All the Bright Places - book cover
Literature & Fiction
  • Publisher : Ember; Reprint edition
  • Published : 13 Sept 2016
  • Pages : 416
  • ISBN-10 : 0385755910
  • ISBN-13 : 9780385755917
  • Language : English

All the Bright Places

NOW A NETFLIX FILM, STARRING ELLE FANNING AND JUSTICE SMITH!

The New York Times bestselling love story about two teens who find each other while standing on the edge. And don't miss Take Me with You When You Go, Jennifer Niven's highly anticipated new book with bestselling author David Levithan!

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might kill himself, but every day he also searches for-and manages to find-something to keep him here, and alive, and awake.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small 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-six stories above the ground- it's unclear who saves whom. Soon it's only with Violet that Finch can be himself. 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. . . .
 
"A do-not-miss for fans of Eleanor & Park and The Fault in Our Stars, and basically anyone who can breathe." -Justine Magazine
 
"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." -The New York Times Book Review

"A heart-rending, stylish love story." -The Wall Street Journal

"A complex love story that will bring all the feels." -Seventeen Magazine

"Impressively layered, lived-in, and real." -Buzzfeed

Editorial Reviews

"…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

"Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably."
-Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"In her YA debut, adult author Niven creates a romance so fresh and funny. . . The journey to, through, and past tragedy is romantic and heartbreaking, as characters and readers confront darkness, joy, and the possibilities-and limits-of love in the face of mental illness."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The writing in this heartrending novel is fluid, despite the difficult topics… Finch in particular will linger in readers' minds long after the last page is turned."
-School Library Journal, starred review

"Ultimately, the book, with narration that alternates between Finch and Violet, becomes Violet's story of survival and recovery, affirming the value of loving deeply, grieving openly, and carrying your light forward."
-The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Have The Fault in Our Stars withdrawal? Pick up this heartrending novel about a girl who vows to live with purpose after bonding with a boy who plans to end his own life."
- SELF Magazine

"It's touching, vibrant, and an impressively honest depiction of depression."
- BuzzFeed

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

A Miami Herald Best Books for Children

GoodReads Choice Awards Young Adult Fiction Category Winner

A TIME Top Young Adult Book of the Year

A NPR Guide to Great Reads Book

Readers Top Reviews

EmmaLys
This book was recommended to me after I finished reading Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon as I had loved that book so much. I feel like I have then went into All the Bright Places with very high expectations, and my lacklustre review is probably, at least partly, a consequence of that. I just couldn't find myself connecting to the characters in the same way that I have with other love stories. Violet especially felt very underdeveloped, and I just couldn't bring myself to care about her relationship with Finch as much as I could have. The story was obviously intended to be an emotional read, but I just didn't get there. It is great that the authour is talking about mental health, but I just felt that with a bit more depth it could have had a much bigger impact.
Shivam pandeyEmma
I really really loved it. It is heart breaking story of theodore finch and violet markey. The story starts where finch is on the bell tower attempting to suicide and violet comes their and saves his life and becomes the hero of the school after this, even though violet is also willing to kill herself due to death of her sister Eleanor one year back, both violet and fich get into a school project being a partner and they wander different amazing places across indiana and gradually violet learns to live from the boy who wants to die, both are in love and wandering but finch is not well with his suicide attempts and one day they found swollen death body of finch in lake and violet shatters again but she completes the project with the traces of finch.
David BeesonShiva
Jenifer Niven’s 'All the Bright Places' starts off with its two main characters meeting, by chance, at the top of the bell tower of their school, from which each was contemplating jumping. They don’t, and that’s the mainspring of the story. Niven tells it powerfully, through the voice of each of the two in turn, not always in strict alternation, but always one or the other taking the narrative on or commenting on the same events from another point of view. They frequently use the present tense, giving the events they describe a powerful immediacy. It’s a tribute to Niven’s skill that she was able to create two distinct and believable voices in this way, and let them interplay so effectively. The first voice we hear is that of Theodore Finch, known as Finch, but by the many who dislike him in his high school as Theodore the Freak. There is a hint of why he’s viewed as freaky when he tells us ‘I don’t remember climbing up here. In fact, I don’t remember much of anything before Sunday, at least not anything so far this winter. This happens every time – the blanking out, the waking up… I can’t tell you what was different this time around, only that when I woke up, I felt deader than usual. Awake, yeah, but completely empty, like someone had been feasting on my blood.” Finding out just what he means by being asleep or awake is the main discovery we make about Finch as we work our way through the book. Violet Markey, on the other hand, is popular with everyone. She had, indeed, been a cheerleader until her life was blighted by a single, stark, shocking event for which she blames herself and with which she can’t come to terms. It is her pain that drives her, too, up to the top of the bell tower where she will find Finch, starting the relationship in which they learn so much about and from each other. At first, I was concerned about what kind of book I was going to read, not least because it was recommended to me by my thirteen-year old granddaughter. I wasn’t sure we had the same taste. Was this merely another of those cookie-cutter high-school kid stories? Young people at the end of their school days coming to terms with the urges that overtake adolescents, with the responsibilities of entering the adult world, with the hopes and disappointments around them? Were we going to get lots about makeup and baseball and love and sex in long conversations in coffee shops? But 'All the Bright Places' only shares its background with those boilerplate tales. It is something far deeper and far more compelling: an account of two young people trying to deal, in completely different ways, with two different types of suffering; of their finding joy and hope and disappointment and despair; of handling them with humour and wit and insight. It’s an immensely funny, deeply poignant and strongly inspiring book which tells u...
Nightowl.Bookworm
There are many things I liked about this book. It is compulsively readable, well-written, has characters you root for, evokes strong emotions and brings awareness and thought to important topics. However, I walked away really unsettled... angry and in a bad mood for days unsettled. The book is told from two teenager’s points of view. For a book in first person I walked away feeling like I couldn’t understand one of the characters, including his choices, thoughts and emotions, and this is not good when it’s told from his perspective. When it matters most we don’t even hear his POV. This was intentional by the author (and arguably fitting and effective) but really bothered me and partially what made me so angry. I don’t mind sad or bittersweet endings if they fit with the story and what I know about the characters. I liked these characters but their actions felt unjustified because I couldn’t see their side. I also felt like one piece was irresponsibly handled and makes me fear how those who know someone struggling with suicidal thoughts may act. I do not think this book is for everyone. There are some big triggers. I do not think this is a book for those struggling with suicidal thoughts. It may be a book for those who know someone who committed suicide, but I question that too. There is nothing here that would make me say a teenager shouldn’t read it, but conversations should be had around it. There is light and love in this book but my my more overwhelming emotion was darkness and anger. Ultimately, I’m glad I read it and I enjoyed the book, as much as one can with this difficult topic, but a few things hold me back from loving it.

