GUEST REVIEW: All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven

GENRE: YA

PAGES: 400
PUBLISHER: Penguin
FORMAT: Paperback
BUY IT: Waterstones
RATING: 5 Stars

SUMMARY

All the Bright Places is a compelling and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die. 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. How far will Violet go to save the boy she has come to love?

REVIEW

I have been thinking about how to write this review for a while. I finished this book last night and it has not left my mind since then. I loved this book so much. It was so amazing and it just completely blew me away. People are probably going to kill me for saying this but this book, for me anyway, was like a much better version of The Fault In Our Stars. Don’t kill me just yet. I know that everyone love The Fault In Our Stars, and I do too but you’ve probably never read All The Bright Places so you don’t know that this book isn’t better than it.

The reason I loved this book so much is probably because it affected me so much. I don’t know why but something about this book just changed me. I know that sounds weird but it’s true. As well as breaking my heart into millions of little pieces, it also taught me so much about everything such as life.

Okay, I’m going to try write a normal review now. The characters in this book were honestly the best part about it. Finch was an unusual character that was amazingly portrayed. Despite not being like him, I understood why he was the way he was. I understood the things that he did and why he did them. I wouldn’t say he was one of my favourite male characters but I did really love him in a different way to how I love everyone else. He specifically taught me a lot about life and how we should live life. Violet was unique and different. After going through something so tragic, she is obviously quite scared of living but I loved her because of that. I loved seeing her grow out of her fear and start living her life. Both of the characters felt so real and it’s hard to believe that they are only characters in a book. The romance between them was amazing. It did feel quite insta lovey at the start and slightly stalkerish but I loved it so much despite that.

The writing in this book was just exquisite. The writing in this book just made me fall even more in love with it because it was breathtaking. The writing was stunning. Any sentences I can form will not do the writing in this book justice. You’ll just need to read the book.

The ending of this book broke me. The last 100 pages were just amazing and fabulous, as was the whole book but the last 100 pages were even more so. I just can’t believe that it ended that way. It was just so amazing and fabulous. Everyone needs to read this book now. Stop reading this review and go buy the book so that you can read it. I cannot recommend this book enough. This review definitely did not do it justice. Just go read it now and you’ll see what I mean.

- Sofia.