All the Bright Places is a book that definitely took me by surprise! When I first read the synopsis of this book, I really, really didn't want to read it because it sounded cliche and dramatic and whiny to me. But after seeing all the hype and not reading any negative reviews, I picked this up with a sigh. Which is why I was really, really surprised by how much I loved this one, and how I now think that everyone should read this book!
This book follows Finch and Violet, how the two meet in the Bell Tower in school when they were both thinking about suicide and how they saved each other other and started a weird new friendship, yadda yadda. It sounds very cliche and all, but let me tell you, it's anything but.
When I started reading the book, I felt like it was kind of slow and I wasn't really fully engaged with the book. As the book went on, I realized that the pacing was just different. For the first half of the book, I was prepared to give this book only about 3.5 stars. But as the book went on, I realized that its purpose was not to make the readers swoon or feel the feels, although there were parts that did that too. The purpose of this book was really to make people aware about mental illnesses. It also helps that the writing was beautiful, albeit being different.
As shown in this book, people with metal illnesses don't often get diagnosed because "That's just the way he is." People with mental illnesses often get labeled as freaks, weirdos and get called other names, which just really worsens their conditions. As said in Jennifer Nieven's author note, someone dies from suicide every 40 seconds, and that's such a high rate. Through this book, people would become aware of this, and maybe that would help in preventing this rate to go any higher or maybe even lower it.
Nieven's author note made me understand how important this book is. I loved how this was close to the author's heart and how it was based on a personal experience, and it contributed to how realistic the novel was.
This novels was raw, beautiful, unique and full of truths. It showed me both the bright and dark side of life, and I really appreciated that. As early as now, I can say that this one is going to be one of my favorite books of the year, and I urge everyone to read this. The hype surrounding this book isn't for nothing.
“It's my experience that people are a lot more sympathetic if they can see you hurting, and for the millionth time in my life I wish for measles or smallpox or some other easily understood disease just to make it easier on me and also on them.”
“The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it's the small things that count.”
“The great thing about this life of ours is that you can be someone different to everybody.”
|| The Book Depository
