Everything, Everything

by Nicola Yoon

[Jo]

2.5 Stars.

Originally published on Once Upon a Bookcase.

I was first drawn to Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon's beautiful cover, and then hugely intrigued by the blurb. A romance against the odds, who wouldn't fall in love with this premise? Everything, Everything turned out to be a different novel than I expected, but a fairly sweet one nonetheless.

Madeline has Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), which means she is allergic to everything - or anything, as it's too difficult to work out exactly all the things that could make Maddie ill. So she has spent the majority of her life inside her sterile, clean home where the air is filtered and recycled constantly. If she were to step outside the safe confines of her home, there's a high likelihood she would die. Maddie is fine with this, she has her online schooling, she has her books, and she has her close relationship with her mum - she has everything she needs, and has no major desire to leave her house. Sure, it would be nice if she was well and could leave, but she can't, and that's ok. Until Olly moves in next door, a gorgeous boy who wants to get to know the girl behind the window. When he writes down and shows her his email address, Maddie's world changes. Now there's something on the outside she wants to get to, but there's no way she can.

There are some things about this novel that I want to talk about, and to do so I'll have to spoil some major parts of the book, so a significant part of this review will be hidden. But lets talk non-spoilers before then. I loved how diverse this book is, and the serious topics covered, too! Maddie is bi-racial; half African-American and half Japanese-American, Olly has an abusive, alcoholic father, and Everything, Everything discusses serious illness in SCID and mental illness, too. I think we have to applaud Yoon for making these elements part of the characters' lives. Although there seems to be a lot going on, it's not heavy on the "issues". The focus of the story is on the romance between Maddie and Olly, when Maddie can't really be a part of Olly's world because of her illness (more on this later), so the other topics and issues are either smaller parts of the story, or just identities that don't define the characters, at least not too much for the most part.

I loved the conflict for the romance between Maddie and Olly. Most of their contact is through email and IMs. I love the inital contact between them, before Olly shows her his email, when he tells the "story" of the life of a Bundt cake, that sits on his windowsill with googly eyes stuck on, that cannot be destroyed. He breaks the ice by trying to destroy the cake each day, and it's really cute and funny. (I have to say, it did make me smile, though thinking about it, making jokes about a suicidal cake probably wasn't wise. Suicide isn't a joke.) And soon the chatting online becomes very strict meetings orchestrated by Maddie's nurse, Carla. No touching is allowed, they must be on opposite sides of the room, Olly can only visit for 15 minutes, and must undergo the freezing decontamination process before hand. Despite the distance between them, the tension is palpable; right there, on the other side of the room is a seriously good looking boy, who obviously finds her extremely attractive too, and staying away from each other is not what either of them has on their minds. The inevitable happens, and they touch. Nothing major at first, just hands being held, but the affect it has on Maddie is unbelievable. Up until this point, the only people who have touched Maddie in years are her mother and her nurse Carla. The only other person who's ever visited her is one of her tutors. The description of what these small, innocent touches do to Maddie are exquisite, because they're not that innocent. Olly's touch could kill her, and they would like a little more, but there's the fear. And it's all so new to Maddie. It's maddening and torturous, but wonderful.

However, I didn't really believe the love between the two. It felt more to me like they really fancied each other, with huge amounts of sexual tension, but I didn't feel the love. They obviously cared for each other a great deal, but I didn't feel their relationship developed enough for me to believe they were in love with each other. Which is sad, because that love is pivotal to Maddie. pivotal to the story, the thing that changes everything. But I didn't believe it. They're relatioship was sweet, sure, but, for me, it just wasn't love.

There's also a major flaw to the story. There's also a crucial part of the story where Everything, Everything felt like a story than like something that could be true. Considering Maddie's condition, it felt really farfetched because... What? I just really can't imagine how it would happen, how Maddie would do something so terribly risky - even if I did believe the love, it was just so irresponsible and dangerous. I had moments of, "I can't believe this is happening! How is this happening? What is going on? What is wrong with Maddie?"

I'm going to elaborate on this now, as part of the spoilers. A few things will be discussed here, you've been warned. Don't view spoilers if you don't want the story spoilt for you.


So it turned out that Maddie doesn't actuall have SCID. Her mum, who is a doctor, had trouble coping with the death of her husband and son when Maddie was only five months old, and as Maddie was a sickly child, convinced herself she had SCID - despite a number of other doctors saying otherwise  (more on this further down). I have to say I worked this out about half way through, but doing so didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book.

The crucial moment I mention above - by which I'm referring to when Maddie and Olly run off to Hawaii - despite already having a theory that Maddie didn't actually have SCID, Maddie herself didn't know that yet. So, although I thought she would be fine, she didn't yet have the assurance that she could be, eventually, and so her actions were just completely inconceivable to me. I cannot fathom how this even got past the editing process really. Maddie is 18, not 14, she's practically an adult, and doing something so dangerous is just unbelievabl! I just can't comprehend how anyone could believe she'd take such a complete leave of her wits. Major, major flaw of this story, no matter what you think of the story as a whole.

I know people have some major issues with this book, and I can understand them, but at the same time, I liked where this story went. I shall explain. As I understand it, most people have a problem with the fact Maddie is a bad representation of a disabled person, because she isn't actually disabled, that her dibilitating illness - that she doesn't have - is used only as a conflict to the romance, a storm to be weathered to get through to sunnier days, when everything is fine and hunkydory. I get that, I really do. It's true, there really is no denying it, and I'm not going to. Especially considering the point I made above about Maddie running off to Hawaii. But I do think this story is a valid one.

Hear me out: I do believe this book was published at the wrong time. I think we should have had far more novels published with positive representations of disabled people before a book like this was published, because it is such an unfair portrayal, and disabled people deserve to see themselves in the books they read, and not have one of the few there are have a character who turns out to not actually be disbaled at all. But, I think - and I could be wrong, so please do correct me if I am - had this book been published at a time when there were more positive representations of diabled people, Everything, Everything wouldn't be as problematic. Because, despite the flaws, this is a story that as a whole I could see as believable, as something that could happen. I'm sure I've seen TV programmes along similar lines. I think having a story about a teen who has been locked up by a parent who has lied to them for most of their life in order to "protect" them is a fair story to have told. This is what I think. The timing was off, but I don't think that makes the story necessarily a bad one. Feel free to disagree.

Everything, Everything is a flawed novel, but it's an interesting one, and the romance is sweet if not a believable love story - to me at least. It's definitely one that has got people talking. I do think it's worth a read, even if just to understand what everyone is talking about. It's got people talking about and highlighting an important topic, and for that, even if you were to hate it, it has it's purpose. Through not being the best novel, it does some good.

Thank you to Corgi Children's Books via NetGalley for the eProof.