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booknookTitle: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Year: 2015
Age group: young adult
Genre: contemporary romance, coming-of-age
Content warnings: illness and medical trauma, abuse, mentions of child death, grieving / mental health struggles
This was my fourth read of Yoon's debut, following 18-year-old Madeline Whittier, who was diagnosed with SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) as a baby, and cannot leave her house without risking severe illness or death. She reads, a lot - not much else for her to do. She goes to school online. She rarely sees anyone except her mother and her full-time nurse, Carla, and when she is allowed other visitors, they have to go through a full physical and a lengthy sterilization process. As Madeline says, "It's a pain to come see me." Madeline is aware of her limitations, of the milestones she's missed and adventures she'll never get to have, but she's as happy as she can be, given the circumstances. But then a new family moves in next door, and with them comes Olly, a boy her age who spots Madeline in the window and is determined to talk to her. The two develop a friendship while emailing and texting in secret, and start to fall in love, which Madeline realizes can't end well for either of them.
For me, this is one of those books where, nearly every criticism I hear of it, I'm like, "Yes, you're right." The portrayal disability and illness is questionable (more about that in the spoiler section), and the book can be melodramatic and silly. But I eat it up every time; each time I've read this book, I've read it in under 24 hours. The romance is very sweet, and both Olly and Madeline are very likable and compelling characters. The story is a love story first and foremost, and if you want an easy-to-read, enjoyable romance, this might be a good pick for you.
I revisited this book because I've been in a terrible reading slump for the past couple of weeks, and it worked like a charm. The book flies by as you read it, with prose that's both accessible and pretty, and the inclusion of things like medical reports, book reviews Madeline posts online, and receipts from purchases she's made is a nice touch. Madeline's voice is eloquent but believable for a teenager (especially one who's been solely in the company of adults her whole life), and it was a delight to revisit this book for the first time in several years.
The primary criticism of this book is the twist, which you may have already guessed: Madeline doesn't have SCID at all. Her mother, a physician, suffered a mental breakdown following the deaths of Madeline's father and brother, and this manifested in a nasty cause of Munchausen's by proxy, deluding herself into believing that Madeline's sickliness in infancy was more than just allergies. While the twist itself isn't a bad one (if a little predictable), many, myself included, argue that it wasn't well-foreshadowed. The only real foreshadowing is when Madeline and Olly run away together; Madeline, at this point, fully believes she may get sick and die, but decides it's worth the risk, but after several hours outside, questions why she hasn't gotten sick yet. Other than that, there's no real hint that Madeline's mother is unstable or lying.
There's also the issue of the book presenting Madeline's life while she was sick (or rather, "sick") as not really living - SCID is a real condition, as are other disabilities and ailments that force people to be housebound, and unlike Madeline, most of those people aren't going to find out their condition was a lie and they can actually live a normal life after all. I think there is a compelling story here about Madeline, now a legal adult, asserting her right to take risks - her mother has controlled everything her whole life, even getting upset when Madeline buys clothes in a different color than what she usually wears, so it does make sense for part of Madeline's arc to be her deciding to make her own choices, and even her own mistakes. And the book does address that, even if she doesn't have SCID, Madeline's not healthy - her immune system is completely shot due to having been sequestered in a sterile environment for 17 years, and when she runs away, she gets so sick her heart stops. She has to pace herself and work with a specialist in order to integrate into society. But I do somewhat take umbrage with the idea that, had Madeline actually had SCID or something else incurable and untreatable, she would've been doomed a completely unhappy and unfulfilled life. I get why Yoon wanted a straightforwardly happy ending, and Madeline realizing she's a victim of Munchausen's by proxy could've been an equally compelling story, but that aspect wasn't fleshed out well enough to make up for the feeling that Madeline not having SCID is a bit of a cop-out.
But ultimately, I still enjoy the book, and I'm glad to see Madeline and Olly happy in the end. I'm sure I'll read it again when I find myself in another reading slump.
