Everything, Everything

Madeline Whittier is 17 years old and she does not go outside her home because she has Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, basically she is allergic to the world. However, new neighbours move into the house next door and Madeline spots a teenage boy called Olly. Follow Madeline as she looks out of her window and dreams of a life outside. Everything, Everything is a debut novel but you would never guess it because her writing is of such high quality and polished. I loved the format of this book, first person with a linear time scale. Madeline wonderfully describes her life to the reader so that we know what it is like to be trapped in her home and to fear the big, dangerous outside world. The story is so engaging and although told from a female perspective, blokes can so easily relate to it. There is a lot of romance here but it is not slushy or off-putting. The romance is soft and tender, drawing the reader in with hope. You can only wish for things to turn for the better with Madeline. I loved the philosophy weaved into this story. The dialogue shared with the reader leads to some wonderful quotes to take away with you… “Everything’s a risk. Not doing anything is a risk. It’s up to you.” “It’s not your fault. Life is a gift. Don’t forget to live it.” “You’re not living if you’re not regretting.” ...I thoroughly enjoyed reading Everything, Everything. Many people are finding it a challenge staying at home during the Coronavirus pandemic which makes this book extremely easy to relate to. I just wish that Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales would read this book and reconsider his decision to keep Wales stuck at home, lagging and trapped behind the rest of the UK, as most of Great Britain eases out of lockdown. Although this book is set in California, readers in lockdown around the globe can relate so easily to Madeline’s entrapment. Everything, Everything is basically a love story but with a lot more thrown in. It is a TOP CLASS read with a happy ending that gets 5 stars from me.

BOOK REVIEW- EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING. March 13, 2017 by Bronte Huskinson Leave a Comment Everything, Everything was one of those pretty books I’ve had sitting on my shelf for a while and never got round to reading. Then the trailer for the film adaptation, which looks amazing by the way, turned up on my Facebook feed and I knew I had to read the book before the film comes out. As with all good stories, I couldn’t put this book down and read it in one sitting. Without saying too many spoilers, the story follows 16 year-old Maddy, a girl who is allergic to, well, everything. Sadly, this means that she can never leave her house. When the charming Olly moves next door, suddenly her life because more complicated than ever before as the two youngsters begin to fall in love. The story sent me through every single emotion; happiness, relief, sadness, heartbreak and everything in between. I definitely felt like I was walking Maddy’s journey with her rather than watching from the side lines which I loved. I adored both Maddy and Olly in this book. I loved Maddy’s curiosity and desire for adventure and I loved Olly’s caring nature. You can really see Maddy’s personal growth in this novel, which is perfectly symbolised by her starting to wear coloured clothes! This is the perfect book for anyone who is looking for a cute romance novel. There are some dark and unexpected twists twists along the way that keeps you on your toes but never strays too far away from its simplistic romance.

