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All the Bright Places
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The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
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.
...more
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning!
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.
...more
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Hardcover, 378 pages
Published
January 6th 2015
by Knopf
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Start your review of All the Bright Places

Fuck. I’m a glorified classics guy but what the hell happened here. I cried. Fuck. I rarely go for YA trust me; I’m a condescending jackass who’s read one too many books. Usually I never even touch these kinds of sappy stuff, I basically hate the genre. I don’t like John Green. Fuck the Fault In Our Stars overrated sack of shit. But I don’t know why this book got through to me. For one thing, it doesn’t condescend, it doesn’t sound corny, it doesn’t try too hard. The thing about adults writing Y
...more

I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO FUNCTION RIGHT NOW. I HAVE JUST READ THE MOST BRILLIANT AND HEART-RIPPING STORY OF THE UNIVERSE. How do I do words?! How do I explain how much I'm feeling right now? I think I could cry and sing all at once, but mostly cry. Just know this very very truthful fact: This is the most incredible book I have read. It's probably my favourite contemporary in the world. I can't....I just...I need a moment.

I love this book. You know how it's compared to Eleanor & Park and The Fa ...more

I love this book. You know how it's compared to Eleanor & Park and The Fa ...more

Hmm, so there's a girl whose name is a colour (Violet) and a boy whose name makes him sound like he burst from the pages of a Dickens' novel (Theodore Finch) and they're both super quirky, intelligent and know the names of a bunch of dead poets. Then there's that whole death thing hanging over this novel... why does it feel like I've read this before?
Err...

Oh, right.
Okay... so don't you just hate it when reviewers try to tell you what you should or shouldn't read? And they make universal stateme ...more
Err...

Oh, right.
Okay... so don't you just hate it when reviewers try to tell you what you should or shouldn't read? And they make universal stateme ...more

*EDIT*
Full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXQBq...
I don't even know what to say... I'm sure the words will come, and at that point I'll try to film a review. But for now I'll just think about a million and one things.
My gosh <3
Review copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more
Full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXQBq...
I don't even know what to say... I'm sure the words will come, and at that point I'll try to film a review. But for now I'll just think about a million and one things.
My gosh <3
Review copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more

Mar 30, 2020
Hannah
added it
dnf
not a fan....
not a fan....

Sep 29, 2014
April (Aprilius Maximus)
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
2014
Seeing other people's reviews on this book that I really trust made me realise a lot of things that I don't really agree with. Right at the time I was reading this, I felt like I could really relate to the main characters and their depression and I think that's why I thought I loved it so much and why I somehow overlooked some really concerning things. It's kind of written in a way that the characters are nothing but their illnesses, if that makes any sense. It felt like there was nothing else t
...more

$1.99 on Kindle US 1/28/18
This is one of the best books I have ever read. I'm going to say a lot of personal things on here then go on with the review which will include spoilers, but I will put up the spoiler alert before I do. I also want to add some quotes from the book and the author's note at the end.
This book is about teen suicide and bullying. But, it's also about some wonderful people, happy moments and a bit of crazy-wonderful.
When I was young I was bullied in school most of my life. ...more
This is one of the best books I have ever read. I'm going to say a lot of personal things on here then go on with the review which will include spoilers, but I will put up the spoiler alert before I do. I also want to add some quotes from the book and the author's note at the end.
This book is about teen suicide and bullying. But, it's also about some wonderful people, happy moments and a bit of crazy-wonderful.
When I was young I was bullied in school most of my life. ...more

Feb 05, 2018
Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult
”I know life well enough to know you can’t count on things staying around or standing still, no matter how much you want them to. You can’t stop people from dying. You can’t stop them from going away. You can’t stop yourself from going away either. I know myself well enough to know that no one else can keep you awake or keep you from sleeping.”
I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to write a review about this book.
It made me so damn sad that I feel whatever I say, it just won’t be enough.
It wil ...more
I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to write a review about this book.
It made me so damn sad that I feel whatever I say, it just won’t be enough.
It wil ...more

‘sometimes theres beauty in the tough words - its all in how you read them.’
i dont think a quote from a book has ever described its own story so perfectly. this is a tough one to get through, but living in the heartbreaking words is a touch of something so lovely, so precious.
ive noticed my feelings regarding this book have slightly changed the second time around, but there is one thing that has stayed the same. and that is how this story demands to be felt. its a kind of rawness and pure ...more
i dont think a quote from a book has ever described its own story so perfectly. this is a tough one to get through, but living in the heartbreaking words is a touch of something so lovely, so precious.
ive noticed my feelings regarding this book have slightly changed the second time around, but there is one thing that has stayed the same. and that is how this story demands to be felt. its a kind of rawness and pure ...more

