Author: Nicola Yoon
Publication Date: 1 September, 2015
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Age Recommendation: 16 and up
Rating: 5 Stars
~ I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review ~
Book Description:
This innovative, heartfelt debut novel tells the story of a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she’s ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.
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.
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.
My Review:
I am on the verge of speechless when it comes to this book. As the cover says this book was Everything. Everything.
"Love is worth everything. Everything."
I want to spend more time wrapped up in all that is this book, I want to get lost in the words and feelings, I want more charts and illustrations
*Wednesday, 3:31 A.M.
Olly: couldn't sleep?
Madeline: No.
Olly: me too. fast five favorites movie food body-part class
Madeline: That's only four. Besides, it's too late of this. I can't think.
Olly: waiting
Madeline: Pride and Prejudice-the BBC version, toast, hands, architecture.
Olly: jesus. is there a girl on this planet who doesn't love mr. darcy
......
I want more kindness, more sweet thoughts, more parkour, more Carla, even more of Madeline's mom....I want more Maddy and Olly
Because they make me feel all the feels. They make you want to go back to the days of first loves and sweet romances.
Madeline has lived her life in a bubble. She has a rare condition that has left her allergic to the world. Since she was an infant she has lived inside her filtered, sterile, plastic house. You would expect her to be depressed, to hate the life she lives, to hate her mother, her nurse, herself...but refreshingly this is a girl who has taken her illness in stride. She has learned to love the life that she has been given, to appreciate the sacrifices made for her, she has learned to accept her disease. She wants for nothing but deep down she craves EVERYTHING.
I loved how strong Madeline is. I loved that she doesn't whine and complain about her her life, I love that we see her fight sadness but that she never gives up on finding her own happiness in what she has. Then she sees Olly and EVERYTHING changes.
Olly is simply an amazing character. He's full of heart, he's the guy every girl or guy wants to fall in love with. He's no Emo kid, or player. He's smart, but not overly nerdy, he's athletic but not a jock. He's strong, but not overbearing. He is kind....I love that most about him, he's a quiet kind guy who listens and watches. Who dreams for not only himself but for the people that he loves. He's been giving a bad situation in life but instead of letting it lead him on a downward spiral he tries to step back from it and make life better. I loved that when he was allowed to meet Madeline in person he was careful with her. I loved that he wasn't this guy who just comes in and takes over her life, I loved that he cared for her enough to want to have time with her anyway he could get it. He is really just a great guy.
I of course do not want to give you any spoilers so I don't want to talk too much about what happens in the book, but know that even through the hard parts this book makes you smile. This book is a book about love. The love of a mother for a child (even if there is a huge story there), the love of a child for her mother, for her caretaker, the love of a girl for a boy, a boy for a girl, the love of living. There are plenty of sad things that come along with this book, sickness, mental illness, family strife, alcoholism, abuse, but there is just so much love that when it all ends your heart is full.
This is a quick read. You will sit down and be done before you even realize it, yes because it isn't an extraordinarily long book, but mainly because you will be o wrapped up in the story, in the words, the drawings, the feelings that between the time you start the first page and the time you take your next blink you will come to the end and not understand how it could be over because it ends perfectly but at the same time you don't want it to end. You want years of watching Maddy and Olly grow, you want reconciliation, redemption, little 'M-Ollys' running around. You will finish and want EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.
I think one of the best compliments I can give a book is that when I am writing the review I will flip through pages looking for moments that I want to recollect or excerpts I want to use in the review and then I get sucked back into the words and loose myself, finding that I have read chapters over again, and not wanting to put the book back down to finish the review. A book that can make you come back for more and more and never get tiring is a beautiful thing.
Usually here I would say who I think this book is for. What type of reader would enjoy it most and I can honestly say with this one that I think ANYONE (between the ages of 16 and 100) could pick up this book and fall in love. Just remember as the cover of the book says...
"The Greatest Risk is Not Taking One."
Trust me, take the risk. pick up this book and fall in love....
~HAPPY READING~
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