The main character is a girl who is said to have a disease that stops her from being able to go anywhere outside her home. She lives with her mother, after her father and brother died in a car crash. She is content until the new neighbors move in..with a boy her age who captures her attention. His name is Olly. And he will most definitely change her life in the craziest way possible.
So much happens!! The plot twist was pretty predictable but the writing makes it very easy to become invested. There were a few cringey bits, but overall it was decent! Extra points for a pretty cover:)
I already guessed the ending pretty early on, so I was not surprised or shocked by what happened. I liked the idea of this book and how it was fabricated with the drawings and little things in between the different chapters.
About 2/3 through I hit a point where I wanted it to end a certain way and at the same time feared it would end that way. Luckily, it kind of worked out both ways.
I really feel a bit cheated by Everything, Everything. I thought it would be a fascinating exploration of what it’s like to lead such a restricted lifestyle, where going outside might very well kill you. As I was reading there were so many things that didn’t seem quite right and I got to a point and then there’s this thing, which pretty much exonerates the author from all of what felt like poor research.
Maddy supposedly has SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, which I looked up after reading the book. She says she is allergic to everything but the disorder is actually a severely compromised immune system which means she would be very susceptible to picking up bacteria, viruses and fungal infections and be unlikely to fight them off by herself. That’s not an allergy (in which the immune system over-responds to mostly harmless substances).
The SCID would have made more …
I really feel a bit cheated by Everything, Everything. I thought it would be a fascinating exploration of what it’s like to lead such a restricted lifestyle, where going outside might very well kill you. As I was reading there were so many things that didn’t seem quite right and I got to a point and then there’s this thing, which pretty much exonerates the author from all of what felt like poor research.
Maddy supposedly has SCID, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, which I looked up after reading the book. She says she is allergic to everything but the disorder is actually a severely compromised immune system which means she would be very susceptible to picking up bacteria, viruses and fungal infections and be unlikely to fight them off by herself. That’s not an allergy (in which the immune system over-responds to mostly harmless substances).
The SCID would have made more sense at some points. Like she is allowed paper books as long as they have been through a sterilising process. I would have thought an ereader would be a much more sensible option for keeping allergens out, yet brand new books are not likely to contain pathogens. Still, there are comments that are clearly referring to not knowing what kind of things could kill her, going back to her being highly allergic.
Maybe it started out as a story about a girl with allergies but it got lost along the way, along with a misdiagnosis. Plus it’s very short and doesn’t give much time over to the other characters, who really do have their own problems that deserved more development. I liked Maddy’s voice so it was a bit frustrating that the rest of it felt rushed. More like a first draft than a finished piece of work.
I can understand Maddy’s recklessness though. A desire to lead a life that seems effortless to others. What is life if you are restricted to viewing it through other people? If you can never go out and experience it yourself? Is it worth the risk of death?
