In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime...
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reviews
Oct 17, 2011
Tatiana
rated it: 
2.5 stars
Mixed feelings about this book.
At first, I was enamored with All These Things I've Done. Mainly because of its originality. Even though the novel is pushed as another dystopia, it is more of a mafia crime drama, at least in the beginning. The setting is futuristic - 2083, but hardly dystopic. The end of the century US is overrun by lawlessness, corruption and rationing, however there is nothing particularly oppressive about it. In fact, it actually reminded me o More...
Mixed feelings about this book.
At first, I was enamored with All These Things I've Done. Mainly because of its originality. Even though the novel is pushed as another dystopia, it is more of a mafia crime drama, at least in the beginning. The setting is futuristic - 2083, but hardly dystopic. The end of the century US is overrun by lawlessness, corruption and rationing, however there is nothing particularly oppressive about it. In fact, it actually reminded me o More...
21 comments
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(31 people liked it)
Feb 20, 2012
Amelia, the pragmatic idealist
rated it:
The status comments I made for this book do a lot to explain my descending feelings. I'm just flat bummed that Zevin took things in the direction she did, because I started out absolutely LOVING this story.
To be honest, the only reason I was initially engaged in the book is because I liked Anya and her family. The worldbuilding is practically nonexistent, and for any book that touts itself as a dystopian, that's not good. Chocolate and caffeine have been outlawed, and there's little More...
To be honest, the only reason I was initially engaged in the book is because I liked Anya and her family. The worldbuilding is practically nonexistent, and for any book that touts itself as a dystopian, that's not good. Chocolate and caffeine have been outlawed, and there's little More...
16 comments
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(18 people liked it)
Sep 15, 2011
Gabrielle
rated it: 
In the interest of full disclosure, I am acquainted with the author.
10 comments
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(27 people liked it)
Aug 20, 2011
Nic
rated it: 
All These Things I've Done was surprisingly good. I was completely captivated by this intriguing and tension filled story.
I have been reading quite a bit of dystopia lately and I loved that this novel did not focus on matching people or the government trying to control everybody. In the year 2083 they are plenty of problems and changes but overall it feels more like a realistic future. Chocolate is illegal (EEK! no chocolate would make me crazy) together with a million other thin More...
I have been reading quite a bit of dystopia lately and I loved that this novel did not focus on matching people or the government trying to control everybody. In the year 2083 they are plenty of problems and changes but overall it feels more like a realistic future. Chocolate is illegal (EEK! no chocolate would make me crazy) together with a million other thin More...
21 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Oct 20, 2011
Ash
rated it:
The first few pages of this I absolutely could not take seriously. Honestly, you try and keep a straight face when someone is talking about drinking espresso like it’s taking a shot of meth. It passes fairly quickly though and I found a character that I could really like.
Quick Overview: Anya Balanchine is known mainly as the daughter of the most notorious and dead chocolate crime boss. All Anya wants though is to stay under the radar and keep her and her family safe. But with trying More...
Quick Overview: Anya Balanchine is known mainly as the daughter of the most notorious and dead chocolate crime boss. All Anya wants though is to stay under the radar and keep her and her family safe. But with trying More...
Oct 18, 2011
Krystle
rated it:
I was pretty excited when I got this book. A future society where chocolate is banned and mafia included? Omg! Sounds so exciting. Especially since I'm such a chocolate whore. Haha.
Despite the ridiculousness of the premise I totally devoured up the whole caffeine and chocolate being outlawed because it just sounds cool. I don't know what I'd do if they were banned. I think I'd go crazy because I'm Asian! How can you go without tea? TEA?! But I'm just curious... Why would you ban choc More...
Despite the ridiculousness of the premise I totally devoured up the whole caffeine and chocolate being outlawed because it just sounds cool. I don't know what I'd do if they were banned. I think I'd go crazy because I'm Asian! How can you go without tea? TEA?! But I'm just curious... Why would you ban choc More...
3 comments
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(8 people liked it)
Feb 13, 2012
Lenore
rated it:
LOVE this! Even though the narrative is first person, the way the story is told, it’s almost like a much older Anya is reminiscing about her misspent youth to her own grandchildren in a distant future. I liked Anya immediately and basically hung on her every word.
0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
May 30, 2011
Emily
rated it:
Wow. This book was nothing like what I was expecting. And I mean that in a good way!
