Everything By Nicola Yoon Sparknotes

The book I chose to read for Unit 4 was the book, “Everything, Everything”, by Nicola Yoon. The book’s cast of characters is few, the main character who we’re seeing the world through is named Madeline Whittier, but she goes by Maddy for most of the book. The other protagonist besides Maddy is her neighbor, a boy named Olly, who Maddy finds interesting. The book has no clear antagonist, but the implied antagonist is Maddy’s mother, who prevents Maddy from going outside. Besides the three of them, there is also Carla, Maddy’s personal nurse, and Olly’s family, comprised of a sister, mother, and an abusive father.

The disease makes it impossible for her to go outside, because anything can trigger a reaction that could be lethal to her. However, despite this disease, Maddy is very curious and wants to know everything about the world around her. Her mother and her fight over this, and the main conflict is that Maddy and her mother both want two completely different things for her. Maddy and her mother can’t agree on what kind of life Maddy should live, as Maddy wants to live normally while her mother wants her to stay in the house under her protection and restrictions. Olly makes Maddy’s will and determination to get outside even stronger. She wants to live normally with him, and fall in love without worrying about her disease and well-being all the time. The resolution comes rather late in the book, when Maddy finds out that her so-called “bubble baby disease” was all a lie. Maddy herself was never sick with such a rare disease, and had only been getting sick from having such a weak immune system due to her lack of exposure to the

There isn’t anything particularly special about Maddy’s house, except for its glass room designed to look like a tropical paradise, and its unnatural sanitary precautions meant to keep Maddy safe from breathing the outside air. Maddy lived there her entire life, knowing what she does about other humans only from her interactions with her mother and her nurse Carla. She’s a bookworm, reading multiple books throughout the novel and giving small “spoiler alert” reviews. When the family next door moves in, Maddy is quick to take to the son, a boy named Oliver. They don’t meet in person, Maddy’s mother preventing the new children from stepping foot in their house when they try to introduce themselves. Maddy and Olly meet online, conversing via virtual means, and become close friends. Maddy learns that Olly has an abusive father, his sister has a smoking problem, and that he desperately wants his mother to leave his father behind. They open up to each other, and Maddy’s nurse Carla eventually sympathizes enough to let Olly come over and meet Maddy in person. This eventually becomes a problem, with Maddy and Olly getting even closer and