She is Anya Balanchine. She has a silly story to be told. In Gabrielle Zevin’s novel, All These Things I’ve Done, the reader is introduced to a potentially realistic dystopian society filled with unrealistic and aggravating characters. The theme, while well intended, was lost within the prolonged, uneventful plot.
In the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Anya Balanchine, a sixteen-year old girl who is the daughter of the late Leonyd and Christina Balanchine, a notorious criminal and criminologist, respectively. Because her older brother, Leo, has lingering mental issues from an accident, and her grandmother, Nana, is very ill, Anya is left to take care of her grandmother, brother, and younger sister, Natty. I understand that because she has been and is going through so much she should be allowed to have a certain rational and strict demeanor, but I just find her plain rude. There are many instances within the novel that this is clearly shown. She mentions many times how she is embarrassed when her older brother is around because he has mental problems. She is too busy with her own problems that she has failed to see that her sister, Natty, is extremely smart and talented. When Win, the ridiculous heartthrob I will dissect later, asks Anya to the Fall Formal in a very sweet way, all she says is, “No.” She didn’t even thank him for asking her, and then when he asked her if she said no because of him or the dance her reply was, “Does it matter?” This boy is totally swooning over her and she just gives him these snide remarks that could break a person’s heart. Later in the book, Anya accuses the nurse, Imogen, of killing Nana. This woman has been taking care of her grandma for a while now, and was kind enough to offer to lend a book, which was very valuable at this time, to Anya. Anya calls Imogen a failure, idiot, and murderer. Was Anya so blind to realize that Imogen was just as upset about Nana’s death as she was? I wanted to like Anya, but as the book went on I just kept getting angry with her. She would do anything to keep her family safe and keep them together, but when it comes to making herself happy, she wouldn’t have any of it. She loves Win, and he is very much in love with her too, but because his father told Anya not to date him, she breaks up with him. She comes across as a strong female character, so why isn’t she standing up to protect her and Win’s love? It was so aggravating to see her following orders from Win’s father, when she is supposed to be the fierce Anya Balanchine.
Win Delacroix is the love interest of the protagonist, Anya. He adds conflict to the book because even though the young couple may love each other, Win’s father, the new DA of New York, doesn’t want Anya, the daughter of a criminal, to date his son because it may ruin his image. Though I do enjoy having romance in a book, I cannot tolerate these star-crossed lovers because Win is too perfect. He is a completely unrealistic character. He is good-looking, he watches over her siblings, he still goes after her after she rudely declines his invitation to the Fall Formal, he agrees with Anya not to have sex until after they are married, he holds back Anya’s hair when she gets sick in the apartment, and he forgives Anya after she breaks up with him by lying that she cheated on him with Yuji. In my opinion, there isn’t a boy that perfect anywhere in the real world.
Leo is Anya’s older brother. He is a very confusing character. He was in a car accident when he was younger and now he still has some mental problems. I do not think Gabrielle Zevin did a good job with describing the extent of Leo’s mental disorder. At some points in the book, it seems that Leo only has a mild mental problem, but in other sections it seems that Leo has the mind of a nine-year old. Without knowing how badly Leo’s mental problems are it is hard to sympathize with Anya when she is afraid to have Leo work at the Pool or being out on his own. If Leo’s condition is only mild, and he still acts like an adult, I think Anya is completely wrong in treating him like a child, but if he does have the mental capacity of a child, then her actions are just.
Natty is Anya’s younger sister. She is a twelve-year old math genius. Natty has to be my favorite character because she is a more realistic and believable character. She is a bit of a romantic and admires Win more than her older sister. I know more about how she feels about her parents’ death than I do Anya’s feelings. She obviously is distraught by their deaths and suffers from nightmares.
These characters combine together in New York City, in the year, 2082, where water is portioned, and chocolate and coffee are banned. Anya’s extended family runs the illegal chocolate business located in the city. After her father’s death because of the business, she has withdrawn herself and her siblings, Leo and Natty, completely from the Balanchine Chocolate business. She can’t stay far from it though, because Leo is asked to work for the business and her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by a Balanchine chocolate bar given to him by Anya. She is arrested for attempted murder of her ex-boyfriend and is forced back into the world of the Balanchine Chocolate family to redeem her innocence. Away from the chocolate world, Anya falls in love with Win. Win’s father does not want Anya to date his son because he fears it will ruin his public image. She goes back and forth between dating him and feeling the need to attempt to break up with him. The chocolate world and Anya’s love life combine when Win is shot because he is mistaken for Leo, who had shot their uncle Yuri prior to this. Anya shoots the shooter, who is her cousin, Jacks. Anya clears things up with her family at the business after they discover that Jacks is the person who poisoned the chocolate and told Leo to shoot Uncle Yuri. To protect her siblings, Anya makes a deal with Win’s father, the DA. She will go to Liberty Children’s Facility for carrying a weapon only for the summer and her siblings will be safe, but she has to break up with Win. She does so by lying to him that she cheated on him. The book ends with Win visiting her in the facility and the two kissing.
The theme of All These Things I’ve Done is the importance of family. Anya does whatever she can to keep her siblings out of the family business and safe in general. She even sacrifices her relationship with Win to protect Leo and Natty. Anya takes the role of mother and father for her siblings because their parents have passed.
I do not suggest reading All These Things I’ve Done. The characters are confusing and irritating; Anya is rude, Win is too good to be true, and Leo is puzzling. None of the characters are relatable, and the dreadfully bland plot takes away from the useful theme.