"A do not miss for fans of Eleanor and Park and The Fault in Our Stars, and basically anyone who can breathe."--Justine Magazine
A New York Times bestseller
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 Gayle Forman, Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.
“At the heart—a big one—of “All the Bright Places” lies a charming love story about this unlikely and endearing pair of broken teenagers.”
— New York Times Book Review
“…this heartbreaking love story about two funny, fragile, and wildly damaged high school kids named Violet and Finch is worth reading. Niven is a skillful storyteller who never patronizes her characters—or her audience.”
— Entertainment Weekly
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
56 of 57 people found the following review helpful.
Devastatingly beautiful
By Evie Seo
I've been sitting on this review for a couple of days after finishing the book, chewing the story over and over, trying to digest everything that happened, trying to get over all the heartbreak and emotional pain this book has caused me. I am still working on all that. I honestly don't know how to review this book. It was both exhilarating and sad, inspiring and depressing, hopeful and dark. I got so close to the characters - to Theo in particular - they felt more like friends than just fictional creations. They made me laugh, swoon and then ugly cry (the ugliest cry since The Fault in Our Stars). This book - this story - really hit me hard and I am still trying to get my s*** together. This is a story of a girl saved by the boy who couldn't be saved himself. It's such a beautiful tale. Incredibly honest, gritty, moving and profoundly affecting. Possibly life changing. Probably even life saving. I want to tell you about the plot. About Theo and Violet. About how they met, how their lives began to intertwine with each other, wrapping themselves around one another and creating the most breathtaking symbiosis of all times. I want to tell you about their feelings - for each other, for their families, for the rest of the world. Their fears and struggles and dreams. Their wandering project, all the places they've visited, all the things they left behind, all the post it notes and their meaning. I do want to tell you about it all, but at the same time I don't. I just can't. You need to experience all that by yourself. This book demands it. There's simply no other way. To me, this book is perfect. The more I think about it - and I do think about it a lot - the more I understand. The more I understand, the more I appreciate it. Its gentle beauty, its insightfulness and sensitivity in handling such incredibly difficult subjects, its message - everything about it is perfect. The writing style (so lyrical, so transcendental, so compelling), the literary references, the complexity and all the underlying themes and messages... You don't always see all these things right away, you don't always catch what passes between the lines, but later on, when you go back and think about certain events, the meaning of certain thoughts and conversations, it really hits you hard and renders you speechless. It knocks the air out of you, quite literally. I'm not gonna lie to you, this book sneaked up on me. I wasn't prepared for how much this story would affect me, the pain I felt while reading the final chapters was almost physical. It weighed down on me, making it harder to breathe. I realized where this story was going and I didn't want to get there. It was excruciating. But also oddly beautiful. What more can I tell you? Read it. You really should.
22 of 26 people found the following review helpful.Burn Brightly!
By OutlawPoet
Violet is the popular girl. Finch is the school freak. Two people who would never so much as look at each other. Until the day they both end up on the same tower, contemplating suicide. And what starts as an ending turns out to be a beginning, but can the darkness be held at bay?*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*I've just finished All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. My eyes are red. There's crumpled up tissue in the trash can. I used it to wipe my eyes. I'm even sniffling as I type.All the Bright Places reduced me to tears.It's a bit challenging to write this review for a couple of reasons. First, I don't want to spoil it for you. Second, because I'm still feeling very emotional about it. I am not a weepy person. I read horror and butt-kicking action novels. Books where things go boom. I don't cry at books!This is a smart, edgy, contemporary YA novel. It's got so much sweetness and sadness that it hurts to read it at times. About halfway through the novel, I took a break and read something else. I knew that there was simply no way that the book didn't contain some sort of heartbreak. And boy did it. Heartbreak upon heartbreak mixed with love and hope.The story is simply beautiful. And oh, I don't want my daughter to grow up to be one of these teens. And I don't want to be these parents.When I was a teen, I would have devoured this book. Funny as it seems since he's a guy, Finch is like the Sylvia Plath of a new generation. He burns brightly, but still burns.I'm drained. I don't think I'll read this book again, simply because I can't take it. But I want everyone I know to read it. And then breathe.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.Exceptional and Life-Altering
By Morris
I can summarize my thoughts on “All the Bright Places” by saying that this is a book that anyone in the upper middle grades and up absolutely needs to read, including adults. It may be one of the most important books written in this decade, and I will be extremely disappointed if I don’t see it start popping up on school reading lists within a year.The writing, complete with witty dialogue and two distinct narrator voices, is witty and solid. You feel in the moment along with them, as opposed to reading about their own moment. The characters are well-developed when they should be and not developed when they should not be. That sentence makes little sense before you read it, but please keep it in mind when you get to the end.Jennifer Niven is a brave woman with bold and risky decisions concerning the plot, and all of those decisions come together to form a masterpiece. I can’t say much else, because the journey is the most important part of “All the Bright Places”, so I do not want to inadvertently spoil even the smallest of moments. I will say that it is a story that will most likely stay with you for life.In short, here are three things I know to be true about “All the Bright Places”:There will be a movie adaptation starring Elle Fanning.There will be angry posts all over the internet no matter who is chosen to play Theodore Finch, because he will be so loved by fans, and that is the nature of fandom.It will save lives. Literally.Five stars in this instance needs to be rounded up to 500. Please read it, and please take its messages to heart.This review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