Updated- 2015-07-02
This book has been bothering me for a while in all honesty. I thought I loved it when I first read it, I really did, but honestly I think I was caught up in all the hype. What Raeleen (padfootandprongs07 on YouTube) said has really stuck with me: the characters become their illness. And while depression really is all consuming and can make you feel like you're made up of not molecules but sadness, I feel that a book about depression should show that there is more to people tha ...more
This book has been bothering me for a while in all honesty. I thought I loved it when I first read it, I really did, but honestly I think I was caught up in all the hype. What Raeleen (padfootandprongs07 on YouTube) said has really stuck with me: the characters become their illness. And while depression really is all consuming and can make you feel like you're made up of not molecules but sadness, I feel that a book about depression should show that there is more to people tha ...more

First things first. In the blurb of this book it says..The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park. That should go. I liked both those books in their own right. This book should and does stand on it's own. It's better than that.
This review may go all spoilery and too much personal information. Be warned.
My writing of reviews have been said to be Awkward..fuck that. I'm going all in on this one. If I can get one person that needs to read this book to read it through my review..it's worth it.
This review may go all spoilery and too much personal information. Be warned.
My writing of reviews have been said to be Awkward..fuck that. I'm going all in on this one. If I can get one person that needs to read this book to read it through my review..it's worth it.
"M...more

Mar 25, 2015
emma
rated it
it was ok
Shelves:
owned,
contemporary,
ya,
favorites-2015,
2-stars,
reread,
nope,
reviewed,
gorgeous-covers,
unpopular-opinion
Reading is an interesting thing.
When I was around 17, I was just getting back into it. I’d spent the later part of my middle school years and the beginning part of my high school ones not reading much at all. This is due to my being deep in long-term tests of a very forced and inauthentic persona, in playing a version of myself who was just way too cool to do all those totally lame things like read, or try in school, or be an even remotely pleasant or interesting person.
It was neither convincing ...more
When I was around 17, I was just getting back into it. I’d spent the later part of my middle school years and the beginning part of my high school ones not reading much at all. This is due to my being deep in long-term tests of a very forced and inauthentic persona, in playing a version of myself who was just way too cool to do all those totally lame things like read, or try in school, or be an even remotely pleasant or interesting person.
It was neither convincing ...more

Sep 12, 2013
Wendy Darling
marked it as dnf
I think this may end up being a DNF for me; consider this a prelimary reaction as I put it on hold. I've only read a few chapters so far, but I'm struggling with the quirky/cute style married with a subject as serious as suicide. I mean, are we going to see self-mutilation or child abuse or domestic violence or homophobia painted with cotton candy colors next? This is one of those set-ups (girl meets boy as they're both standing on a ledge contemplating suicide, rat-a-tat precocious-funny dialog
...more

Apr 23, 2015
Jasmine
rated it
it was amazing
Recommends it for:
Everyone. A MUST-READ in life.
Recommended to Jasmine by:
Nalani

This is my secret---that any moment I might fly away.
Somehow I think 5 stars aren’t enough for such an ultra-remarkey-able book; if I can, I’ll definitely give it as many stars as those shining in the entire universe because All The Bright Places deserves them all, seriously.

For starters, I actually like the way Theodore Finch met Violet Markey---on the ledge six stories above the ground at the Bell Tower in their high school on a rainy day---it's a rather beautiful encounter for me. ...more


Where to begin? I heard great things about this but I should have stayed away.