This is a special book. I fell in love with it the moment I started reading. Don't you just love that feeling - the one where you know you've found a book that might just be a new favourite? For that reason you might find it a surprise that this is a 4, not 5, star book. I'll explain. Everything, Everything is a book about "Bubble Girl". A girl with SCID - Severe combined Immunodeficiency. Essentially Madeline Whittier is the most allergic human being imaginable. So much so that she can't leave her home which is effectively bubble wrapped with a fancy air filtration system to boot. Can you imagine how lonely that must be? Or would you not realise it's lonely because you've never experienced what it is that you're missing? Food for thought. And that's ostensibly what this book offered me - SO much food for thought. I was enamoured by Madeline. Her voice sucked me in from the first page; and that's something I really REALLY need to fall in love with a character. She's witty, incredibly intelligent, slightly too literal, funny and has a perfect level of maturity and acceptance towards her condition - I hate when we get a mournful character who, admittedly has an unfortunate hand in life, but just won't shut up about it. Madeline is the opposite and I love her. So when Olly moves in across the road with his slightly (okay, hugely) dysfunctional family, my romance radar went off. Don't get me wrong, I like romance, but it has to be the subtle kind. I can't deal with the "Insta-Love" of the YA genre right now. Yuck. Unfortunately this story smacks of instalove. BUT, here's the thing. I feel like it sort of had to, because Madeline has no human contact minus her mother and her nurse. Of course the intensity of her relationships is either going to be insanely full on or completely socially awkward. I preferred the Instalove. I hate myself for it a tiny bit. You'll hate yourself too by the end of the book. Anyway, so unfolds a cute romance through instant messenger and emails after weeks of watching (read, stalking) each other through their bedroom windows, miming messages to each other and writing backwards notes (and email addresses) on steamed up windows. It's cute. Predictable, but really fun and sweet. I really enjoyed the sweet-natured innocence of these two and I think the author did a wonderful job of it. Some of the interactions between the pair rang so true - Madeline's obsession with refreshing her emails to see if Olly replied it so apt. It's interesting to see two characters communicate in a different, if slightly awkward, way even if it is does seem a bit intense. The childlike antics made it seem all the more real for me given Madeline's predicament. Equally, this book is super interactive with email pages, drawings, "Madeline's Dictionary" and a bunch of other cool twists. Ignoring the romance aspect, Nicola Yoon does some incredible things with this book. The relationship between Maddie and her mum is untouchable. It broke me. It was beautiful, and broken, and sincere. I could have read a whole book about just them. I also enjoyed the questions Yoon raised for me about the sacrifices parents make, the life Madeline's mum inevitably gave up for her daughter, the intensity of sharing a bubble-home and the inherent loneliness of disease even when you're not alone. I especially enjoyed Yoon's approach to the "This Life" question frequently raised in YA books at the moment - is being alive really living. It did smack a little of "The Fault In Our Stars" though; some of the philosophical questions were very John Green. However, I had to drop a star, because the ending is just rubbish. I was so upset that it went this way. I basically predicted it half way through. But I could have guessed it anyway based on some of my favourite reviewers low rated reviews for this book. I hate predictable endings, but that wasn't the issue, the issue was that it was a non-ending. You know where you just wish the author had been a little more imaginative or even a bit braver and thrown you a curve ball? But Yoon did the easy thing and effectively opted out of a decent ending in doing so. Such a shame. Overall, a really strong read. I loved it until I reached 81% and the ending started to unravel. I think Yoon's writing style, her narrative voice and her characterisation was absolutely perfect and I whole-heartedly recommend this sweet-natured, mostly thought provoking, fun book - I'll definitely be checking out her other work.

I'm such a slow reader it normally takes me 3-5 weeks to finish a book...I could not put this book down I read it within 2 weeks. It is one of the best debut novels I have ever read. I really liked Maddie, Nicola wrote her really well. Even though she hasn't left her house in 17 years she wasn't once selfish or horrible about it. She hardly questioned the outside world...until Olly showed up. I loved Olly's character, I felt so bad for him at a lot of the time but his characteristics had me laughing. The relationship between Maddy and Olly was so romantic and refreshing. What I really loved about this book is that it doesn't just focus on Maddy and Olly. The ending to this book was a huge twist, I was partly aware of what was going on halfway through the book but for the ending to confirm blew me away. I wasn't too keen on her mom, I found her to be a little selfish a lot of the time, but near towards the end I can understand why she was the way she was. I also loved the style of writing, it wasnt just words she actually drew emails, pictures, IM messages it was amazing. 10/10 I can't wait for Nicola Yoon to write another book.

Madeleine has lived indoors for most of her eighteen years in a sterile environment, due to severe allergies to the outside world. She has coped with this admirably and accepts her lot... until cute parcour (apparently spelt parkour in the USA) athlete Olly moves in next door. Olly has a difficult home life, but despite their circumstances the two develop a friendship--and more--via IM and with the help of Maddy's caring nurse. It's essentially a modern twist on Rapunzel. There's a twist near the end that has caused a lot of online debate - I'm with the 'loved it' camp! The book is fairly short (320 pages) so skims quite quickly through events, but Yoon writes in a gorgeous flowing style with a plot that's a real page turner. I loved the diagrams, notes and drawings inserted throughout the book, although they didn't all show up very well on my Kindle - a grey font is also used for Maddy's side of their IM conversations and this was very faint. Loved the book and will look out for more work from this author.

