16 June 2016

Review #457: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”

----Albert Camus



Jennifer Niven, an American author, has penned a heart-breaking love story about two teenagers in her book, All the Bright Places that weaves a beautiful yet devastating tale of young love where both the primary characters are suffering from their own trauma yet their strange encounter brings them closer in a weird way but destiny has other and sad plans for these two innocent souls.







Synopsis:

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.



After reading this book, honestly speaking, I did not understand all those hype surrounding this book and the story. I mean, yeah, this book is going to break millions of hearts and is extremely emotional, but somehow the author could not portray her primary characters in a way they should have been, as they could have made the book much more brighter than its title or its book cover image. On my recent trip to Kashmir, I read this 400 pages long book, and felt so many hues of emotions that I've never ever felt before, after reading a contemporary fiction. Hence for that a huge round of applause goes to the author, Jennifer Niven, for depicting it so captivatingly.

Theodore Finch is a kind of guy who is weird and thinks about strange things like death and ways of achieving it. And every time his plan of achieving his final goal is disrupted or rather say interrupted by something brighter, likewise, when he tries to jump from the ledge of his school's bell tower, he finds himself face-to-face with the most beautiful and popular girl of his school- Violet.

Violet Markey is the kind of girl who would make her female peers jealous of her looks and popularity and the boys would go ga-ga over her cuteness, sweetness and brightness. Bu Violet can't wait to be done with high school and give wings to her dreams away from her hometown, Indiana, as this place haunts her of her sister's death because of which she can't stop blaming herself for her best-friend-cum-elder-sister's tragic death. Although her plans to get interrupted when she finds herself face-to-face with the crazy boy of her school, Theodore and somehow destiny saves them from their plans thus bringing them closer in the backdrop of their US geography class project to discover unknown and hidden wonders of their home state. But does always destiny ensure that happiness too come along with its way of events?

The author's writing style is magnificent that is layered properly and cleverly with myriad of emotions that will pull the readers into the ocean filled with hear-felt fondness that will range from happiness to sadness to humor. The narrative is equally engaging and genuine that will make the readers feel the reality through them. The pacing of this book differs from something being too slow to too fast to moderate, but the smooth flow of the story will keep the readers glued to the pages of this book. The scenes of this book are wonderfully portrayed which will let the readers visualize them right before their minds' eyes.

The characters in this book are honest and are drawn from realism, who will capture the hearts of the readers with their shortcomings and their grief. Finch is a teenager with a complex mindset and through out the course of this story, the readers might find it difficult to penetrate his labyrinthine of thoughts and emotions. Finch is not a regular guy, he is traumatized by the events of his life, thus making him obsessed about the idea of death and also to research about the whole idea of death. Yes, he is friendly but in a weird way and the conversations he have are equally strange but that doesn't make his boring or uninteresting, his real pain will push the readers towards him. Violet, on the other hand, is very clear about the way she wants to feel about things and the way she expresses her grief towards her sister's death is striking, but often, at times, she will confuse the readers with her real feelings.

Well, the protagonists may be hard to penetrate through their minds but they will make the readers fall for them with their agony with life. Through the characters, the author tries to instill a strong message about appreciation of life to her readers and she has successfully delivered that as the readers are bound to think about the value of their lives.

What can I say about Indiana as the glittering and vivid landscape of this state provides as a bright shelter to the sweet love story. The author has painted the backdrop strikingly which will make the readers feel like hopping from one wonderful destination in Indiana to another along with the protagonists.

The romance is cheesy in the beginning, which is passionately and innocently arrested by the author with proper emotions. Most of the story is centered around this predictable teenage love story but thank god, near the end, the author diverts this love story towards something highly meaningful and even life-altering.

In a nutshell, this unique story will not let the readers let go of the feelings that came along with it, even long after the end of this intriguing book and also this is the kind of story which you can return back to every single time. So when there is a downpour, I'm talking about the emotional one, not the natural kind, then this book will be your sole best friend to brighten up your day.

Verdict: If you want to feel a tornado of so many distinct emotions, then definitely grab a copy of this book now.
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Author Info:
By the time I was ten, I had already written numerous songs, a poem for Parker Stevenson ("If there were a Miss America for men, You would surely win"), two autobiographies (All About Me and My Life in Indiana: I Will Never Be Happy Again), a Christmas story, several picture books (which I illustrated myself) featuring the Doodle Bugs from Outer Space, a play about Laura Ingalls Wilder's sister entitled Blindness Strikes Mary, a series of prison mysteries, a collection of short stories featuring me as the main character (an internationally famous rock star detective), and a partially finished novel about Vietnam. I was also an excellent speller from a very early age.
In 2000, I started writing full-time, and I haven't stopped... I've written nine books (#9 will be out Oct 4, 2016), and when I'm not working on the tenth, I'm writing the screenplay for All the Bright Places, contributing to my web magazine, Germ (www.germmagazine.com), thinking up new books, and dabbling in TV. I am always writing.
Visit her here



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2 comments:

  1. Great review. I’m going to be reading this book for a YA lit class this year. I’m glad to hear that it’s a pretty good book.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amazing review I've been dying too read this book for a long time now, I had it on my radar for quite some time now. Because I heard great things about it and it does really looks and sounds absolutely amazing! Thank you for your great post.

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