All These Things I've Done

WARNING: contains a few spoilers (but I tried not to give away that much).



"All These Things I've Done" by Gabrielle Zevin is brilliant. Here is one quote that stood out to me (maybe because it's on the last page). "For one moment, I was a person without a last name and so was he. We did not have fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, grandparents, uncles, or cousins to remind of us what we owed or were owed..." I feel like it summarizes one of the main things Anya Balanchine had been searching for throughout the whole novel, and she finally found the pathway to reaching that. Anya Balanchine is a sixteen year old orphan in the year 2083. Her family is part of an illegal chocolate business. In the future, laws are made so quickly it's hard to keep track. Crime is very existent in the country. Chocolate and coffee are banned. Anya's father is in charge of the family business. Well, he was in charge. Until he was murdered. When Anya was still very young, her mother died in a car accident when someone shot her through the window. They had been going for her father but they missed. Her older brother, Leonyd, or Leo, the oldest child of the family, suffered an injury from the accident and has never been the same since. Even though he is eighteen now, he has the mind of an eight year old. Anya's sister, Natty, doesn't remember her parents much, because she was even younger than Anya at the time. Anya's grandmother lives with them now, but she is very old and must be on a life support machine at all times. This being said, Anya is basically in charge of their small family, and Imogen, the nurse who stays with their grandmother, helps out a bit. Others keep pressuring Anya to follow in her father's footsteps with the chocolate business. Anya is going through so many problems at home, and it doesn't help that she seems to always be getting in trouble at school and with the government. Her problems get worse and better when she meets a boy. She wants to enjoy her self and have a boyfriend. However, it doesn't help that she has a name like Balanchine and is associated with her unsafe, illegal, and criminal family. Anya just wants to enjoy her life, get through high school, pursue her future career, and have a boyfriend, like any teen girl might be going for. However, Anya goes from one awful event to the other. It's a fast paced novel and it's nice to see Anya improve her life and the lives of those around her as the story goes on. I would recommend it.

Now that I have the summary and such out of the way, I just want to say that I loved the characters in this book.

Imogen: She was helpful throughout everything.
Leo: He was just a really lovable character.
Natty: A fun, flirty girl who is positive most of the time, but shows her worries later on.
Scarlet: Such a kind, loyal friend.
Anya: A great, complex character.
Win: One of the best boyfriends in a book that I have read about (I would say it's up there with the husband of Eadlyn from the selection series - I didn't want to mention his name because it would spoil everything).
Gallina (the grandmother): Someone who wants to see the children have a good life but is wearing away mentally. Another kind of complex character.

There is so much packed into this novel and overall I just think it was great.