Now this book isn't my usual cup of tea but then again I don't drink tea! There are no witches, wizards, warlocks, no magic, not even a puzzle to be solved! What this book does have though is love, and tons of the stuff. It's not in-your-face mushy stuff, but true love. Love between a boy and a girl, love between a mother and daughter and the love of those that are inside the bubble. Maddie and Olly are perfect together, she's the girl who's trapped inside and allergic to everything and he's the broody new boy next door , a daredevil and risktaker. I saw parts of the book as predictable, mainly the ending, but the book as a whole is good enough to not even care that I saw it coming. Maybe we can just put that down to me in my "advanced" years reading a book aimed at teens (I just turned 30!) It's a great read and I've already bought Nicola's next book. Can't wait to read it. ImpulseReads

(4.5 stars) This is a book about a girl named Maddy, who has to live her life in a bubble, unable to leave the house as she is allergic to the world. She has classes taught to her online, reads, reads and reads some more and watches the world pass by her outside her bedroom window, a world that she can't be apart of. The only people she is actually in contact with are her mum, her nurse Carla and her tutor, all whom which have to be tested first to ensure they have nothing that cane be passed along to Maddie and infect her, then they have to be decontamanated before entering the house. Even her house has special air fiers for Maddies own protection. Maddy had accepted this, until a new family moves in next door, then everything changes... Let me first start off by saying that I really wanted to give this book a massive 5 star rating, but I sadly had to take off half a star because of how Nicola came about creating the ending which was a disappointment to me. And I emphasise to me because other people may enjoy and like the way this book ends. That is why I couldn't give this book the 5 stars I so desperately wanted to and planned on giving it, before I got to that part. I loved this book and it was a very easy and quick to read and also hard for me to put down. The way the chapters are all set up and written, the drawings and illustrations included, was why this book was so easy, fun and such an enjoyable book. The chapters are short and the layout of this book and how its presented is so different and unique. This is one of the few books that actually made me laugh out loud while reading it, while also being emotional at times. There are spoilers to other books included so beware in case you want to read those books, as Maddy is a massive reader! What else is there to do when you're stuck inside all the time? Kind of made me jealous of all the books she read. I know that's bad right?. Anyways, she does a book review tumbler site where she post spoilers, so beware! It does say spoiler before it, so there is some warning. I was just a little disappointed by the ending, which from other reviews, I can see that I am not the only one. It reminds me of a film I've seen, which I'm not going to say because it may spoil it for people and I hate spoilers. But other than that, I loved it. I even read the acknowledgment and thought it was amazing that Nicola wrote the book and that her husband David created the illustrations within this book, which is amazing :D!! I definitely recommend this book and have already lent it out to friends!! 4.5 out of 5 stars, just short of being 5. I even argued with myself and even considered still giving this book 5 because of how much I enjoyed it, but then compromised by giving it 4.5, because it's definitely better than four stars.

"You're not living if you're not regretting" Madeline Whittier has a rare disease, she is allergic to the world. Which means she hasn't left her house in seventeen years, but that's okay, she's accepted her sickness and the fact that she will never know what it's like to step outside. Until Olly. Olly moves in next door to Maddy. He spots her at her window , one thing leads to another. They start to email, IM and finally meet, this then blossoms into a beautiful friendship, but there's also some serious instalove in the air. I'm not sure how I feel about this book. *sigh* Everything, Everything is quite beautiful in the way it makes you look at the world a little differently. It makes you grateful for the everyday things in life that we all take for granted. I absolutely love the book cover, I thought it was perfect. I enjoyed the writing style, the short paragraphs, the quirky drawings and other little extras. Sadly, this is where my enjoyment up and left the building. It was the ending, it kind of ruined the book for me. Well ruined may be a little strong, I don't know, it's just, I feel so cheated. The ending was predictable and a little bit rushed. I found the main characters to be quite boring at times. I didn't really feel the connection between Maddy and Olly either, which for me was a huge let down. They fell in love after a few emails, IMs and meeting for the first time. It was so unbelievable. "Maybe growing up means disappointing the people we love" It wasn't an awful read by any means. I didn't personally think it was a great read either. It. Just. Is. I would still recommend giving this book a go. It was a sweet story, if you don't mind the odd cliché and a predictable plot twist.

