[Review] Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon

Title of Book: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Publisher: Delacorte
Publication Date: 1st September 2015
Language: English
Format: ARC
Pages: 320

This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.

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.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me a copy of this ARC via Netgalley.

Everything, Everything is about a girl named Madeline, who is allergic to almost everything. This condition causes her to stay inside her house where her belongings are sterilized and the air is filtered. She was fine living in her safe little world until one day a new family moves into the house next door. She starts paying attention to the new neighbor especially the son, Ollie. Madeline’s life will never be the same again.

I adore the characters of this book. Madeline is funny. She is also naïve, but that is understandable considering her whole life she has not faced the outside world. Ollie is also a funny guy and they are adorable together. I enjoy reading their relationship building through bedroom window conversation, online chat, and their witty banter. Their relationship is just so cute that I do not mind it being cheesy at times.

The conflict in this book mainly is about Madeline wants something that she knows she can’t have. That premise is what drove me to keep reading this book. Madeline-Olly relationship is unlikely that I am so intrigued to see where their relationship will go to. I wanted to know how their story would end and it was satisfying for me. Although a part of it left me feeling iffy because it seems forced. I won’t spoil that part, but it kind of breaks the premise of what this book is about.

Nevertheless, I like how chat conversation, pictures, or doodles are integrated in the book. It adds more enjoyment to the reading experience. All in all, this book is a good debut novel. If it wasn’t for the particular part that I talked about before, I would have given this book four out of five. But I have to reduce it a bit into 3.5 out of five.