Readcommendations

by Nicola Yoon

Review by KM

There are some people who are born romantics; they grow up watching The Notebook and believing in lasting love and being optimistic. Those people are freakin’ awesome and should be protected by those who would hurt them.

I wasn’t born a romantic, but time has converted me over the years and seriously, I totally agree with Madeline in this story.

Summary

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.

Musings

This book was a quick read, great for a lazy summer day. It took me less than two hours, so for your teens who say they can’t concentrate through a huge book? This is for them. I wouldn’t say that it’s action-packed; it definitely starts out slowly. The story builds quickly though and it’s written in such a way that makes it easily enjoyable.

Madeline and Olly are your typical teens and they go through a cyber-space relationship before meeting IRL, which I think a bunch of people can relate. It’s definitely hard having your best friends or significant others over the interwebs and not right there beside you, but it’s even worse after you have had them next to you and have to go back. I think a lot of us millennials can sympathize.

My favorite part had to be Maddy’s references to other novels, keeping the reader up to date on what she was reading. I know what I’m reading always impacts my mood and I think it did for Maddy too. Flowers for Algernon was a favorite book of mine back in junior high, so those mentions made me especially happy.

The book is pretty predictable and the one major twist was something I’d predicted hoped for since the beginning. It’s the same part I love about my favorite film, so I won’t give you any spoilers, but I’m guessing you’ll be able to tell what’s coming.

Everything, Everything will be hitting shelves a month from now, so I’m recommending a large glass of lemonade and a beach chair (and sun-screen! I burn like a lobster) to accompany this book.