Young-adult book review of All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
In Indiana, a school misfit wants to help a popular cheerleader get back to the life she once knew. But when she lets him get close to her, he must decide how much of his true self to reveal to her.
Goodreads Blurb
Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction (2015)
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.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
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.
My Thoughts After Reading
This YA book is about a misfit trying to help a girl with PTSD get her life back on track again.
Finch finds himself up in the school bell tower and another girl also standing the ledge on the other side. He talks her off the ledge. From that point, he takes her under his wing and helps her towards the road of recovery as a survivor of a car accident.
Finch is a compelling character. I could not fathom him, and this keeps me going page after page, trying to understand him, which shows what brilliant writing this is. He is an unreliable narrator, but one with a big heart, so how can we not love him? When all is revealed at the end, I have to applaud the author for doing such a great job, getting us under his skin. 5/5
Opening line: Is today a good day to die?
Afterwards I learnt this has been made into a movie. As I’ve only just finished the book, I’ve not watched it. I am a believer that there should be some time distance between finishing a book and watching the movie. Otherwise, I’d only be focussed on the difference between the book and the movie. What are your thoughts on this?
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Justine Laismith 