I am jealous of Madeline. She has such a way with words and can make the best of any situation. I guess when you have lived in a bubble your whole life, you tend to read a lot of books.
This book is fabulous. It is about a girl who was diagnosed with a rare disorder known as SCID, when she was just a few months old. She was diagnosed right after her dad and brother were killed in a car crash. So it's just been her mom and her. She's never left their house, like, ever. Fast forward to Madeline, 18 years old, and the new neighbors have just moved in. A family of four with their own problems. Madeline is a very observant person, which I guess you would have to be, having known nothing else but the inside of your own house. So she begins to observe the family next door, specifically the cute boy named Olly. Turns out Olly's dad is totally abusive. Eventually Olly and Madeline soon begin an online relationship, and that's when it became impossible for me to put down the book until the end.
This book is a bit of a mystery at times. The author hints at a darker time when Madeline had new neighbors before and it didn’t go so well, but we never really find out what happened. But this Olly kid is also mystery. I mean, he gives playing with your food a WHOLE new meaning! This Bundt cake that the neighbors brought over is constantly trying to commit suicide. (The bundt cake was made by their mom, and they insisted it tastes gross, and so Madeline's mom refuses it, because of Madeline's strict diet). It has a crazier story in just a few pages than any other book I’ve read. And yet, as the life and times of this Bunt cake is laid out and dramatically lived, Olly is no where to be seen. I mean, WHAT is this kid trying to accomplish? I think the life and times of the Bundt Cake would be a best seller. It’s definitely MY favorite part of the book. I love the creativity of Olly. He is insanely clever!
The Life and Times of the Bundt Cake excerpt:
"Night 4: The bundt is sitting on the sill, Band-Aids and bandages covering half its body. Night 5: The Bundt is sitting on a table next to the window. There’s a martini glass filled with green liquid, a pack of cigarettes, and a pill bottle with a skull and crossbones label. Another suicide attempt? Night 6: The Bundt is lying on a white sheet. An upside-down plastic water bottle is attached to what looks like a coat hanger and is hanging above the cake. A string hangs from the bottle to the Bundt like an IV."
I love the way the author describes the first time they touch, with such detail. It makes me feel like I am experiencing someone touching ME for the first time. Touching is something that we totally take for granted. We do it all the time. We shale hands, high five, hug, kiss, catch someone when they fall, pat their head..we touch a lot. But when you take it from the perspective of someone who isn’t allowed to touch anyone, ever, it forces you to take your own perspective and shift it. Touch is something we take for granted. But that is impossible to do and after reading this book. It is amazing how much you feel, when you're not allowed to feel at all.
The color contrast of Madeline and Olly is something that you may not notice at first. She only wears white, he only wears black. But then she starts adding some color into her life, both metaphorically and physically. Olly is in her life and he is a vibrant person. She starts to absorb some of that vibrancy into her own life, and it shows in her clothes. She buys clothes of all different colors and beings to change, little by little. Olly also begins to change as well; He isn’t as shifty, doesn't have to move his body every second. It's like he is more calm and relaxed in Madeline's presence.
Carla is Madeline's nurse. She spends all day, every day, with Madeline. Since she is the only person Madeline gets to see, besides her mom, Carla quickly became Madeline's best/only friend. She id constantly telling Madeline to life her life, enjoy it. She had the right idea. Life isn’t worth living if you can’t really live it. Her mom, while trying to protect her, is instead slowly stifling the life right out of her, and she doesn’t even realize it. Maddy HAS no life. She can't be around people, can't leave the house and at one point, even has all of her privileges taken away, including Carla, when her mom finds out that Olly was in the house. Carla understood that life should be lived, and live isn’t life without a few risks involved. But it's still so hard to stay mad at her mom. Her mom has lost everything in a sense. She lost her husband and son in a car crash, and then her daughter has this disease that required CONSTANT attention and more careful care than anyone should ever have. She has had to change her whole life around and she appears completely selfish, always putting Madeline first. So while she is a character that you hate for a while, you still have to love her, because of her constant effort to keep Madeline safe.
This book takes a sudden pivot in direction though. Major changes happen about half way through, that set a chain of events in motion and secrets to be suddenly revealed, changing everything Madeline has known. It was impossible to put the book down, and I ended up reading the whole book in two nights because I just HAD to find out what happened in the end, and what happens to each of the characters. I do like how the author ended the book though. The writing was very well done, captivating and descriptive and shines a fresh light on the human emotion.
I think Madeline sums up the book pretty well, while she is contemplating how her life has changed and wha caused it to do so:
"I was trying so hard to find the single pivotal moment that set my life on its path. The moment that answered the question, How did I get here?But it’s never just one moment. It’s a series of them. And your life can branch out from each one in a thousand different ways. Maybe there’s a version of your life for all the choices you make and all the choices you don’t."