I loved how All These Things I’ve Done was set in the near future, so the world hadn’t progressed drastically. I liked being able to recognize things from today. For example, when Anya goes to Liberty Island (which wasn’t a tourist spot anymore), she talks about a statue of feet wearing sandals which I recognized to be the remains of the Statue of Liberty. But things still had changed. Water is ration More...
I loved how All These Things I’ve Done was set in the near future, so the world hadn’t progressed drastically. I liked being able to recognize things from today. For example, when Anya goes to Liberty Island (which wasn’t a tourist spot anymore), she talks about a statue of feet wearing sandals which I recognized to be the remains of the Statue of Liberty. But things still had changed. Water is ration More...
0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Oct 02, 2011
Mundie Moms & Mundie Kids
rated it:
3.5 stars
This is a fun, exciting and at times thrilling read that felt like a cross between a dystopian and a contemporary book. There's a lot of things that Gabrielle intertwines into her story that captured my attention, and kept invested in the over all story even when some things didn't quite come together for me. It's unique and refreshingly different from the normal YA books that have been released lately. I think YA fans will really enjoy it because of that.
Anya is a More...
This is a fun, exciting and at times thrilling read that felt like a cross between a dystopian and a contemporary book. There's a lot of things that Gabrielle intertwines into her story that captured my attention, and kept invested in the over all story even when some things didn't quite come together for me. It's unique and refreshingly different from the normal YA books that have been released lately. I think YA fans will really enjoy it because of that.
Anya is a More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 03, 2011
Lauren
rated it:
A couple of months ago a small package arrived on my doorstep. To my amazement, it included not only a copy of the high anticipated All These Things I’ve Done, the newest book by the lovely Gabrielle Zevin, but also some chocolate covered espresso beans. The espresso beans ended up being delicious but the book was even better! Enchanting and engaging, All These Things I’ve Done has to be one of the best books I’ve read so far this year, and given the fact that it’s the first in series, I also th
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13 comments
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(3 people liked it)
Aug 06, 2011
Newengland
rated it:
To make myself feel like an equal-opportunity teacher, I like to force myself to read some "YA chick books" so I can pitch them to reluctant reader girls the way I do so many sports, war, and horror books to reluctant reading boys (and girls, as girls seem less bothered by a book's gender target audience). But mea culpa, I'm here to confess I am a fraud. I cannot bring myself to read a single sentence of the Twilight series. Ditto anything by the much beloved Sarah Dessen (#1 with 8
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0 comments
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(9 people liked it)
Oct 08, 2011
Paige
rated it:
Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.
So there's this book here, All These Things I've Done. In it, chocolate is illegal, water is heavily rationed, you can hardly find paper anymore, and new clothes haven't been made in decades. The world has gone to hell in a handbasket, pretty much. Our main character is a mafiya princess whose father ran it before he was murdered. With both of her parents dead, she takes care of her brother, sister, and dying grandmother. The new DA's son has a More...
So there's this book here, All These Things I've Done. In it, chocolate is illegal, water is heavily rationed, you can hardly find paper anymore, and new clothes haven't been made in decades. The world has gone to hell in a handbasket, pretty much. Our main character is a mafiya princess whose father ran it before he was murdered. With both of her parents dead, she takes care of her brother, sister, and dying grandmother. The new DA's son has a More...
0 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Aug 09, 2011
Crystal
rated it:
Let me first say that the first half of this book deserves 3 stars. I really enjoyed the setting even though I still don't quite understand why the world is the way it is. Annie, Scarlet, Natty, Leo, and Win were all great characters in the beginning. I felt like the story moved along pretty well and that things were really going to get good with Annie's mafia family background. Unfortunately the second half of the book did not deliver at least for me anyway. I got tired of waiting for the
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36 comments
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(11 people liked it)
Nov 25, 2011
Colleen
rated it: 
This wasn't much of anything. It wasn't a love story, it wasn't a dystopic future, it wasn't an exciting action crime drama, it certainly wasn't science fiction as it is cataloged at the library. This story fell short of being defined in any genre just as it fell short in being interesting or appealing in any way.
The love interest, Win, was boring and annoying (he wore lots of hats and called his girlfriend "lass") and the main character Anya and her family was unsympathetic More...
The love interest, Win, was boring and annoying (he wore lots of hats and called his girlfriend "lass") and the main character Anya and her family was unsympathetic More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Oct 05, 2011
❀Faye(RTeenBKworm)❀
rated it:
I read the last page, closed the book, smiled and kind of hugged/patted it lol Have you ever gotten that feeling? All These Things I’ve Done was the ultimate comfort and deliciously good read.