Short Excerpt Teaser

Finch

I am awake again. Day 6.

Is today a good day to die?

This is something I ask myself in the morning when I wake up. In third period when I'm trying to keep my eyes open while Mr. Schroeder drones on and on. At the supper table as I'm passing the green beans. At night when I'm lying awake because my brain won't shut off due to all there is to think about.

Is today the day?

And if not today--when?

I am asking myself this now as I stand on a narrow ledge six stories above the ground. I'm so high up, I'm practically part of the sky. I look down at the pavement below, and the world tilts. I close my eyes, enjoying the way everything spins. Maybe this time I'll do it--let the air carry me away. It will be like floating in a pool, drifting off until there's nothing.

I don't remember climbing up here. In fact, I don't remember much of anything before Sunday, at least not anything so far this winter. This happens every time--the blanking out, the waking up. I'm like that old man with the beard, Rip Van Winkle. Now you see me, now you don't. You'd think I'd have gotten used to it, but this last time was the worst yet because I wasn't asleep for a couple days or a week or two--I was asleep for the holidays, meaning Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. I can't tell you what was different this time around, only that when I woke up, I felt deader than usual. Awake, yeah, but completely empty, like someone had been feasting on my blood. This is day six of being awake again, and my first week back at school since November 14.

I open my eyes, and the ground is still there, hard and permanent. I am in the bell tower of the high school, standing on a ledge about four inches wide. The tower is pretty small, with only a few feet of concrete floor space on all sides of the bell itself, and then this low stone railing, which I've climbed over to get here. Every now and then I knock one of my legs against it to remind myself it's there.

My arms are outstretched as if I'm conducting a sermon and this entire not-very-big, dull, dull town is my congregation. "Ladies and gentlemen," I shout, "I would like to welcome you to my death!" You might expect me to say "life," having just woken up and all, but it's only when I'm awake that I think about dying.

I am shouting in an old-school-preacher way, all jerking head and words that twitch at the ends, and I almost lose my balance. I hold on behind me, happy no one seems to have noticed, because, let's face it, it's hard to look fearless when you're clutching the railing like a chicken.

"I, Theodore Finch, being of unsound mind, do hereby bequeath all my earthly possessions to Charlie Donahue, Brenda Shank-Kravitz, and my sisters. Everyone else can go f---- themselves." In my house, my mom taught us early to spell that word (if we must use it) or, better yet, not spell it, and, sadly, this has stuck.

Even though the bell has rung, some of my classmates are still milling around on the ground. It's the first week of the second semester of senior year, and already they're acting as if they're almost done and out of here. One of them looks up in my direction, as if he heard me, but the others don't, either because they haven't spotted me or because they know I'm there and Oh well, it's just Theodore Freak.

Then his head turns away from me and he points at the sky. At first I think he's pointing at me, but it's at that moment I see her, the girl. She stands a few feet away on the other side of the tower, also out on the ledge, dark-blond hair waving in the breeze, the hem of her skirt blowing up like a parachute. Even though it's January in Indiana, she is shoeless in tights, a pair of boots in her hand, and staring either at her feet or at the ground--it's hard to tell. She seems frozen in place.

In my regular, nonpreacher voice I say, as calmly as possible, "Take it from me, the worst thing you can do is look down."

Very slowly, she turns her head toward me, and I know this girl, or at least I've seen her in the hallways. I can't resist: "Come here often? Because this is kind of my spot and I don't remember seeing you here before."

She doesn't laugh or blink, just gazes out at me from behind these clunky glasses that almost cover her face. She tries to take a step back and her foot bumps the railing. She teeters a little, and before she can panic, I say, "I don't know what brings you up here, but to me the town looks prettier and the people look nicer and even the worst of them look almost kind. Except for Gabe Romero and Amanda Monk and that whole crowd you hang out with."

Her name is Violet Something. She is cheerleader popular--one of those girls you would never think of running into on a ...