Book Review| Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

“Everything's a risk. Not doing anything is a risk. It's up to you.” 

― Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything

Book Title: Everything, Everything 

Author: Nicola Yoon, Illustrations by David Yoon

Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Published: September 1, 2015

Rating: 5 ❤❤❤❤❤

Goodreads Description: 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. 

In true nature of "I can't watch the movie until I read the book," I went out and got the book. Well I ordered the book and read it in a few hours. It was quick and easy read. Sometimes when books are really popular I don't read the reviews because some will have great reviews and some readers will be disappointed with the hype around the book and it's shortcomings. After reading it, I read some of the reviews and a lot of people disliked the book. So I think - although this is a quick read, you should read it carefully so you don't miss some of the important parts.

“Sometimes I reread my favorite books from back to front. I start with the last chapter and read backward until I get to the beginning. When you read this way, characters go from hope to despair, from self-knowledge to doubt. In love stories, couples start out as lovers and end as strangers. Coming-of-age books become stories of losing your way. Your favorite characters come back to life.” 

― Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything

Mainly it's about a young girl Madeline (Maddy), who can't leave her home because she has SCID, which is a rare disease or as she called it "bubble baby disease" but when she meets Olly (Oliver) she realizes that she needs to experience life even if it's at the cost of her own life. Her issue is the guilt she feels because her mother has given up everything in her life to keep Maddy safe and out of danger.

The book shows you that no matter how "different" you are, being a young teenager still gives you enough reasons to relate to each other. The books touches the concepts of sadness, loneliness, acceptance, failure, mental illness and even some harsh realities of life. The book represents the vast issues that teenagers today may be facing in their homes that their friends are unaware of.


I think the cover to this book is beautiful and the illustrations along with the stream of consciousness writing is an awesome way to tell a story of a young girl. Especially one that needs to rely on her imagination to learn about the world because she can't be in the world. Yoon incorporates the way we speak to each other in a world that is driven by technology by using IM conversations and the obsessive compulsiveness people tend to have with checking their emails. This style of writing really helps you relate to the character, even if you are an adult reading YA - you were once a teenager. You knew the feeling of wanting to just live.

“Sometimes you do things for the right reasons and sometimes for the wrong ones and sometimes it’s impossible to tell the difference.” 

― Nicola Yoon, Everything, Everything

About the Author 

Image credit via Nicola Yoon's Twitter

Nicola Yoon is also the author of The Sun is Also a Star. Her book Everything, Everything has been adapted into a movie. She was born in Jamaica and raised in Brooklyn. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Everything Everything  | Author's Website  | Goodreads