Wonderful Literature: Cova Reviews | Everything, Everything

Hello, hello! I've been wanting to read this book since before I even knew what it was about. Yes -sometimes I do judge books by their cover OK...? Just take a moment to appreciate this beauty. Honestly. Who wouldn't just go the first book shop they find just to get this piece of art? :P

Everything, Everything is a young adult, contemporary, stand-alone novel written by Nicola Yoon. It is about an 18-year-old girl named Maddy who suffers from SCID or "bubble baby disease" - which basically means she is "allergic to the world" and so she can't leave the safety of her house, with its air filtres and constant check-ups. In fact, she hasn't done so in the past 17 years. One day, a new family comes to live next door. Through her window, she meets Olly, who keeps trying to make contact with her. And so they become online friends.

Everything, Everything is a book about friendship, love and finding oneself. Maddy has never left her house, and she was OK with that because that's all she's ever known. She plays board games and has movie nights with her mum, reads lots of books, and is home-schooled. That's what she's always done. But suddenly her peaceful routine becomes altered by the presence of this one boy who keeps trying to reach her. She's never had any friends her age, and this threatens her tranquility because she knows she doesn't long for anything from the outside world because she hasn't tasted it yet. So she's scared -just as anyone in her position would be.

That is something I really liked about this book -it's real. The characters feel real, the story feels real. It's like almost nothing falls out of place until it has to.

Something I didn't quite like is that at the beginning of the book the relationship between Maddy and Olly seems as if it was between two kids, when they actually are almost adults. I found that was OK for Maddy given her situation, but not for Olly, who seems to be a really outgoing guy. This changes with the development of the story, though.

The writing is really good, and there are some illustrations accompanying the text (drawn by the author's husband - David Yoon). Also, some parts of the novel are written in email, text, or "handwritten" note form, which I think is really cool. Also, something that caught my attention is that the chapters are very short - some are made of barely two sentences. Something different :)

I was expecting to LOVE this book because I'd heard wonders of it, but instead I just really liked it. It is a very good book, very nicely covering an unusual and hard topic. I just would have liked to get to know Olly a bit more, and the ending didn't fully satisfy me -I've got some questions unanswered! Regardless, I really enjoyed reading this book. I really recommend it!