"All the bright places" by Jennifer Niven ~ Review

Rating: 5/5




Plot:
I'm not quite sure what it is that I could share about the plot so that I don't give away too much and ruin the charm of the story and the pleasure of getting to know the characters and their story not knowing much about them beforehand.I think I'm trying to do that a lot nowadays.
To put it as plainly as possible,it's honestly as simple as it promises,it's the story of a girl who learns how to live from a boy who wants to die.However simple and complicated at the same time this might sound,it doesn't even start to cover everything,yet perfectly describes it.
!warning: there's a lot of talk about suicide in the book,so if you find that triggering,please do try and avoid getting to it





Thoughts on the book:
It's hard to even figure out where to start talking about this book,this is how big of an impact it had on me,so I guess I'll just start at the beginning.
Once again,I've made the mistake (because this is how I have come to see it a long time ago) of having incredibly high expectations regarding this book.Because of this,despite being almost sure that I was going to enjoy the book simply because it sounded like something I would deeply enjoy,I was still incredibly worried because I know that most times expectations are so high,the thing that's being spoken about turns out less impressive after all.However,this was not the case.I was still amazed by how fantastic this book was on so many levels.
First of all,the writing style is wonderful.Jennifer Niven has such an insanely lovely way with words,she doesn't need the pretentious ones like my eternal favourite,Mr. John Green,yet she achieves the same level of emotional impact on the reader (or at least that's what happened in my case).She manages to give her characters such distinct voices that I never found myself wondering whether I was reading a Finch chapter or a Violet one,I simply knew which of them was the narrator that particular time and I admire her for doing that,since this whole dual perspective can go very wrong and in quite a few cases the voices of the characters sound the same.
Now,speaking of the characters ... I loved the two protagonists.They were so different,yet so similar (I seem to be using quite a few phrases where I put together opposite words and make it look like it's completely normal for them to work in the same context,sorry for that).I found myself relating to both of them from the very beginning,which,in a way,is pretty sad,all things considered,but also really great,as far as I'm concerned,since I always appreciate when a character is purely realistic and relatable.I find it a lot easier to like them if I can actually understand them,and,in this case,I did.Finch was dark and moody (which is simply explained by the whole bipolar disorder thing,but I choose to believe that he probably would've been a bit of that even without it),he was funny and witty and complex and lovely.Violet was nice and understandable and an idealist and lovely.Their romance,although maybe a little bit rushed if you think of it,was nicely developed and I like that,above all,they became best friends (which maybe made that ending just a hint more painful,as if it wasn't enough of that already).
I also loved the way the other characters were built,Jennifer Niven did a great job portraying the way high schoolers (and just people in general) really are,they hate on you and call you names,but if something actually happens to you,they ignore the way they treated you and ignored you and you suddenly become the one that got away.I think she just did a great job with everyone,the kids at school,the kids at the support group thing,the therapists,the parents,the siblings,they were all flawed in one way or another,yet amazingly shapted,they were real and complex and fantastic,as were the relationships established among all of them.
The story itself was amazing in just more than one way.It was everything from the very beginning.The fact that Finch,who's the one out of the two who's clearly a lot more into the whole death thing,is the one that holds on to life with all his strenght is the kind of ironic that a cynic like myself can truly appreciate (and I know from experience how that feels as well,holding on for dear life while being somewhat lured by death and what it represents).I also found it ironic and fascinating how he's the one trying to keep Violet from taking the same path he's on,that's even greater proof of how hard Finch's trying to fight the effect that the depressive episodes caused by his bipolarity has on him.I love the way their relationship develops and the way they themselves develop as characters.I love the teenage drama aspect of it because,at the end of the day,it is insanely relatable,and I love the roadtrip/adventurous aspect of it and I love everything about it.
The way Theo's story ends broke me.For a short moment there,while I needed to close the book and take a deep breath and let everything sink in,simply because I,like Violet,held on to a last hope and refused to believe what had happened for a moment,despite knowing it was true.For a short moment,about as long as the blink of an eye,I questioned the decent number of pages that was left of the book,thinking "how can the story go on without him?",but that only made the story more real.Because the story does go on without him.Because life doesn't stop for anyone even when you feel like it should or did.
So it was right to keep the story going,to give Violet some sort of closure.Perhaps my favourite moment in that last part of the book,even better than the roadtrips and wanderings,was the part where Violet and Theo's therapist talk about him,both lost and full of guilt and resentful.For some reason,that one strck me the most.
The whole book is sad and tragic and beautiful and lovely and beautiful.Tragically beautiful and beautifully tragic.
There aren't enough words to describe how much I loved it.
It's these stories that,more than anything,give me hope and show me how important it is to stay.Because not all stories end when yours does.Because the survivors are just that.Because life is like The Hunger Games and there are no real winners.
But it's worth waiting to be Awake again.And there is hope.