Author: Nicola Yoon
Year: 2015
Age group: young adult
Genre: contemporary romance, coming-of-age
Content warnings: illness and medical trauma, abuse, mentions of child death, grieving / mental health struggles
“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.”
This was my fourth read of Yoon's debut, following 18-year-old Madeline Whittier, who was diagnosed with SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency) as a baby, and cannot leave her house without risking severe illness or death. She reads, a lot - not much else for her to do. She goes to school online. She rarely sees anyone except her mother and her full-time nurse, Carla, and when she is allowed other visitors, they have to go through a full physical and a lengthy sterilization process. As Madeline says, "It's a pain to come see me." Madeline is aware of her limitations, of the milestones she's missed and adventures she'll never get to have, but she's as happy as she can be, given the circumstances. But then a new family moves in next door, and with them comes Olly, a boy her age who spots Madeline in the window and is determined to talk to her. The two develop a friendship while emailing and texting in secret, and start to fall in love, which Madeline realizes can't end well for either of them.
For me, this is one of those books where, nearly every criticism I hear of it, I'm like, "Yes, you're right." The portrayal disability and illness is questionable (more about that in the spoiler section), and the book can be melodramatic and silly. But I eat it up every time; each time I've read this book, I've read it in under 24 hours. The romance is very sweet, and both Olly and Madeline are very likable and compelling characters. The story is a love story first and foremost, and if you want an easy-to-read, enjoyable romance, this might be a good pick for you.
I revisited this book because I've been in a terrible reading slump for the past couple of weeks, and it worked like a charm. The book flies by as you read it, with prose that's both accessible and pretty, and the inclusion of things like medical reports, book reviews Madeline posts online, and receipts from purchases she's made is a nice touch. Madeline's voice is eloquent but believable for a teenager (especially one who's been solely in the company of adults her whole life), and it was a delight to revisit this book for the first time in several years.
The primary criticism of this book is the twist, which you may have already guessed: Madeline doesn't have SCID at all. Her mother, a physician, suffered a mental breakdown following the deaths of Madeline's father and brother, and this manifested in a nasty cause of Munchausen's by proxy, deluding herself into believing that Madeline's sickliness in infancy was more than just allergies. While the twist itself isn't a bad one (if a little predictable), many, myself included, argue that it wasn't well-foreshadowed. The only real foreshadowing is when Madeline and Olly run away together; Madeline, at this point, fully believes she may get sick and die, but decides it's worth the risk, but after several hours outside, questions why she hasn't gotten sick yet. Other than that, there's no real hint that Madeline's mother is unstable or lying.
There's also the issue of the book presenting Madeline's life while she was sick (or rather, "sick") as not really living - SCID is a real condition, as are other disabilities and ailments that force people to be housebound, and unlike Madeline, most of those people aren't going to find out their condition was a lie and they can actually live a normal life after all. I think there is a compelling story here about Madeline, now a legal adult, asserting her right to take risks - her mother has controlled everything her whole life, even getting upset when Madeline buys clothes in a different color than what she usually wears, so it does make sense for part of Madeline's arc to be her deciding to make her own choices, and even her own mistakes. And the book does address that, even if she doesn't have SCID, Madeline's not healthy - her immune system is completely shot due to having been sequestered in a sterile environment for 17 years, and when she runs away, she gets so sick her heart stops. She has to pace herself and work with a specialist in order to integrate into society. But I do somewhat take umbrage with the idea that, had Madeline actually had SCID or something else incurable and untreatable, she would've been doomed a completely unhappy and unfulfilled life. I get why Yoon wanted a straightforwardly happy ending, and Madeline realizing she's a victim of Munchausen's by proxy could've been an equally compelling story, but that aspect wasn't fleshed out well enough to make up for the feeling that Madeline not having SCID is a bit of a cop-out.
But ultimately, I still enjoy the book, and I'm glad to see Madeline and Olly happy in the end. I'm sure I'll read it again when I find myself in another reading slump.
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Date: 2026-02-12 09:28 pm (UTC)