I fall in love with Zevin’s writing. Her characters are PHENOMENAL! Anya Balanchine, she is such an honest. I was with her every step of the way. And even through I didn’t get I chance to meet her father, he seemed like a wise man(even though he was a notorious crime boss.)Who shaped Anna to be More...
I fall in love with Zevin’s writing. Her characters are PHENOMENAL! Anya Balanchine, she is such an honest. I was with her every step of the way. And even through I didn’t get I chance to meet her father, he seemed like a wise man(even though he was a notorious crime boss.)Who shaped Anna to be More...
0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Sep 12, 2011
Flannery
rated it:
This book was a total air ball for me. The premise sounded so fun— a futuristic society with a Prohibition-era-type ban on chocolate,a black market run by mobster families, and a teenage heir to the family empire. MURDERS! POISONING! Boredom? Boredom. Oh, and tepid romance and a selfish MC. Imagine all the places this book could’ve gone. Yeah, that’s right, I’m thinking total badass teenage girl threatening her way across NYC and putting her dysfunctional family business back in order. (I mean,
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17 comments
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(37 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2012
Kathy
rated it:
I just had to read a book in which two of my favorite substances are illegal, coffee and chocolate. As I had to read it pretty much straight through, I'm tapping it as a thoroughly engaging read. Anya, a 16-year-old, is the daughter of a dead mafia boss (head of the Balanchine chocolate family) and mother who was killed mistakenly in her husband's car. Anya is responsible for holding her small family that's left together, while trying to have a life as a teenager, a teenager who becomes invol
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0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 18, 2012
Emma
rated it:
Anya Balanchine lives in a world where chocolate is illegal, water is scarce and New York City is a ghost of what it once was. Anya's life has been touched by tragedy, if not hardship, as the daughter of an infamous (and dead) crime boss. With her parents gone, it falls to Anya to take care of her siblings and protect them from the family business.
But when the family business is illegal chocolate, it's hard to stay on the sidelines--especially when the new boy at school that you migh More...
But when the family business is illegal chocolate, it's hard to stay on the sidelines--especially when the new boy at school that you migh More...
2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Aug 26, 2011
Michelle novelsontherun
rated it:
RATING: 4.5 WIN STARS!!!!!
This book I REALLY enjoyed. I love paranormal, but, absolutely no paranormal to be seen on these New York streets. This book is a mafiya dystopian in the year 2082 where chocolate and coffee are illegal. The Balanchine family are one of the big 5 chocolate families. How original!
What I liked was by the end of chapter 1, you had a good idea of the type of person Anya was, strong, determined, intelligent, protective and we are introduced to the im More...
This book I REALLY enjoyed. I love paranormal, but, absolutely no paranormal to be seen on these New York streets. This book is a mafiya dystopian in the year 2082 where chocolate and coffee are illegal. The Balanchine family are one of the big 5 chocolate families. How original!
What I liked was by the end of chapter 1, you had a good idea of the type of person Anya was, strong, determined, intelligent, protective and we are introduced to the im More...
3 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jul 01, 2011
Cathy
rated it: 
A different futuristic novel with an ageless love story. Star-crossed lovers Anya and Win navigate the waters of forbidden love as Win's ambitious father forbids their relationship because of its adverse effect on his career. Anya's family, a mafia crime family involved in the illegal manufacturing of chocolate, are skeptical of the relationship for obvious reasons. Add to this the complexities of a broken family and the challenges of high school. The desire to do what is right for everyone but
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0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Nov 21, 2011
Amy
rated it:
The story of Anya is pretty straightforward. Her father was in the mafiya, but now he’s dead. She’s trying to get through school, keep her siblings safe, and take care of her dying Grandma. Also she has a good supply of chocolate, which is essentially illegal. Oh, and her relatives keep shouting the word “birthright” at her. When her ex-boyfriend gets poisoned from her family’s chocolate, she finds herself on an ugly stage. Suddenly she has to deal with more issues than usual.
I’ll be More...
I’ll be More...
Feb 01, 2012
nonsensebooks
rated it:
like the large majority of YA at the moment, this story is predominately a love story.
we can forgive it for that though, because mixed in with all the urst (no matter what MS Word tells me, urst IS a word: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph...) and predictability is actually a rather good story about a girl who is mixed up in the family business and is just trying to do the right thing.
Zevin has built a rather clever world to set her story in. it’s a dystopia (you k More...
we can forgive it for that though, because mixed in with all the urst (no matter what MS Word tells me, urst IS a word: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.ph...) and predictability is actually a rather good story about a girl who is mixed up in the family business and is just trying to do the right thing.