Dieses Buch hat schon so lange auf meinem SUB gelegen seit der ganze Hype darum auf Booktube losging und nun bin ich endlich dazugekommen – und ich bin so froh es gelesen zu haben. Das erste Mal habe ich von der Autorin Nicola Yoon im Zusammenhang mit ihrem zweiten Roman The Sun is Also a Star gehört, der sogar noch mehr gepriesen wird als ihr erster. Gelesen hab ich The Sun is Also a Star noch nicht, habe es aber bald vor, denn ich will unbedingt sehen, ob dieses zweite Buch sogar noch besser ist als das erste und das sagt schon viel, denn normalerweise lese ich nicht so viel Contemporary. Lest weiter um herauszufinden warum es mir so gut gefallen hat. Geschichte Die 18-jährige Madeline lebt eingeschlossen in einem Haus mit Luftschleusen, Dekontaminatoren (ist das ein akzeptables deutsches Wort?), Fenstern, die man nicht öffnen kann, und ganz ohne Besuch von draußen. Sie hat ihr Haus nicht mehr verlassen seit sie ein Baby war und täte sie es jetzt, würde sie mit ziemlicher Sicherheit sterben. Kurz gesagt leidet sie an der schweren Immunkrankheit SCID, die sie praktisch auf alles in der Außenwelt allergisch macht. Ihre einzigen Freunde sind ihre Mutter und ihre Krankenschwester Carla mit denen sie jeden einzelnen Tag verbringt. Ihr einziger Zeitvertreib sind ihre Bücher und die Film- und Spielabende, die sie immer mit ihrer Mutter veranstaltet. Alles ändert sich als nebenan eine neue Familie einzieht und mit ihr ein Junge, der von Maddy so fasziniert ist, dass er sie einfach nicht in Ruhe lassen kann. Dabei regt er in ihr zum ersten Mal seit langer Zeit den dringenden Wunsch ihr Haus verlassen und die ganze Welt erleben zu können. Äußerlichkeiten Das Cover ist wunderschön. Der Schriftzug ist sehr simpel gehalten aber mit sehr vielen bunten Illustrationen verziert, die in den verschiedensten Farben alles Mögliche darstellen: Blumen, Bücher, Gebäude, Flugzeuge, Musik – ihr versteht schon, eben everything, everything. Das passt sehr gut zu den Illustrationen im Buch (alle von Nicola Yoons Ehemann David), die einen großen Teil zum Lesevergnügen beigetragen haben. Das ganze ist also sehr grafisch und hat mich vom Design her manchmal ganz leicht an eine sehr abgeschwächte Version von Illuminae von Amie Kaufman und Jay Kristoff erinnert. Es ist wahrscheinlich eines der am schnellsten zu lesenden Bücher auf meinem Regal. Mit ca. 300 Seiten, viele von welchen mit Zeichnungen gefüllt oder wegen den kurzen Kapiteln eher leer gelassen wurden, ist es durchaus möglich das Buch in einem Rutsch durchzulesen. Manchmal lese ich gerne eine sehr kurze Geschichte, wenn ich zum Beispiel gerade einen dicken Wälzer beendet habe um ein bisschen Abwechslung reinzubringen. Dafür ist Everything, Everything perfekt. Schreibstil & Plot Das ganze Buch ist sehr einfach geschrieben: viele kurze Sätze, aber mit sehr vielen schönen Metaphern zwischendrin, die es irgendwie besonders gemacht haben. Sehr gut hat mit gefallen, dass jedes Kapitel einen Namen hat und sie nicht einfach durchnummeriert sind. Die Autorin hat es geschafft die Geschichte emotional zu machen ohne dabei kitschig zu wirken und das ist eine Kunst. Sie hat es geschafft, dass die Charaktere mir sehr ans Herz gewachsen sind und ich mich toll in sie habe einfühlen können. Ich kann zwar nicht aus Erfahrung sprechen, doch trotzdem kam mir Maddys Stimme in Bezug darauf, wie