All The Bright Places | Book Review

Hello!

It’s been such a long time since I last posted about a book that I’ve read. I think it’s been about a year. But from that time, I’ve only finished three books and bought a lot more to add to my growing pile of books to read. Since I’ve currently started trying to read more consistently again, I thought why not go back to writing about my thoughts or reviews of the books that I read. I’m not sure if I’ll write about the other two books that I’ve finished already but I’ve decided to write about the most recent book that I’ve finished.

So the most recent book that I’ve finished is “All The Bright Places” by Jennifer Niven. I think I’ve had this book for a few years. I don’t remember exactly when I bought it but I do remember that it was kind of an impulse purchase because I was in a bookstore buying stationery items but I felt the urge to buy a book as well so when I saw the cover, I was drawn to it. It doesn’t feel nice to say out loud or write about but I kind of judge books by their covers. I get drawn to books with pretty or interesting-looking covers.

Anyways… Just a short warning. I will be including some spoilers in this post.

So going back to “All The Bright Places” by Jennifer Niven…

At first, the story wasn’t very interesting for me because I was looking for when and how these two seemingly different characters lives will get entangled. Although, in retrospect, I do appreciate the building up of the characters’ separate stories because I knew who they were as individuals and how their meeting changed their lives. Fortunately, this build up made me want to keep going. It was interesting to see how Finch and Violet were so similar to each other yet so different. They both had something in their past that contributed a lot to how they viewed their present and future. But their personalities and circumstance were so different with each other which seemed to affect the way they went on with life. Violet, before the accident that took her sister’s life, seemed to be a part of the popular kids’ crowd while Finch was more of an outsider. Since it seemed like Finch had gotten used to his depression, he was aware of his feelings and he was living to the fullest on the days when he felt good. And since Violet seemed like someone who had things going right for her then suddenly experiencing a tragedy, she seemed guilty for surviving and wanted to escape their small town to escape the grief and feelings of loss.

Their difference in perspective was evident in the chapters where they were narrating. I thought that that was a really nice strategy in showing the difference between these individuals instead of just writing about it through an omniscient narrator. Their chapters showed what was going on inside their minds in relation to how they acted with the people around them and the situation that they were in.

I also liked how their romance bloomed from an unlikely friendship. It wasn’t very sudden and they even met at a low point in both of their lives. So to me, it was a nice and slow build up to a point that I was really rooting for them to fall in love. I think that that’s what made the ending so heartbreaking because I was so invested in them and how they were helping each other and giving each other some form of reason to live and some form of hope for a better future when they got out of their little town that it makes Finch’s death so unexpected. Even if I knew at the back of my mind that it might happen because of how the story was progressing. I hoped for the opposite and for them to sort of live happily ever after.

Overall, I loved the story. I felt like it was able to portray the reality of suicide and depression really well and in a tasteful manner. But if you’re someone who might not be comfortable with the idea of suicide and suicidal ideation, this might not be a book for you since Finch is a character who often thought about ways that he could go and often noting facts he knew about it. 

Another thing that I liked about the book was how at the end, in the author’s note portion, Jennifer Niven included her experience as a survivor of suicide after losing loved ones because of it. She also included a list of organizations who could help along with their websites and some contact details for suicide prevention, diagnosing mental illness in teens, survivors of suicide, bullying, and abuse.

So that’s all for now. Sorry for the rusty writing. I haven’t written in so long and I have not been practicing my writing. Hopefully I can write again soon and share with you more of the things that I’ve been into and what I’ve been doing.