs enough for her body to end up kinda-sick anyways). Somehow, her mom tracks her down and checks her out of the hospital against medical advice, despite the book also noting that Maddy is 18 at this point. Maddy wakes up at home, with her last conscious memory being in the hospital in Hawaii. So basically her mom checked out a legal adult AMA, kept her drugged on the plane ride home, and no one seems to be alarmed by this? How did this even work?

Maddy's full-time nurse doesn't seem to be put off by any of this at all. She's not disgusted by the deceit and false imprisonment. She's not offended that her nursing skills were wasted on someone who didn't need her. She continues hanging around in her paid position long after they find out Maddy isn't sick - why? Who's paying her? For what? Is there some sort of insurance fraud going on here? And she fucking gives Maddy guilt trips about not forgiving her mom. Because her mom did it out of love.

There is a whole awful theme throughout the book that "love makes you crazy." The book comes out and says these exact words. The author avoids referring to the mom losing the dad and brother as "trauma" or her actions as being part of "grief" - no, the book states that she loved so hard that she ended up in a prolonged state of psychosis where she actually believed Maddy was sick. When Maddy willingly risks certain death so she can kiss the first dude who says nice things to her, this is because "love makes you crazy." When the love interest dude's mom stays with her physically abusive husband, again the book proclaims, "Love makes you crazy."

Other negative reviews disapprove of how the book didn't portray the illness that Maddy was supposed to have accurately. This seems almost beside the point - she doesn't have an illness, she has a fucking abusive mom. But the abuse is painted as mental illness in a way that gives two middle fingers with an extra heaping of "fuck you" to people who actually have mental illness, and also manages to throw victims of both physical and mental abuse under the bus.

Although I also do throw out sympathy to anyone with a chronic physical illness who was excited about reading a book containing someone like them and then finding out that it was all a fucking charade. The author pretty much fucked everyone over.

So yeah. Trash.

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!

I know many people loved this to bits, however, I am not one of them.
It started out interesting enough, but I swear 25 pages in I knew exactly how the story would end. I kept hoping I wouldn't be right. However, I had nailed it.
While Maddy is kind of likable, the story turns into such a cheesy love story that we've seen just like this a million times before. The plot-twist at the end felt forced and uninspired.
Many parts of the story were extremely unrealistic (Hawaii?!) or predictable. Everything, Everything left me bored and annoyed that I wasted my time with this. If you are going for cute with so much sugar on top it'll give you diabetes + a bucket full of drama, this is the book for you. But if you expected something fresh, unique or surprising you will be disappointed.

[mitabird]

4.5 stars

[readingwithwrin]

I'm glad I finally listened to this book after debating on rather or not to after having already seen the movie.

Everything, Everything is one of those books that I kind of try and avoid because they deal with a sickness, I'm always a little iffy on those books if I'm being honest.

This book doesn't just deal with her sickness though. It shows the isolation she feels and how truly small her world is because of it. The excitement and the thrill she felt by someone new moving in next door was one that we don't see often. In fact, most of the time people just get annoyed with their new neighbors. She saw it as a way to see more of the world and get to know new people that she otherwise wouldn't get to interact with.

Olly is a character that I really wasn't sure if I was going to like both in the movie and in the book. So many things could have happened with this friendship and I'm glad that they stuck to how it was in the book for the movie. Olly is a special guy, not only because he keeps trying to befriend Maddie, but because he finds ways to make her laugh. He truly wants to know her for her and doesn't let her disease stop that. I loved how they were talking back and forth and how they stayed true to how they really were instead of creating fake personas to make themselves look better.


That ending will get me every time. So upsetting for both her and everyone else involved.

I did like seeing how she slowly changed things over time and started testing her boundaries. the only thing I wish was a little different, was how she just shut her mom out completely. I get that that's what she had to do to be able to come to terms with everything, but I'm not sure if that would actually be possible considering how much time they were still spending together.

Overall really enjoyed the book a little more than the movie, and think that it is a good starter contemporary novel.

[mrs_mander_reads]

Great read! I loved the storyline, and the twist at the end was something I never saw coming. Can't wait to start recommending.

