Everything Everything

 

Title: Everything Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Format: Paperback
Rating: 3.5 Stars

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My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the 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. I want to learn everything about him, and I do. I learn that he is funny and fierce. I learn that his eyes are Atlantic Ocean-blue and that his vice is stealing silverware. I learn that when I talk to him, my whole world opens up, and I feel myself starting to change—starting to want things. To want out of my bubble. To want everything, everything the world has to offer.

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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Everything Everything is a wollop of a book that has a lot of really great things about it.  However, it also has a lot of problems. 

What did I Like About This Book: 

* Carla.  I Love Carla. She is a wonderful, caring human and it broke my heart when Maddy's mom fired her. (Even though, you know, she came back.)
* Maddy finally researching her life on her own and learning to really advocate for herself.
* Going to Hawaii actually turned out to be a really good thing in the end.

What Didn't I like About This Book:

* Insta-Love.  Olly and Maddy meet through Maddy's window.  They chat online through email, and then chat with each other solely through the internet.  Everything Maddy learns about him she learns through online talk and seeing him through her window.  Now look, I certainly don't mean to downplay the importance of people you meet through the internet.  What concerns me in this case is that Maddy is so naive.  That makes it hard for me to trust that Maddy really knows what she's doing.
* Why the hell did Maddy think it was a good idea to go to Hawaii before she knew she didn't have SCID?!
*Carla spent so much time with Maddy and her mom.  She clearly realized that something was wrong with Maddy's mother, why didn't she say anything?

I think this book was a good idea, I did like it, but I do wish there were a few things that would have been different and more well developed.  

I'd definitely recommend this if you are looking for a book that is good, and sad sure, but still light enough.