All The Bright Places Review

All The Bright Places

Author: Jennifer Niven 

Average Rating: 4.22/5.0

Personal Rating: 5.0/5.0

Page Count: 388

Finished Reading: March

Published: 6th January 2015

According to Goodreads:

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.

My Opinion:

First things first, shout out to my good friend. Thank you for putting this book back on the shelf leading me to pick it up myself and reading it. 

I haven't even given myself proper time to process the fact that I have reached the end of Theodore and Violet's journey. All the Bright Places had my attention from page one to the last sentence. The character development and the progression of the plot made me feel like I was right there with Theodore and Violent as they went on their wanderings. I mean, how cool would it be to have a project that made you travel your state to see the quirky things that are unique to your state? I would gladly take that project over a paper any day. 

I couldn't help, but fall in love with Theodore. I got an Augustus Waters vibe from him, but I was drawn more to him than Augustus. Theodore had me laughing and smirking for the majority of the novel. He had a way of looking at things like they were the most beautiful object, scene, person that ever existed, while most people would have found them ugly. He had charm, humor, intelligence, and looks. However, he also had a darkness inside of him that he didn't like sharing. We do see him open up about his darkness a little bit as his relationship with Violet strengthens. 

Violet is still grieving over the tragic death of her older sister, Eleanor. She keeps questioning and blaming herself for the night of the accident. Her one passion was writing, but ever since her sister's death the words have stopped coming to her. She is counting down the days till graduation, and just moving through the motions. As her friendship becomes stronger with Theodore, her world seems to become brighter and fresh again. The words slowly come back to her, and she starts taking control of her life a bit more. Theodore helps her open her eyes, and leave the darkness behind. 

The climax crushed me. One minute I was laughing, and the next I was basically in tears. You all know I'm not a crier when it comes to situations in books. I may choke up, but that's the extent. There were actual tears in my eyes. I feel that Niven has done a wonderful job, especially for her first YA novel, writing about the issue of suicide, bipolar disorder, and the labels that come along with them. All the Bright Places is an extremely powerful novel that I recommend to all teens and adults. A movie adaptation will be starring Elle Fanning.