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Everything, Everything is quite beautifully written, but there were some things that I guessed when I was only a few pages in... and that kind of spoiled me - just like Madeline's spoiler reviews.

Story:

Madeline has lived apart from the world for as long as she can remember. Her dad and her brother died in a car accident when she was young, so it's just her, her mom and Carla. When the new neighbours move in, Madeline starts observing them, and she quickly realizes that the dad is abusive, the two teen-aged children are angry, and the mom is trying to keep the peace.

Madeline spent most of her time reading - and writing spoiler reviews. Beware - if Madeline reviewed a book you haven't read yet, you'll be spoiled. Because Madeline was allergic to the world, she spent all her time inside, but she never really seemed that upset about it. Most teenagers would have questioned their mom at one point - as the mom was her physician, and Madeline never got to leave the house, nor have any visitors. Apart from her architecture teacher.

Characters:

Madeline has spent her whole life indoors, no friends, no other people than her mom and her nurse. Home-schooled, and reading a lot fills her days. Madeline's mom is a doctor, and she makes sure Madeline stays safe and healthy. Carla is Madeline's nurse, and she wants Madeline to live a little more than she has up until now. Olly is the new next-door neighbour, who is, of course, hot and broody.

Writing style :

First person present tense from Madeline's point of view. This made me get to know Madeline well, but some of it was a stream of consciousness that could border on annoying.

Feels :

I was frustrated most of all. I didn't understand why Madeline didn't ask more questions. Or why Carla didn't take her to another doctor if she had reservations. I was also upset with Madeline's mom, even if she was probably the one who was actually sick.



And it's the wanting that pulls me back down to earth hard. The wanting scares me. It's like ta weed that spreads slowly, just beneath your notice. Before you know it, it's pitted your surfaces and darkened your windows.

I take Alice to my white couch and settle in. Carla's right of course. I am OK, but, like Alice, I'm just trying not to get lost. 

[anastasia]

Full Review on my blog!

Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this book.,. It was very much flat and that ‘plot twist’ was so poorly executed. I expected to LOVE this book. The reviews were all positive, and it sounded so different… all these reasons added up…

This book was fast paced and had a great plot. The first half was very enjoyable and I loved the two main characters.

It started quite beautifully written with diverse characters. Madeline is the main character, and she has this rare condition.

I did think that things were a bit rushed and the story went in all weird directions towards the second half and would have been better if it was flushed out a bit more. But as I read the second half of the book, and got more information I realized the book wasn’t as unique as I had hoped it would be. But I did find myself enjoying this book. It was more cheesy than sweet but I still enjoyed the emphasis on the human need for more. I loved Maddy’s positive outlook on life, despite her illness and that she’s never been outside of her house. She’s so smart and witty. One of my favorite things that she does is every time she gets a new book, she writes a list of rewards if found. I thought Madeline was incredibly selfish at times, but this offered complexity to her character and her yearning was palpable.
I’ve read a lot of reviews of this book and people have mentioned this “plot twist”, but in my opinion, I thought it was very predictable. I mean, Maddy’s father and brother died, and her mother was DEVISTATED, which lead to her mother doing everything in her power to keep her daughter safe and all to herself, because after all, Maddy was all she has. The way Maddy’s mother acted towards Maddy when Maddy didn’t spend time with her as often was really why it was predictable, because you could just feel her pain, that her baby girl was changing and drifting apart, and then she proceeded to take everything away from Maddy (electronics, not being able to invite Olly over). This was when I realized, her mother essentially made it up to protect her and keep her in the house after her dad and brother died (her mother isn’t evil, just mentally ill).
I feel like it’s so cheap because the author built up this beautiful romance around the concept of one person having an illness that doesn’t allow them to leave the house, a very interesting idea I might add, and then just when they’re really in love, the author totally crushes the concept with and it crumbles into a story about two somewhat normal teens in love.

I feel like there are so many unanswered questions… Her mom is a doctor… but Maddy never really had an official diagnosis… I just don’t know….

As I said, at the beginning… it was poorly executed… I’m really disappointed at the ending..

I don’t know if I recommend it… Maybe I’m just thinking too in depth of the plot/character actions. Well, the romance part was really CUTE! I recommend it to those who want to read a typical YA Romance.

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