sie mit ihrer Krankheit umgeht, sehr realistisch vor. Manchmal kamen mir einzelne Kapitel wie sehr kleine Einblicke in ihr Leben vor, bei denen etwas Kleber gefehlt hat um sie in eine komplett zusammenhängende Geschichte zu basteln, aber das hat mich wirklich nur sehr selten ein kleines bisschen gestört. Der einzige Punkt, der mir nicht ganz so gut gefallen hat, war der Schluss, aber auch nur, weil er für meinen Geschmack etwas kurz geraten ist. Es war einfach ein wenig abrupt und ich hätte gerne noch mehr Details gesehen. Charaktere Beide Protagonisten, Madeline und Olly, haben mir sehr gut gefallen. Die Geschichte wird aus Maddys Sicht erzählt, worüber ich mir anfangs ein wenig Sorgen gemacht habe. Da sie so krank ist und komplett abgeschnitten von der Welt lebt, habe ich eine eher depressive Erzählerin erwartet, doch ich wurde positiv vom Gegenteil überrascht. Maddy hat ihr Leben so wie es ist akzeptiert und ist so glücklich wie sie eingesperrt eben sein kann. Sie ist weder depressiv noch beschwert sie sich dauernd über ihre Situation und hat durch das ganze hinweg sogar ihren Humor behalten können. Es war sehr angenehm in ihrem Kopf zu sein – eine sehr erfrischende Abwechslung zu so manch anderem YA Buch, das mir in der letzten Zeit zwischen die Finger geraten ist. Ich habe mich sofort in Olly verliebt. Er gibt Maddy nie das Gefühl ein Freak zu sein und packt sie gleichzeitig auch nicht mit Samthandschuhen an. Es ist klar, dass sie ihm viel bedeutet in allem was er tut und trotzdem ist er keiner dieser typischen klischeehaften, ich-geh-mal-kurz-brechen Typen, die in schwierigen Situationen immer so schmalzig sein müssen. Lieblingszitat "I was happy before I met him. But I’m alive now, and those are not the same thing." (Seite 181) Dieses Zitat beschreibt ganz toll die Beziehung zwischen den beiden. Sie braucht ihn nicht um glücklich zu sein, aber durch ihn fühlt sie sich einfach lebendiger. Genau so soll es doch sein. Fazit Everything, Everything ist schnelles, aber Eindruck hinterlassendes Lesematerial und ein ziemlich außergewöhnlicher Debüt-Roman. Zwar ging es mir manchmal ein klein wenig zu schnell, doch insgesamt hat es mir trotzdem total gut gefallen. Ich will in Zukunft unbedingt mehr von Nicola Yoon lesen und freue mich schon auf ihr zweites Buch!

amazing quality and really copy

Ho pianto tantissimo leggendo questo libro: all'inizio, durante e alla fine, perché separarmi dai personaggi è stato uno strazio. Storia ben pensata, costruita ancora meglio, con uno stile da cui staccarsi sembra impossibile. La svolta finale è un pochino prevedibile, ma ho comunque apprezzato tantissimo il modo in cui è stata raccontata la storia. Meravigliose anche le illustrazioni che danno un tocco in più al libro. L'inglese utilizzato non è difficilissimo, per un livello intermedio può andar bene, ma munitevi di dizionario perché incontrerete parole che non conoscete!

Muy bien libro y digerible para quienes estamos aprendiendo inglés.

i enjoyed every minute of it, i regret letting it stay in my bookshelf for months because once i opened it i knew it will be my favorite book, to the point i couldn’t read any other book for a while because it was just not good enough compares to Everything Everything it has an easy language and it also has a lot of drawings to let you understand, what a wonderful book.