Violet
I feel like she only really existed here to be the emotional component of this book. She's used as a prop mostly and a prize, yet I never saw her as having any personality beyond just being a sounding board. There is plenty of woe is me/my sister died so I use that as an excuse to hide from life from this character. She just felt insubstantial to me, her only purpose being to tell the readers about the emotional ...more

“My beloved boat
is broken on the rocks of daily life.
I’ve paid my debts
and no longer need to count
pains I’ve suffered at the hands of others.
The misfortunes and the insults.
Good luck to those who remain.”
I was not prepared for this emotional upheaval! A damn good YA contemporary that deals with the complex issues around suicide. It is something that so many of us have dealt with first hand, I myself know two people who have committed suicide before I’ve even turned 25.
“We are all alone, ...more
is broken on the rocks of daily life.
I’ve paid my debts
and no longer need to count
pains I’ve suffered at the hands of others.
The misfortunes and the insults.
Good luck to those who remain.”
I was not prepared for this emotional upheaval! A damn good YA contemporary that deals with the complex issues around suicide. It is something that so many of us have dealt with first hand, I myself know two people who have committed suicide before I’ve even turned 25.
“We are all alone, ...more

2.5 stars
I would rate Jennifer Niven's author note five stars if I could. We need more books about mental illness; authors should strive to tackle uncomfortable subjects like abuse, suicide, and bipolar disorder. While Niven's intentions come across as meaningful and good, her delivery through her first YA novel, All the Bright Places, falls short. Some reasons why:
1: These characters have QftSoQ (Quirkiness for the Sake of Quirkiness) syndrome. They - in particular, Finch - read as caricatures ...more
I would rate Jennifer Niven's author note five stars if I could. We need more books about mental illness; authors should strive to tackle uncomfortable subjects like abuse, suicide, and bipolar disorder. While Niven's intentions come across as meaningful and good, her delivery through her first YA novel, All the Bright Places, falls short. Some reasons why:
1: These characters have QftSoQ (Quirkiness for the Sake of Quirkiness) syndrome. They - in particular, Finch - read as caricatures ...more

All the Bright Places is the story of how Theodore Finch and Ultraviolet are brought together by death--which would be gloomy, except the two personalities bloom, becoming something beautiful, as their wondrous adventures bring them closer together. Jennifer Niven takes a girl meets boy story, sets it in the dull landscape of Indiana, and turns it into a Seussical wonderworld with these extraordinarily conflicted characters.
Saying their journey is a rollercoaster would be a understatement. It's ...more
Saying their journey is a rollercoaster would be a understatement. It's ...more

Ugh. Just, no. Mental illness is not a cute little quirk. It isn't something that kickstarts a misfit, high school romance. It is not something that automatically makes you more witty, or intelligent, or really all that different from your peers. It isn't at all what is portrayed in this book. Niven's intentions may be wonderful, and she is right that we need more books about mental health and illness. But this makes a mockery of it. Please, YA authors, don't touch this topic unless you know wha
...more

Every now and then you find a book that not only makes you think, but changes the way you look at the world. 'All the Bright Places', in all its clever, poetic and honest beauty is one of those books. It will stay with me, forever.
...more

Horribly pretentious, overtly ostentatious, and highly deleterious! Niven concocts a controversial narrative about suicide and mental illness with the intention of bringing forth light into all the darkest places yet the way she handles/executes this story is both disheartening and callous to those who are facing their everyday "black holes and blue holes and bottomless bodies of water and exploding stars and event horizons, and a place so dark that light can’t get out once it’s in."
Bartlett, In ...more
Bartlett, In ...more

Nov 10, 2019
demi. ♡
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
gimme-some-tissue-papers
❥ 5 / 5 stars
Throughout the book, there were so many clues leading to what I did not want it to happen the most in the story and I tried, tried, and tried to ignore all of them, wishing that maybe this book would not be so cruel to me and there was still hope that the incident like this would not happen in the book.
But unfortunately, as I had already presumed for some time, my wishes did not come true. And that, if I’m being honest, completely ripped my ...more
“No longer rooted, but gold, flowing.”
Throughout the book, there were so many clues leading to what I did not want it to happen the most in the story and I tried, tried, and tried to ignore all of them, wishing that maybe this book would not be so cruel to me and there was still hope that the incident like this would not happen in the book.
But unfortunately, as I had already presumed for some time, my wishes did not come true. And that, if I’m being honest, completely ripped my ...more

“You make me lovely, and it’s so lovely to be lovely to the one I love.”
Well, my heart has been butchered again. But, I can’t complain because I chose to reread it.
I woke up in a state of mourning. This is what this book was. It was honest and raw about mental health, parental neglect, lack of understanding about the topic in schools and society as a whole.
Jennifer Niven did an amazing job showcasing all of this and I felt so deeply connected to the characters and their struggles.
This book ...more
Well, my heart has been butchered again. But, I can’t complain because I chose to reread it.
I woke up in a state of mourning. This is what this book was. It was honest and raw about mental health, parental neglect, lack of understanding about the topic in schools and society as a whole.
Jennifer Niven did an amazing job showcasing all of this and I felt so deeply connected to the characters and their struggles.
This book ...more

