Everything, Everything

Yoon, Nicola. Everything, Everything. 2015. 310p. ISBN 978-0-553-49665-9. Available as an audiobook on Overdrive.

Madeline suffers from Severe Combine Immune Deficiency, where anything and everything in the environment can affect her and make her sick. As a result, Madeline has been living in her house her whole life, never leaving and experiencing the outdoors. She’s a real-life bubble girl. Her mother, a doctor, works hard to ensure that Madeline is as comfortable as possible, and her nurse, Carla, takes care of her on a day to day basis. Madeline attends school online, and has an active virtual presence, but Carla and her mother are the only two people she sees in person. She doesn’t remember her brother and her father, both of whom died in a horrific car accident seventeen years ago, when Madeline was only six months old. Everyone else coming in the house has to go through the decontamination unit and experience an unpleasant cleaning cycle, and they must have a clean bill of health. Her life is an endless repetition of days, with lots of book reading, homework, movies, and games with her mother. Mainly, though, Madeline is lonely.

When a moving van arrives next door, Madeline’s life changes forever. She looks out her bedroom window only to see black-clad Olly and his sister, along with their mother and father. Madeline is immediately attracted to  Olly, but how can you communicate with someone outside the bubble? Slowly, the two of them figure how to talk to each other, and their relationship deepens. But the barrier remains, and breaching it could be deadly. What is worth more to Madeline? A safe protected life in the bubble, or the deadly risk of truly experiencing a relationship with someone? Her decision will change her life forever.

Fans of The Fault in Our Stars and All of the Bright Places will enjoy this coming of age tale where one of the participant’s health at first prevents a satisfying relationship.