Recent Reads #3 | All The Bright Places

Summer has begun, which means the season for binge reading is offically here! I don't know why, but every summer I manage to read a pile of five to ten books back to back - that might be because, y'know, I actually get to choose which books I want to read, unlike the assigned readings that my teachers like to throw at me.

As I mentioned in my post exams haul, I went to the bookstore for the first time in months the other day and found a bunch of books that I'd like to read this summer, but out of those, "All The Bright Places" by Jennifer Niven stood out to me.

That was probably because even though you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at the cover, the story this book is telling is not a light-hearted one. It's the story of two teenagers who want to die.

One of them is Theodore Finch, who comes from a broken home. His father abused both his mother and Finch himself, and ended up leaving them when he was still a boy. Finch is an outcast at school, called "Freak" by next to everyone besides his two close friends. From a young age, he knew that he was different from other kids. He's rather intelligent, but he falls into deep depression after his good periods - he later finds out that he has bi-polar disorder, but in order to not worry anyone, he is easy-going an funny around the people he loves, leading them to be completely blind to what is going on with him.

The other one is Violet Markey, who used to be a happy girl with a perfect boyfriend, a great group of friends and a passion for writing.

Her life changed when she got into a car accident with her sister Eleanor on a snowy winter night, which she survived - but her sister didn't. Violet never really got over the events of said night, blaming herself to be responsible for her sister's death, leading her to become depressed, as well.

The first time our two main character meet is on the ledge of their high school's bell tower, which is the point where you should realize that this is not a happy-go-lucky kinda book that you've gotten your hands on.
Finch is thinking about what would happen if he commited suicide right there and then, when he realizes that he is not alone up there, and that in that exact same moment, another student is about to take her life - Violet.

After he talks her down the ledge, the two of them don't speak a word about that event - the rest of the school obviously does, because come on, this is high school we're talking about - until they are set up to work on a project for their U.S. history class together.
For that project, the teens are supposed to travel their home state, Indianna, and explore the great and the small, unkown places it has to offer, and report about them at the end of the year.

While they work on that project, Finch and Violet start growing closer. More hesitantely at first, as Violet doesn't want to open up about how she really feels and everything that has happened to her, but eventually, the two end up falling in love.

It's not the heart-eyed kind of love, though, because both of them are still convinced that they are broken, especially Finch, even though he doesn't let anyone see what he really thinks about himself.

You realize where this is going, aren't you?

There is no happy ending to this story. There's a certain point in the book where you realize what the end is leading up to, and you watch the events unfold in front of you, and you cover your mouth with your hands because how could the worst thing happen?

I struggled with putting all that this has made me think and feel into the right words and I realized that I need to voice my opinion on it in two different ways.

On one hand, I absolutely loved this book in every way possible. The subject it has is obviously no laughing matter, and even though it is hard, and it is very sad, it is funny nonetheless. Jennifer Niven did a great job at creating a book with a message that is not eating at you, but giving you moments of light, moments of humor, so dry and dark and true.
The main characters were very well written. I hardly ever come across a book that doesn't have a leading character that makes me roll my eyes, but this one was an exception. Seeing the story unfold from Theodore Finch's eyes was a new experience for me because I have never seen from the view a person with a mental ilness before, and it was shaking, but it felt true, authentic. Violet is a character that I sympathized with because she blamed herself for what happened to her sister, and because of the relationship she had lost because I have a strong bond with my family - yes, even my annoying younger brother. She didn't seem overdramatic. I could feel her pain, I could follow her thoughts, I could see why she chose to do certain things. Just like Finch, she felt so damn real.

On the other hand, there is the aspect that what Jennifer Niven did by writing a book about people with mental illnesses.

In my opinion, it is more than important to read this book. Because most of us will have read "The Fault In Our Stars", or any other book that will include a main character suffering with a physical illness, but mental illnesses are still a subject that is not discussed widely enough. There are still way to many people who think that they are freaks, people who don't search for help.

This is why I feel like the book had to end the way it did. It might be an eye opener to some, like it was to me.

That turned into quite a long ramble, didn't it? Phew. I just had to get these thoughts out of my system, because I finished this book at around 3pm, and around six hours later, it is still on my mind and I'm still trying to progress all that has unfolded in front of me.

It is one of those books that has that certain effect on you. And that's exactly why I would recommend it to anyone. Obviously, it's not the lightest of subjects, but in the way it is written, it makes you feel a kind of warmth, it kind of gives you an 'at home' feeling with its so human characters. And behind that colorful, unremarkable cover, this book carry and important message, one that should be read by as many people as possible,

"All The Bright Places" is available for 10,49€ on Amazon.

What book have you picked up this past month?