All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (2015)

The way that Violet and Finch met can definitely be considered unconventional. Although they’ve lived in the same town their whole lives, their first words spoken to each other on the ledge of the bell tower at their school, where they discover the might have more in common. From the synthetic eye, Finch is a loner with an obsession of death while Violet is mourning over her sister’s death, while trying to keep her popularity status. However, after talking each other down from their possible death, they are forever tied, partly because everyone believes that Violet took the role of a saint and talked Finch into his life. Literally ten minutes after the ledge saga, Finch choose Violet to be his partner for the rest of the year in social studies, with their project to travel across the state to discover Indianna’s hidden gems. The only problem: Violet refuses to get into a car after her sister’s fatal accident. Determined to not only get Violet into a car, but to also kiss her, Finch starts showing up at Violet’s house, forming a quirky relationship with both her and her parents. What Finch wasn’t planning was that Violet starts to really care for him, and starts to get increasingly worried about his mental state. At first, his switching personalities and rash decisions are accepted, but soon enough, Violet is faced with the question: What is really going on in Theodore Finch’s mind?

Just saying, I loved this book so much. Seriously, it’s probably one of my favorite books, ever. I’ll start off by talking about the characters. The story is told by both Violet and Finch’s perspective, which was crafted beautifully. While you think that may be hard to follow, they both had completely different voices. It also really helped to understand the full effect that they had on each other. I also liked that both of them reacted really truthfully to the situations that they faced- like an actual teenager, but it also allowed the characters to be separate from each other. Sometimes, their problems just didn’t and they just had to deal with them, which was totally normal. Also, in my opinion, the plot was excellent. It had a very well mix of adventure and everyday life. Which leads me to the written style. Without Jennifer Niven’s writing, I could definitely see the plot turning into something pretty boring because, let’s be honest, I don’t think Indianna really has that much to offer, adventure wise at least. Somehow, Niven successfully turned the backdrop of Indiana into a wild land that offered the greatest of events. Still, there’s something everyone who reads this book should now: it’s filled with heartbreak. I would love to tell you that in the end there is a happy ending, and everything works out great, but it doesn’t, and that is okay.

I really encourage everyone this, because, trust me, it’s a story you didn’t know you needed.

5 Stars