Everything, Everything

Everything, Everything

 

Nicola Yoon

 

 

I'm not sure that I can even give this one a star rating because it's still unclear how I feel about it.

 

I feel like this book should have been the epitome of Contemporary, and the beginning absolutely was, but the ending just confused the crap out of me and was more like a psychological thriller? Weird mix.

 

*SPOILERS BELOW*

 

 

We've all seen the commercials for the movie, which aside from already having the book is why I gave it a shot since I pretty much gave up on Contemporary a little while ago. This girl, Madeline, has SCID (the girl in the plastic bubble), but her bubble is her house and her mother is a doctor. People move in next door, including a boy her age named Olly. They start to communicate and fall for each other and blablabla.

 

I really thought this book was going to be all about the romance, and the first 75% of the book is. I feel like I'm going to be the opposite of everyone else because I actually liked the ending a lot better than the majority of the book (it's more in genre with what I normally read). If you're looking for a tragedy like The Fault in Our Stars, look again people!!!

 

The romance was okay. Angsty 18 year olds that use vocabulary beyond their years, the usual. I liked Maddy more because she was so cut off from society that she actually enjoys time with her mother and schooling and I understand why she acted more mature than most her age. Olly was okay, I actually enjoyed his sister more even though she was barely in it.

 

So, Maddy decides that life isn't really worth living if you're not living, so she decides to run away with Olly. Here is where I start to really question things. They can't just run away on a road trip or anything, she decides to go all out and: a. gets a credit card (it's harder than just applying to some random card when you have no credit established and I highly doubt her limit would have been that high to begin with even if her mom was basically rich), b. buys tickets to Hawaii. HAWAII. And says they'll only be gone for two days. IT TAKES 10 HOURS TO FLY THERE AND BACK, so they would basically have a day in Hawaii or it would actually be THREE days. I'm a sucker for logistics. c. The person that checks them into the hotel thinks that they're newlyweds. It's possible, but in society today? Not likely that they would assume they just got married at 18 years old. That whole thing just bugged me. Drive down to SoCal or something, this girl will be impressed by anything since she's lived in her house her whole life.

 

Anyways, she gets sick in Hawaii and doesn't really know what's going on but her mom comes to pick her up and bring her home. She slowly gets better but refuses to talk to Olly because it's too hard.

 

So. The ending. We learn that Maddy was never sick (well she was sick as a baby for like a few days), but her mom went a bit crazy after Maddy's father and brother died in a car accident when she was a baby and wanted to 'protect' her, so she basically created this whole scenario in her head where Maddy had SCID so she could never get hurt if she stayed inside. Messed. Up. This is actually the part I liked because it makes for an awesome plot twist, but felt SO out of place in this book. Maddy was pissed (rightfully so). Overall, it was just a weird combo and I don't think I'll ever figure out how I feel about it.