Zevin has built a rather clever world to set her story in. it’s a dystopia (you k More...
Jan 11, 2012
Devyani
rated it:
Sixteen year-old Anya becomes the head of a mafia family after her parents are both murdered by rival gangs. Although Anya is embrolied in the criminal world, she is determined to keep her brother and sister out of the mafia family, but her father's relatives aren't so keen to let them go. When Anya's violent ex-boyfriend is poisoned with contaminated chocolate – chocolate that is produced illegally by Anya's mafia family – she is arrested for attempted murder and sent to the notorious jail on M
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Jan 09, 2012
Emily
rated it:
I had my ups and downs with this one. On the up side, I really liked the characters and Anya's voice. I liked it that she acted in ways that were unique to her character, the daughter of a murdered mob boss, but that she was still, in many ways, a normal teenage girl. The strength of her character and the enjoyability of the narrative made me want to overlook some of the problems I had with the setting of this book, but I couldn't do that entirely.
It bothered me that there wasn't a m More...
It bothered me that there wasn't a m More...
Jan 07, 2012
Dark Readers
rated it:
Ill start off by saying what an immense ride I've just been on while reading this book. Modern day Romeo and Juliet. A notorious crime family that don't export drugs...no in actual fact... chocolate, an illegal substance in the US. A Police officer who follows the rules and both families brought together because of two people falling in love.
The Concept of chocolate and caffeine being illegal is unthinkable but Gabrielle makes it work. The choice of words the char More...
The Concept of chocolate and caffeine being illegal is unthinkable but Gabrielle makes it work. The choice of words the char More...
Jan 06, 2012
Caitlyn
rated it:
Honestly, I wasn't sure how I was going to enjoy this book... I picked this book up at B&N and I read the jacket... I thought the plot might be interesting, but probably not executed as well as I hoped... The reason I bought this book was because I had read Elsewhere and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and I loved both of them... I started reading this book about two days ago and I simply could not put it down... Now, I am not one for sappy romances and I figured, "Ok, so teenage daughter of
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Jan 06, 2012
Misty
rated it:
Ok…if I’m being honest, the first thing that drew me to this novel was it’s “Dystopian-esq” synopsis.
“In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty.”
Interesting right? I thought so too. BUT…don’t let the synopsis fool you. Even though I found the book entertaining, it is less of a dystopian and more of a prohibition type read. Why? Well for starters there’s a heavy mob footing in More...
“In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty.”
Interesting right? I thought so too. BUT…don’t let the synopsis fool you. Even though I found the book entertaining, it is less of a dystopian and more of a prohibition type read. Why? Well for starters there’s a heavy mob footing in More...
Jan 03, 2012
Christin
rated it:
Really 3.5 stars
A world where caffeine and chocolate are illegal? The horror! I knew I had to read this book from that premise alone. In All These Things I've Done, the Romeo and Juliet story meets a futuristic, dystopian world filled with organized crime, creating a tale that is new and engaging.
For years, Anya Balanchine has been responsible for keeping her small family together. The daughter of an organized crime boss, she has struggled to stay out of her family's politics More...
A world where caffeine and chocolate are illegal? The horror! I knew I had to read this book from that premise alone. In All These Things I've Done, the Romeo and Juliet story meets a futuristic, dystopian world filled with organized crime, creating a tale that is new and engaging.
For years, Anya Balanchine has been responsible for keeping her small family together. The daughter of an organized crime boss, she has struggled to stay out of her family's politics More...
Dec 28, 2011
Whitney
rated it:
I'm a big fan of this author because of the original ideas and truly great writing. This book was fun because of the whole mafia thing, although a little more of it in the story wouldn't have hurt. I also liked the prohibition era feel of this book, and even though it was a dystopian novel it was unique in that the main focus wasn't a love story and people trying to escape an evil government that dictates every aspect of their lives. There was much more of a familiar reality to it. I also liked
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Dec 27, 2011
Cara
rated it:
From Goodreads:
"In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. T More...
"In 2083, chocolate and coffee are illegal, paper is hard to find, water is carefully rationed, and New York City is rife with crime and poverty. And yet, for Anya Balanchine, the sixteen-year-old daughter of the city's most notorious (and dead) crime boss, life is fairly routine. It consists of going to school, taking care of her siblings and her dying grandmother, trying to avoid falling in love with the new assistant D.A.'s son, and avoiding her loser ex-boyfriend. T More...
