Monday, January 5, 2015

Book Review: All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven

Teenage angst, attempted suicide, and the feeling of impending doom. That's my impression of All the Bright Places.

Violet is suffering because she lost her older sister (and best friend) less than a year ago in a car accident. She blames herself. Finch has spent much of his life contemplating suicide. At times, he goes to "sleep," basically hiding from the world for weeks at a time. When he's not having one of these episodes, he's thinking about taking his own life.

When Finch saves Violet from falling (or jumping) off the bell tower at their school, everyone thinks Violet saves Finch. But it's the start of an interesting relationship.

I loved how the relationship slowly built. There isn't any "insta-love" here. The book is wonderfully lyrical, and easy to read. Each of these characters come to life, and you can't help but root for their eventual happiness. However, throughout the whole book, I kept feeling like things were NOT going to end happily. As much as I wished for it. And I was correct. Blaaahhhh.

I get the comparison to Eleanor and Park. The romance is really sweet and genuine. I'm not so sure about The Fault in Our Stars. I didn't get that vibe from All the Bright Places.

Kids with problems, digging holes and trying to help each other out of those holes. It's an interesting, if familiar, premise. It was well done, but I guess I'm just tired of it.

I've read mostly rave reviews of All the Bright Places, so you should look some of those up. If this is your type of book, then it's very well done and I would recommend it.

Published by Knopf BFYR, January 6, 2015
eARC obtained from NetGalley
400 pages

Rating: 3/5





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1 comment:

  1. I can completely understand the "tired of it" feeling. I think these books do better for actaul teens. I think with me, as an adult, I get it but i don't becuase I am over stuff that's expressed in these books. I am excited for this one though and I am glad to hear its well done. great review.

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