“Everything Everything”. The title says exactly what this book is, and all the types of feels it gives you. The book by Nicola Yoon is the perfect mix between “My Sister’s Keeper”, “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Me Before You”. A love story drives it, but a journey to find one’s self is the real star of the show.
The book, which came out in 2015, will be hitting theaters this summer.
The book tells the story of Madeline, who has never left her house because of her rare SCID disease, which basically means she is allergic to the world. Naturally, she is curious but has never thought too much about it, until the beautiful Oliver, or Ollie (set to be played by Nick Robinson in the movie) moves in next door. She then has a determination to end up with him, no matter the consequences.
I initially fell in love with the book when I opened it up and saw the size of the font and the amount of pictures that grace the pages (I’m not much of a reader). I quickly found that this was symbolic.
Madeline lived a life with not much going on, and the physical appearance of the novel reflects that. She has no outside experience and her drawings portray that. As you get deeper into the book, you hope for the words to become denser, as are her feelings and emotions.
It constantly leaves you wanting more.
The story is all told in first person, and it shows that there is not much going on inside Madeline’s head to begin with. It is just mature enough that older teens will enjoy the read but not too risky that preteens can’t partake, too. Preteens will feel as if they are in the cool kids club as they read certain sections, but it’s nothing they can’t handle.
When I initially started reading, I was unaware that it was being turned into a major motion picture. Then, about halfway through reading, I discovered there was soon to be a movie based on the book. I watched the trailer but didn’t know how I felt about some of the choices.
Yoon describes only small character traits throughout and never goes into much detail. I pictured Madeline to be a very frail, flat girl. Her appearance in the movie is a little more filled out and more mature than I had pictured.
Hollywood also changed that fact that her mom was Asian in the book but cast her as African-American in the movie. Although this doesn’t affect the plot much, it shows they’re willing to take liberties with the directing.
I look forward to the movie, but I’m happy to be one of the people who was able to read the book before knowing what Hollywood’s version would be. I highly recommend the book to all ages because it is truly a story of finding what you want out of life.
