Jennifer Niven's Blog, page 517
January 19, 2015
All The Bright Places by Jennifer Nivens
This fucking book destroyed me. I finished it like, an hour ago and I’ve been wandering around in a stupor. I am a sobbing mess and I don’t think my wife knows quite what to do with me.
Sometimes it’s like that. Niven’s writing is so good that her characters seem like friends I can’t quite say goodbye to just yet. I don’t know who she sold her soul to for talent like this, but I’m glad she struck that deal.
booksandafangirl:
All the Bright Places by Jennifer...
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Rating: 5 Stars
Review:
I don’t think it’s possible for me to be able to adequately explain the love I have for this book and the story that it contains, but I’ll do my best to try.
When it comes to reading, I seldom hate or dislike a book I read. I tend to think long and hard about which books I want to pick up and read because I don’t want to waste my time reading ones I’ll dislike. Due to this the majority of the books I read receive a 5-star rating because I love them and the stories they hold.
However, it is rather rare that a book swallows me whole, heart and soul. It is rare for me to encounter a book that has a deep connection with me that goes beyond a storyline. One that seems to have stripped me bare of my feelings and in a way, laid them out on paper for me to read. I’m glad to say that this is one of those books.
This book is so devastatingly beautiful that one can’t help but feel the intensity of it all. More than once I had to put the book aside and give myself time to process and digest what was happening and what was being said. Sometimes I had to give myself a moment because something said was something that I felt within me. This book now holds, and I’m sure always will, a piece of my heart. A rather large chunk really.
Like Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, this book makes it clear that sometimes it’s the littlest of things that can cause a chain reaction of events to come. Suicide is not something that upon waking up randomly sounds like a solution. Seeing suicide as a solution is something that manifests from outward sources overtime that sooner or later affect one negatively inward. And this book does an incredibly amazing job at conveying that message. A simple act that seems harmless to you can have negative effects to those around you.
It not only opens your eyes to this reality, but it does so in the way of giving you the realization that the small things in life matter. A congratulations. Noticing people. Making people feel welcome. A smile. Small things have the power to change lives forever and it is a theme that is carried throughout the plot of the book.
When it comes to characters, it never fails to shock me when I come across one that resemble me in many ways, though of course never fully. Theodore Finch was that for me. I’ve never seen so much of me in someone else. We have quite a few differences, but if you were to take those away, you’d not only see Finch, but you’d also see me. And I know this is why this book has affected me the way it has. Because I relate to this on a much deeper level than I would if I didn’t see myself as a version of Finch to some extent.
Violet herself is an excellent counterpart to Finch’s. Like Finch, I loved her and loved seeing her growth, seeing her point of view as opposed to Finch’s. These two gave me all the feels and the fluff my heart desired and more!
Overall, I loved this book. In all honestly, I give it a whole galaxy as a rating. It lived up to my expectations and beyond. It made me cry on countless occasions, it made me laugh, it made me smile like crazy, it made my heart break into millions of tiny pieces. And most of all, it’s a story I know I won’t ever forget.
“Do you think there’s such a thing as a perfect day?”
I’ve never had one Theodore Finch, but I’m looking for it.
fanningmaryelle:
An interview with “All the Bright...
An interview with “All the Bright Places”-author Jennifer Niven, where she talks a lot about meeting Elle
lauranon:
If you ever want to sob uncontrollably at a young adult book at 2am, I highly suggest...
If you ever want to sob uncontrollably at a young adult book at 2am, I highly suggest reading All the Bright Places.
fashion-by-the-book:
All The Bright Places by Jennifer...
All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
“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.”
January 18, 2015
Blue Monday live Twitter chat via the Guardian UK and Rethink Mental Illness
I’ll be participating in a live Twitter chat tomorrow (Monday, Jan 19) at 2pm ET/7pm GMT with fellow YA authors Matt Haig, James Dawson, Nicola Morgan, Gayle Forman, Sita Brahmachari, and Madeleine Kuderick, along with Rethink Mental Illness and Young Minds UK.
In honor of “Blue Monday”— aka “the most depressing day of the year”— we’ll be answering questions about mental health, depression and teen fiction: how it’s represented, what authors feel about writing about it, whether things have really changed, and how books can help.
From the Guardian UK: So how do you ask your questions? There are two ways. Either join in on Twitter using #Gdnbluemonday. If you want to address a particular participant then make sure to ask them directly – such as, @jenniferniven or @_rethink – then they know who should answer what! If you don’t tweet then you can still join in by emailing childrens.books@theguardian.com. Remember to keep your questions short as they will still need to be tweeted by us, so aim for around 140 characters and head up your email “Mental health live Q&A”.
Today’s bright place: my favorite cousin and me. Anytime...
Today’s bright place: my favorite cousin and me. Anytime with Annalise is lovely!!
The Grove Park Inn has always been one of my brightest places,...
The Grove Park Inn has always been one of my brightest places, ever since my grandparents started taking me there when I was a little girl. My favorite thing about it: the andirons in the giant main hall fireplaces! They were built by my mountain blacksmith great-granddaddy, years and years ago. ❤️ #allthebrightplaces #groveparkinn #youstarthere #asheville (at The Omni Grove Park Inn)
