BOOK REVIEW: All The Bright Places

This is a book review for All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Theodore Fimch is obsessed with death and is constantly looking for ways to 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 grief over her sister's 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.

It took me a bit to get into this book. I am not sure why, maybe it took a while to fully connect to the characters. Maybe it's also because people kept saying it was a cross between Eleanor & Park and The Fault In Our Stars. I really loved Eleanor and Park so it's a hard sell to compare it to that. But once I connected to these characters, I really connected. This is a story of Finch and Violet. Finch is obsessed with death while Violet is recovering from a car accident where she survived. but her sister didn't. At first, I didn't care for Finch because he kept pushing Violet to do things that she wasn't ready to do, like ride in a car or deal with her sister's death. Then I realized just why Finch was the way he was and I also realized that Violet needed these pushes. Everyone else in her life was letting her just skate by and not deal with anything. I won't give any spoilers, but I figured out why Finch was the way he was and it wasn't hard to deduce what the ending would be. This did not take away from the story though. I could tell by the chapter headings that they were helping each other. At first, Violet was counting down the days until graduation. So the title of every chapter was the number of days until "freedom." Somewhere through the middle of the book though, she stopped counting. She wasn't waiting to escape her town and the memories of her sister's death. She was living and enjoying the present and her relationship with Finch. This is such a moving and heartbreaking story about depression and mental illness. I started this book yesterday (Saturday) and wasn't expecting to feel a sense of urgency to finish it. But then I started reading a bit before going to bed at 10pm (as I usually do). Cut to me at midnight, still awake because I can't possibly go to sleep until I finish Violet and Finch's story. I ended the night sobbing in bed. This was such a powerful story and completely worth all the hype.

I give this book a 4/5.