Review | All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Book : All the Bright Places

Author : Jennifer Niven

Publishing Year : 2015

Page Count : 378

Format : Paperback

Genre : Young Adult

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Synopsis : The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.

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.

This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

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WARNING : This book may trigger thoughts regarding suicide, depression and abuse.

“You make me lovely, and it’s so lovely to be lovely to the one I love.…”

All the Bright Places is one such book that keeps getting mentioned in the book blogosphere and I’ve wanted to read it quite some time because I’ve never read a book that deals with the topic of suicide. I was also intrigued by the cover with all those Post-its. I finally picked up the book last Sunday and was seriously surprised by the story.The synopsis of this book mentions that the story is like The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park. Now, I’ve not read Eleanor and Park but I couldn’t find any similarity with TFIOS except the fact that both of the books are about teenagers who meet and fall in love. I’m mentioning this because I happen to know a few people who didn’t enjoy TFIOS much and that comparison shouldn’t stop anyone from reading this book. I’m finding this particular book a bit difficult to review because there are just so many things that I want to say but I don’t know where to begin. But I’m going to give it a try.

Violet didn’t only lose her sister, Eleanor, in the car accident. She lost herself too. She lost the will to live. She kept a count of days till graduation crossing off each day in the calendar. Theodore.. I don’t even know where to start. Death fascinated him. His head was jam packed with all these strange facts about death and suicide. In the beginning, I expected him to be sort of a “bad boy” character (I don’t know why) but how incredibly wrong was I! As the story progressed, Jennifer Niven made me delve more and more into his mind. Such a different character. I’m not going to write anything more about because if I do, I’ll probably end up spoiling the book for anyone who has not read it yet. So instead I’m going to discuss the writing.

The writing the writing the writing.  OH GOD. Jennifer Niven’s writing is pristine and beautiful and almost poetic. Her words shine with the light from a thousand stars. She made me smile and giggle and squeal out of joy. She also made me cry and cry and cry. I was hoping that maybe everything will be all right. Maybe. Just maybe. But no. She had to shatter all my hopes. There are just so many beautiful lines in this book. My favorite being – “You are all the colors in one, at full brightness.”

I feel like this is an important book because of the topic it deals with : suicide. Theo manages to successfully pinpoint – “Listen, I’m the freak. I’m the weirdo…. Oh, there he goes again, in one of his moods. Moody Finch. Angry Finch. Unpredictable Finch. Crazy Finch. But I’m not a compilation of symptoms. Not a casualty of shitty parents and an even shittier chemical makeup. Not a problem. Not a diagnosis. Not an illness. Not something to be rescued. I’m a person.”  I’ve never been fully able to understand the feeling of utter hopelessness that makes people think about suicide. This book gave me an insight. And for this reason, I think everyone should give this book a chance. It is so much more than just a story.

RATING : 5/5

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Have you read the book? What did you think of it? Do tell me in the comments. 🙂