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Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (SPOILERS)

Chidinma Ogbonnaya
Oct 24, 2015
4 min read

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is one of the most talked about books of 2015 and the praise is well-warranted. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats!!!😂😂😂 The book is about a boy and a girl whose names are Finch and Violet and each of them is going through a really tough time. Together they trying to find a way to get through it. I would recommend this book to anyone who liked Fault In Our Stars or Looking for Alaska by John Green, (although I personally liked this book more than both of those) but be warned because the book made me cry my eyes out like a freakin' baby and I'm still recovering from that even now. 4.5/5 stars, I really don't want you to be spoiled for this book because 1) IT IS SEROUSILY A MUST READ and 2) I literally cried for 2 days straight and I don't think it's fair that I have to go through that and you guys don't. So goodbye for the non-spoiler review makes sure to come back after you read the book to enjoy the rest of the view! BYE!!!

SPOILERS!!!!

I honestly don't know how I'm still coherent after this book by I'm going to get through this book without slowly dying inside... too late.

Let's start from the beginning

I immediately loved Finch but Violet I wasn't sure about at first. I felt bad for her sister becuase had just died, but her "I'm not ready yet" attitude really bugged me. Mostly because I used to have this friend whose brother died. She took some time off of school (which everyone totally understood) and was really sad for a long time. I was extremely understanding of that because I couldn't even fathom what her family was probably going through. But she soon adapted that "I'm not ready yet" attitude and pretty soon that was just her only attitude. Two years had passed and she hadn't even attempted to go on with her life and she began being really lazy. It wasn't even because she was sad, she just got so used to handouts she just became a slacker. Later she moved to Utah and I heard she wants to live at home with her mom for the rest of her life.

ANYWAY...

I really started liking Violet after they were reciting poetry to each other.

Side Note: Was I the only one who got really confused when they started quoting Virginia Woolf? I thought it was only a movie.😂😂😂

It was so beautiful but the whole time I was just wondering why they were on Facebook. Like, don't these kids have Instagram, it's 2k15 for God's sake.

I also loved Brenda and Charlie. They are literally exact replicas of some of my friends!!! I liked when Violet was going on her first "Wandering" with Finch and Brenda's like "Hurt my friend I'll throttle your skinny ass, sorry about your sister by the way."

And whenever Finch had a problem Charlie would be like "You just need to get laid."

The way Finch's problems were dealt with by his parents really bothered me. Especially his father, OMG whenever his dad hit him I literally screamed "NO BITCH!!!!" My sister was hella freaked out. It really struck a chord with me because I had a very similar relationship with my own father and it got to he point that I had to stop living with him. So to see that emotional and physical abuse, it just really affected me.

I really didn't like how Violet's parents treated Finch after they found out more about him. Like okay, I guess they were trying to be responsible parents, but I just wanted to go inside the book and give Finch a hug when that happened.

OH GOD

Whenever Roamer was around I wanted to punch in the face for Finch.

But when Violet wouldn't let Finch drown him I was just like that's OTP material.

And I felt so bad that Finch was all wondering which Finch she likes best. Like she loves all of you beau!!!!

And I know it was the reason he got expelled, but I was really happy when Finch finally beat up Roamer.

But of course, that's when everything went to shit.

I felt so bad for Violet like she was just trying to help the bae, but bae wouldn't let her.

Side Note: Did of you think Violet was gonna notice the license plate? Because I was really worried that once she saw it she would think he was a stalker.

I just felt so bad that she was the only one trying to help him.

BUT

I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD DO "IT"

EVEN AFTER HE LEFT, I DIDN'T THINK HE WOULD DO "IT".

EVEN WHEN VIOLET WENT ON A DATE WITH RYAN CROSS, I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD DO "IT".

EVEN AFTER EVERYONE CLOSE TO HIM GOT THOSE EMAILS, I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD DO "IT".

EVEN WHEN HIS MOM WANTED VIOLET TO GO FIND HIM, I NEVER THOUGHT HE HAD DONE "IT".

BUT.

THEN.

HE.

DID.

"IT"

WHY DIDN'T HIS PARENTS EVEN TRY TO HELP HIM? WHY DIDN'T THE SCHOOL COUNSLER TRY TO TALK TO HIM AFTER HE GOT EXPELLED? WHY DIDN'T HIS MOM EVER ANSWER THE PHONE? WHY? WHY? WHY???😭😭😭

But the one good thing that happened because of Finch's death was that Violet was able to really come into herself. I also liked how Finch left those last places for her to wander, but all I could think at the time was: "SO HE LEFT YOU CLUES FOR YOU TO FIND HIM??? WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN??????

But honestly I was in tears all over again when she thought that she wasn't enough to make him stay and he left her that note church.