All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

What is it about?

Two troubled teenagers meet, fall in love and try to save each other from despair. 

OK, but what is it really about?

The book begins with Violet Markey and Theodore Finch meeting each other on top of the school’s bell tower, contemplating suicide. Violet still tries to deal with her sister’s death, while Finch feels that he’s broken and nobody is able to fix him. Instead of taking their own lives, they talk each other off the ledge. As they begin to spend more time together (initially through a school project, for which they team up to find the wonders of Indiana), Violet and Finch grow closer and experience the sweet turmoil of first love while still battling their demons.

Is it any good?

I already read this book a while ago and decided to pick it up again because I learned that it has been adapted for Netflix, scheduled for release later this month. The first time, I still recall, the story of Violet and Finch was almost too much to bear for me; it had been a while since I last cried over a book but “All the bright places” left me in tears. A warning to all repeat readers: it won’t be any different the second time around. The book is as heartbreaking as I remember, and even though you know what’s coming, it won’t diminish the deep impact of Violet and Finch’s story: two lost souls find each other and make a connection, desperately trying to save each other, to come out on the other side unscathed, to be better and to go trough all the trials and tribulations this life has to offer, together.

Favorite character?

Well, there really are only two options, Violet or Finch, but I don’t want to settle on one or the other because this is their story, and they are inextricably linked; Jennifer Niven lets them tell this story in their own voice, and we see their world through both Violet’s and Finch’s eyes: two young adults, one heavily consumed by guilt, the other obsessed with death, but both willing to move forward for the sake of the other. Yet, the author never forgets to let her protagonists act their own age and perfectly describes the awkwardness of adolescence.

 Most memorable quote?

“You have been in every way all that anyone could be.… If anybody could have saved me it would have been you.” (Actually, this is a double quote – when Finch says this sentence, he quotes Virginia Woolf.)

Conclusion?

“All the bright places” is a book that will break your heart again and again. You will find yourself rooting for this couple in the most urgent and perhaps even naive way, only to arrive at the earth-shattering realization that sometimes, love doesn’t conquer everything because life is so damn fragile. Yet despite the overwhelming sadness, Jennifer Niven still finds a way to convey a message of hope, kindness and empathy. The story of Violet and Finch will stay with you. I promise.

AT A GLANCE

Title: All the bright places

Author: Jennifer Niven

Published by: Penguin Books Ltd (2015)

Pages: 432

Language: English