All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Pages: 378

Intended Audience: Mature teens

Genre: Real life / suicide

Notes for Parents: Contains mature content, risky behavior, smoking, drinking, and centers on a character contemplating suicide.

The Back Cover

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might die, but every day he also searches for—and manages to find—something to keep him here, and alive, and awake.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school—six stories above the ground—it’s unclear who saves whom. Soon it’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself. And it’s only with Finch that Violet forgets to count away the days and starts living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink…

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is being made into a major motion picture, set to be released sometime in 2018.

What’s good?

Suicide is a complex issue, but the author presents it in a straight-forward, easy-to-follow story about two teens going through tough times. Making it clear that mental illness is never a singular event, the characters experience a barrage of issues, like abuse, grief, bullying, and participation in risky behavior. Theirs is a multifaceted relationship, revealed in short chapters and small adventures that both heal and exacerbate life’s wounds. The end is both heart-breaking and hopeful.

Best Part: Quoting Russian poets

What isn’t good?

While it always felt the story was moving forward, nothing really happens until the end. Finch is obnoxious and difficult to like, despite the compassion he so desperately deserves. Violet’s tolerance of Finch’s strange behavior is incomprehensible, and it’s unclear how, or even if, he’s responsible for her transformation.

Worst part: Ultraviolent Remarkey-able.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

In the end, I’m not sure what I think. Was Finch romanticized? Was suicide glorified? Or is this a stark look at the reality of mental illness and its aftermath? This is not a ground-breaking novel – it’s been done before and probably a little better. However, there’s a uniqueness that I enjoyed as the two teens, brought together in a moment of despair, move together for a while before they diverge in two very different directions.

Niven, Jennifer. All the Bright Places. New York: Ember, 2015.