Review: All the Bright Places

The Details

Title: All the Bright Places

Author: Jennifer Niven

Genre: YA, Romance

Length: 378 pages (11 hours)

Release Date: January 6, 2015

Medium: Audio (Narration: Kirby Heyborne & Ariadne Meyers)

Rating: 3/5

Pace: Slow

Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone

“The thing I realize is that it’s not what you take, it’s what you leave.”

The Goodreads 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.

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.

The Review

Trigger Warning: Suicide and Mental Illness

I struggled with listening to this book. I have heard and read so many five start reviews that I was really looking forward to it. However, I was a bit frustrated while listening to this book. I felt like the characters were their illness and not actual people. This is one of the huge problems we have with mental illness… people see them as an illness (depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc.) instead of who they are. I was also frustrated that nobody appeared to be there to help the main characters with their mental illnesses. This book made me frustrated for those teens that are struggling with mental illness knowing they may read it. It basically shows that you can’t reach out to others because nobody will care or understand.

I did enjoy the romance between the two main characters, Finch and Violet, but I hated the way their relationship was hindered by their illnesses. Could their lives have been different if people didn’t judge and actually listened to their problems? I also enjoyed the traveling aspect of this book. The main characters are working on a school project and have to travel around their state and write a report about the places they visit. I loved listening to their fun adventures and their romantic relationship.

The Characters

There are two main characters that you follow during this book. Violet is one of the first you get to know as she lost her sister in an accident a year prior. She is struggling with depression and getting back into the swing of things at school. She is decently developed, but could have had more back story besides her life with her sister.

Finch is the second main character followed throughout the book. I was fascinated and frustrated with him as a character. I thought he was well through when thinking about him as a bipolar teenager having issues with his identity. However, I don’t feel like we got to know him as a person. This comes back to my original comment; he is only as well-known as his illness.

The Style

This is a dual perspective novel with each chapter following the other character. I am not really a fan of multiple perspectives, but this was not too confusing to follow. It was interesting having the dual perspective in the same chapter when they were talking to each other though. This may have been easier if I was reading the physical book rather than listening to the narration.

The Recommendation

I personally don’t recommend this book. It was mediocre and didn’t cover the topics as well as it should have. I have some issues with the way mental illness was discussed, even though it’s great that it is being written about, I feel like this book made it seem like once you are ill, you can’t ever get out of it. I hated that the characters were known for their illness and situations.