All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

*Possible Spoilers*

All the Bright Place
by Jennifer Niven

Read: April 15-16
Published: January 6, 2015
Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the "natural wonders" of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It's only with Violet that Finch can be himself--a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who's not such a freak after all. And it's only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink. (Amazon)



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Why did you read this book?
          It's been on my To-Read list pretty much since it's been published, I just haven't gotten around to reading it. I was at the library with my sister last weekend and she took it off the shelf and said, "I kind of want to read this." Because she already had three books and I only had one, I took it from her, of course. "Me too," I said.

My Review:
          This review will not be like the others because I cannot simply write what I liked and what I didn't like because I liked and didn't like everything about this book. I honestly don't know how to go forward the the review because it has left me emotionally bereft, but also full of emotions. How am I supposed to write about that?
          I suppose I'll start with the characters. In the beginning of the book, I really felt like I related to Finch. He is someone that thinks about death frequently, but doesn't want to die. He is so kind-hearted and he truly cares about other people, but he can't help but fall into episodes where he doesn't feel anything. However, in the latter half of the book, I related more to Violet. She was learning how to live outside the emptiness of her grief. She was learning how to be happy again.
         Of course, I can't go much further into it without spoiling anything. This book made me cry ugly tears, not the ugly sobbing when I read The Fault in Our Stars for the first time, but worse because I saw myself in it.

If you like this...
          ...I would recommend Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira, 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, or Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin.

Bottom-Line:
          I don't know if I will ever read it again. It was just that emotionally traumatizing for me. However, I do strongly recommend it to everyone I know perhaps ages 16 and up. I'm sorry I didn't write more, but this, I think, is something that everyone just needs to experience for themselves.





"The great thing about this life of ours is that you can be someone different to everybody." -All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven