Books
Delacorte
Let's Talk!
Nicola Yoon
Review
Let's Talk!: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
8/22/2015Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Pages: 320
Published by: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Published on: September 1st 2015
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.
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I received this book via Edelweiss from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. None of my thoughts have been affected by that.
Based on the synopsis, I could tell
this book could become something great. I have heard a ton of buzz on
this book from twitter and it is for a very good reason. Everything,
Everything was a marvelous read. I thought the plot was so
unique and I rarely do read these types of contemporaries, where
the main character isn't in high school and a new girl or recovering
from a traumatic accident. Sure, this story is here because a boy
comes into her life but this girl has been in her house for 18 years.
(And my parents say I don't get out enough...) It was just different
and that is only one of the things I really love about this book.
I actually really liked reading about
Maddie and her little story. She is just this 18 year old girl who is
shy, hilarious, and really cares for the two people she has know
for her whole life, her mom and Carla. I really loved reading
about Carla and Maddie's and their interactions because Carla,
Maddie's caretaker, is basically like her second mom. Carla is the
parent who is less strict than the other. They are the first parent
you come to when you need to talk to someone and I loved their
relationship because she could have just been some lady to take care
of Maddie but instead, she became something else.
Maddie's character development went
very well in this book. She made a new friend and also got to
learn more about herself. In the beginning of the book, Maddie was
so clueless about the world and scared of it but by the end of
the book, she knows more about the outside world and is willing to
take risks to do things that she wants to do.
Olly, this boy Maddie meets, is very
mysterious. He wears lot's of black and has bunt cakes commit
suicide. Just like Maddie, he is so hilarious and more vulnerable
to getting hurt compared to other guys. He is someone who makes
his feelings more apparent and I love that because it takes
some of the seriousness out of him, and I mean that in a good way.
Olly really showed Maddie what life was outside of her house and
these two just had a lot of fun together.
The plot of Everything, Everything
really brought me to read the book. I love the concept of Maddie
being allergic to everything and I was really interested to see
how this book would go. Maddie and Olly's story is really interesting
because of the fact that, well Olly isn't able to see Maddy face to
face. The story really evolves as Maddie and Olly get to know each
other more. The writing showing how Maddy and Olly got to know
more about each other was probably the best thing ever. I loved
how part of the book was written in email and IM and not only did
it help us understand more about Olly and Maddie's interactions,
it just added more fun to the book.
I love about this book is the ending.
After all that Maddie and Olly went through in this book, I really
didn't know how this book was going to end and I am really pleased
with the way it ended. The book was really nicely tied up and I
got such a satisfied feeling with the ending and I love that.
The two things that brought down my
rating for this book was the fact that there were some parts just
seemed unrealistic to the story and Maddie's character. The other
reason is because there were parts where I felt as though it was
inst-lovey and we all know that it's not a very good thing. More
of this will be explained in the spoiler section of this review just
because I don't want to spoil anything for you.
I gave this book 4 stars because I
loved the plot and characters in this book but I did feel as though
it got a bit unrealistic and inst-lovey at times.
I think the thing we need to mention
first was the plot twist. This plot twist was just
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I really didn't see that
twist and there were so many signs that pointed to her not having
SCID. Maddie not immediately dying after running out of her house
multiple times. Then she doesn't die on the airplane as well. I mean,
they pump air into that thing where like 200 people share the air,
how is she not dead yet? Then she get's the miracle email from the
doctor in Hawaii and I swear I fell off my chair because holy crap
that is such a life changing thing. This whole time your life has
revolved around that decease Maddie has and she doesn't have it?! I
really dislike her mom for this because she basically took away
Maddie's ability to live life and enjoy it! I'm just glad she didn't
find out she wasn't sick when she was 50 because that's half of her
life spent inside her house. I think this is definitely one of the
plot twists I actually liked because of how it effected Maddie and it
was just plot twist that was handled very well.
I mentioned this book being
a bit inst-lovey and unrealistic at times and I am here to explain
why. Let's start with the inst-lovey part first. Aside from all the
talking these two did over IM, it was their second meeting face to
face and they already had their first kiss. You tell me that isn't a
bit too fast. Everything about their relationship felt so rushed and
way too inst-lovey. If I didn't feel that way toward their
relationship, I would definitely be more supportive of their
relationship. BUT I still think their super cute and ship them.
As for the book getting
unrealistic at times, I would think Maddie's interaction with Olly me
more awkward or weird. I mean we were all young at some points and
say things that we don't mean or ask rude questions. Why was there
none of that from Maddie? She has only really talked to her mom and
Carla, surely her first interaction with a person other than those
two AND a person from the opposite gender be a bit more...awkward.
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