Everything, Everything Review

Everything, Everything Review

Danielle Pancoast, Co-Editor

The popular book by Nicola Yoon, Everything Everything, was first published on Sept. 1, 2015 but was recently brought to the attention of many young adults when made into a movie on June 15, 2017. The fiction book portrays a love story between two teens who are recently made neighbors when Olly Bright moves into a new house. This story however is not just another teenage romance story. Madeline Whittier has been diagnosed from an early age with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency or SCID. The deficiency prohibited her from leaving her house, due to her susceptibility to infection.

Early on in the book, she seemed to be used to her inability to experience the outside world. However, when she see a family moving next door to her, Olly instantly catches her eye and she is intrigued with the way he moves about. Olly soon gets her attention through their windows and after a series of nights, he writes his email on the window for her to message him.

The two email back and forth for a long time before Carla, Madeline’s nurse, caves in and let’s Olly come to the house and visit. He was allowed few visits but enough for them to become head-over-heels for each other. Once Madeline runs outside of her house to protect Olly from his abusive father, her mom knows he is no stranger and soon discovers what Madeline has been doing behind her back.

Madeline is grounded for her actions and lost her communication with Olly. The punishment soon causes another rebellion which involves leaving the house again. Madeline packs a bag and decided to take a trip to Hawaii with Olly after convincing him she took pills to help with her sickness.

The two have a romantic and adventurous vacation until Madeline’s heart suffers from an inflammation called Myocarditis and they are forced to return home. Madeline later believes that she and Olly should not be together after all due to her inability to live a normal life.

Soon after, Olly moves aways with his mom and sister to escape from his dad. The story eventually undergoes an unpredictable plot twist, allowing them to reunite for good.

I thought the book was very good and held my attention the whole time. There were even moments I couldn’t put it down, especially at the end when I was surprised with the new events. Although I liked it, for the most part it is similar to all love stories and it was predicted they would end up together.

Her disease put an obstacle in their relationship and I think that contributed to the attention-grabber of the story. However, I believe Olly’s acceptance to just email back and forth with Madeline and not see her would give young teenage girls false hope, but I also think it was a good symbolism that there are still genuinely good people in the world.

I would definitely recommend for other students to read this, although it is probably better suited for girls than guys. It is a quick read and once you get into it, you won’t be able to put it down. The book is available at the Topeka Shawnee County Public Library and can be purchased at many discount retail stores or supercenters.