Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

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. ~ Goodreads


Source: ARC provided at BEA2015 – Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Review: I’ve had Everything, Everything sitting on my shelf since June. It was one of those books that early reviewers were calling the best book of the year! A MUST READ! Honestly, I try to steer clear of those books until the hype dies down because my expectations reach a level that just can’t be fulfilled.

So I’ve basically avoided most reviews and set the book aside but several of my most trusted reviewer friends really liked it so I took the plunge and I have to say Everything, Everything was a delightful surprise.

“Love is worth everything. Everything.”

From Everything, Everything

The beautiful thing about Everything, Everything is it’s about different kinds of love. First love, familial love, irrational love, love of life and living. It’s a messy story – both beautiful and bittersweet with a few twists and turns. It’s a story that’s sad, whimsical, romantic and quirky. 

Madeline and Olly are the kind of teens that are hyper-self aware with an above average vocabulary which might be annoying to some but I found them to be enchanting and relatable. This is mostly thanks to Nicola Yoon’s inclusion of graphs, emails and drawings ( wonderfully illustrated by her husband, David Yoon).

For example, Madeline describes and illustrates her self diagnosis of Hysterical Abdominal Rhopalocera.

“Hysterical Abdominal Rhopalocera. The condition of having one or more monarch butterflies take up residence in the stomach. 

Who is affected by HAR?

The disease affects at least one teenaged American girl every 30 seconds”

Instead of being silly or cloying, I found Madeline’s drawings, lists, conversations with Olly, and one sentence spoiler book reviews to be raw and insightful. She’s so breathtakingly honest with herself and pragmatic that I found myself remembering all of my own teenage firsts.

Don’t be fooled – this isn’t just a book about falling in love for the first time. Both Madeline and Olly have very difficult lives with no easy answers but they dare to live and love fully despite the odds.

Everything, Everything has a deceptively sweet, easy, humorous feel to it but still packs an emotional punch. There is a solid, hopeful conclusion but things aren't necessarily wrapped up in a neat tidy bow.

My one criticism of the book is that I don't think it handled mental health very well. There's a bit of a twist to Madeline's story that is really awful, on a lot of levels, but was kind of brushed off in favor of the whimsy of the story and overall message of love - live!

But I had read some spoilers going in and kind of had an idea of what was coming. Plus, as I said earlier, I always try to temper my expectations of hyped titles. I took the book and messages for what they were and enjoyed it but I can see how this aspect would be off putting to some.

I hate to do book/author comparisons but I think this book would be a good fit for fans of David Levithan, John Green, Jandy Nelson.