Thursday, January 29, 2015

REVIEW: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is a book that knocked me on my ass.  I wasn't expecting this story and, if I'm honest, I probably wasn't ready for it emotionally.  It's a book that I read awhile back and it's still with me.  I think it'll stay with me for some time to come.  It's such a beautiful, heart-breaking, and hopeful story about friendship and suicide and about life and death and about the stigma that surrounds mental health issues.

I read All the Bright Places in a single day.  I finished it late at night, cried myself to sleep afterwards and in the morning when I woke up, I was still thinking about it.  That's the type of story this book is.

All the Bright Places is a dual perspective story with two main characters, Theodore Finch and Violet Markey. It starts with both Finch and Violet who have come to the school's bell tower with the intention of jumping.  Violet is still grieving the death of her sister in a car accident within the past year and Finch is kind of a strange boy who is fascinated with death and is constantly thinking of ways to commit suicide but never goes through with it because he always finds a way to distract himself in the moment.

At the top of this bell tower, Finch manages to convince Violet not to jump.  And this is the start of their tenuous friendship.  Finch manages to partner with Violet on a geography project to discover the 'wonders' of their home-state.  Together, they find in each other what they most need - someone to whom they can be themselves and talk and find reasons to live each day and to be thankful for all the small wonders around them.

Man, I loved this book.  I really loved Theodore Finch.  I thought he was a brilliant character, someone very full of life and incredibly interesting.  It was quite sad to read of his family and of his background and it's easy to see why he's so consumed with death and committing suicide.  But he really comes to life around Violet and together they are utterly adorable.  I loved how their relationship transforms from reluctant project partners into friends and then into more.  And Violet's story is equally as interesting.  Her grief and guilt over her sister's death is palpable within these pages but her relationship amongst her family is entirely different from that of Finch's and you can see that once she asks for it, help and support are at hand.

I thought this book was really sad and beautiful at the same time.  It's a wonderful look at loss and grief, about life and death and depression and friendship and love.  But it also has a very sad but important message about the dangers that surround the stigma of mental illness.  Incredible book. One that I highly recommend.

8 comments:

  1. I read this book last week and I don't think I'm over it yet. It was so beautifully written. Finch was a brilliant character but his family circumstances were so sad.

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    1. I completely agree, very beautiful written and a book with a lot of impact! x

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  2. I finished this book on Monday and I'm still reeling. I fell in love with Finch, and this book broke my heart. So, so good! I'm recommending it to everyone! Makes it all the harder to deal with when you consider it's loosely based on a true story :'(

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    1. I know :( It broke my heart too. But same as you, I'm recommending it to EVERYONE.

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  3. I recently picked this one up. I can't wait to read it.

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  4. Sounds like a fantastic read.

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