On paper it has everything (...everything) that I expect and love in YA contemporary novels. Madeline has a rare illness called SCID (which basically means she is allergic to the world) and is not allowed to leave her house and is under constant surveillance by her overprotective mum and Spanish nurse, Carla. At the start she seems content with reading books in her bedroom and repeating the same day over and over again. That is until she see's Olly. Olly's family moves in next door (with secrets of their own). Olly is an energetic, yet mysterious guy who wears head to toe black. Madeline stares out of the confinements of her bedroom window at Olly, free as a bird. Bundt cakes, secret internet conversations and limericks lead to a romance that's as passionate as it is destined to destruct.
What struck me as interesting and different to other novels of this kind was the illustrations. I mean, I'm not really a visual person, but I loved the illustrations and contrast between short and long passages of text. As a reader you could really get inside Madeline's head. We had access to her reviews and spoilers on books and her own personal dictionary. You can see a love for words within both Madeline and Yoon herself (which of course I loved and related to). The chapters were each named accordingly to Madeline's emotions, like her own personal diary e.g. 'life is short' and 'a tale of two maddy's'. The book was quirky in style is what I'm trying to say and reflected Madeline's personality.
It wasn't until the end (without revealing too many spoilers) that I realised just how much of a fairy-tale this story was. I love fairy tales myself, but there are only so many you can read without them all becoming the same. I admire the modernised stance on a fairy-tale and feel it succeeded in that I was shocked at the climax of the story. However, I wasn't too surprised at the ending. It reminded me too much of Rapunzel, whether that's a good thing or not, I'm still not sure because aren't all Shakespeare's stories based on other stories, and Shakespeare's great!
I'm happy that I read this novel (because who doesn't like a gorgeous teen romance story?) It was written beautifully and I felt real empathy for Madeline and her condition.
There was one passage I re-read a few times. It stuck with me.
'I read once that, on average, we replace the majority of our cells every seven years. Even more amazing: We change the upper layers of our skin every two weeks. If all the cells in our body did this, we'd be immortal. But some of our cells, like the ones in our brains, don't renew. They age, and age us.
In two weeks my skin will have no memory of Olly's hand on mine, but my brain will remember. We can have immortality or the memory of touch. But we can't have both.'
It's tragic, but I'd live it all over again.
****
"Every moment I spend with him I learn something new. I become someone new."
"There's more to life than being alive."
"A universe that can wink into existence can wink out again."
"He's the biggest risk I've ever taken."
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