Is today a good day to die?
All the Bright Places turned out to be one of the most personal books of the year for me. Although it's being marketed as "The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park", I have to violently disagree. As someone who detested The Fault in Our Stars and hasn't read Eleanor and Park, All the Bright Places touched something inside me that these books did not.
Theodore Finch, seventeen, wants to die. He knows the best ways to commit suicide, as well as the intern ...more

5 stars!
This year instead of having New Years resolutions I won’t keep, I decided to make book goals and one of those goals was to read more YA. 25 is my goal for the year. This was the first on my list this year and it blew me away! For real, I had ALL THE FEELS while reading this. Powerful, memorable, smart, funny, sad, real… this book was completely authentic and moving.
There were so many ‘quotable’ things in this book. I just want to talk about the story so much but I went in blind and l ...more

This year instead of having New Years resolutions I won’t keep, I decided to make book goals and one of those goals was to read more YA. 25 is my goal for the year. This was the first on my list this year and it blew me away! For real, I had ALL THE FEELS while reading this. Powerful, memorable, smart, funny, sad, real… this book was completely authentic and moving.

There were so many ‘quotable’ things in this book. I just want to talk about the story so much but I went in blind and l ...more

I can't even scramble my thoughts together for a review. Unrealistic and incredibly irritating. None of the characters' actions made sense. The only time I liked the story is whenever Theo's depression (????) was triggered and he became aloof and dissociated, because that was more tolerable than his annoying antics leading Violet on and perpetuating this "Theodore Freak" label at school. As a reader, I feel really guilty that the only parts of this book that I enjoyed were the parts that the cha
...more

2.5 stars
Can someone give me their glasses too, because I can't see it. I don't see the appeal. I don't see what inspired thousands of reviewers to post sobbing gifs, and those that disliked The Fault in Our Stars to tote it as amazeballs when it's the exac ...more
"He smiles out at the ugly trees and the ugly farmland and the ugly kids as if he can see Oz. As if he can really, truly see the beauty that's there. In that moment I wish I could see it through his eyes. I wish he had glasses to give me."
Can someone give me their glasses too, because I can't see it. I don't see the appeal. I don't see what inspired thousands of reviewers to post sobbing gifs, and those that disliked The Fault in Our Stars to tote it as amazeballs when it's the exac ...more

Mar 13, 2016
Dannii Elle
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
romantic-recollections,
contemporary-cuteness
I am broken...
Contemporary is a genre I read little of and reread even less. When I do delve into the genre it is one of two things that grab my attention in it - boarding/private schools and a discourse on mental health. This covers the latter in the most heart-wrenching, harrowing, and important of story-lines. I am off to watch the movie adaptation and cry some more, now.
Contemporary is a genre I read little of and reread even less. When I do delve into the genre it is one of two things that grab my attention in it - boarding/private schools and a discourse on mental health. This covers the latter in the most heart-wrenching, harrowing, and important of story-lines. I am off to watch the movie adaptation and cry some more, now.
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Do you think Finch could have been saved? | 25 | 218 | 6 hours, 4 min ago | |
Before I die, I want to... | 63 | 214 | Feb 22, 2021 12:49PM | |
Thoughts After finishing the book | 98 | 811 | Feb 22, 2021 02:17AM | |
The Introvert Rea...: All The Bright Places | 4 | 10 | Jan 31, 2021 09:45AM | |
Addicted to YA: All the Bright Places | 39 | 698 | Jan 26, 2021 06:35PM | |
Young Readers: All The Bright Places - Jennifer Niven | 11 | 34 | Jan 12, 2021 05:59AM | |
2021 Reading Chal...:
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38 | 85 | Jan 11, 2021 02:44PM |
Jennifer Niven is the Emmy Award-winning #1 New York Times and International bestselling author of ten books, including All the Bright Places and Holding up the Universe. Her books have been translated in over 75 languages, and All the Bright Places has won literary awards around the world, including the GoodReads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction of 2015. It was named a Best Book of the Y
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Whether it’s magic schools, dystopias, paranormal love stories, or contemporary explorations of important real-life issues, young adult books...
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“You are all the colors in one, at full brightness.”
—
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“The thing I realize is, that it's not what you take, it's what you leave.”
—
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