A.S King
Books
Jennifer Niven
Let's Talk!
Review
Let's Talk!: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
3/26/2015All the Bright Places
Author: Jennifer Niven
Pages: 388
Published by: Knopf
Published on: January 6th 2015
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.Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her 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, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. 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. This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.
This book is all the rage. Like literally. I wouldn't have read it so soon from when I bought it if it weren't for all the raving this book got. Plus, Spotlight Book Club was reading it so I decided to join all the glorious fun! Do I regret reading this book? Not one bit. Well, it did take an unfortunate number of 4 days to complete...
I loved the characters in this book. Finch and Violet are two people who have not a lot in common yet they become such good friends to each other. I liked that. If Violet and Finch didn't become friends and just didn't know each other this book would obviously be a lot different than it is. I also liked how these two came together because of a school project. (Even if Violet acted like she wanted nothing to do with Finch.) That's very important to have in a book, a strong relationship. If one character doesn't like another character and they are the two main characters the book, in my opinion, that won't be very fun to read. If I read a book, I want it to be happy and I can enjoy it, not be frustrated.
One of the things that scared me when I went into this book was the ending. I had heard that people thought the ending was really sad and people cried. Throughout the book, I got ideas on why the ending was so sad but I didn't want to spoil myself with the ideas and I denied the facts. Yes, I thought correct on why the ending was sad. I cried, I really did.
One of the reasons why I think I liked this book so much was because I liked Finch so much. I liked his character and how open minded he was. He was also a person where everything he said made you question everything. He wasn't afraid of being weird or expressing how he felt. Reading from him was always so fun and great. Finch's personality is one of the reasons why this book can function the way it does and I continue to love reading from and about his personality daily.
I gave this book five stars because the story and plot of this book was so great, I loved the characters, and just over all loved this book.
You know what this book reminds me of. That one line off the song “If I Die Young” by The Band Perry. Everyone remembers that song right? “If I die young, bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses..” and yah de yah de. Well this book reminds me of one very particular line.
“...Funny when you're dead, how people start listening.”
I don't know if this is the exact words but that's the closest I could get to it. Now, why does this line remind me of this book. It's true, that's why. Before Finch died, people didn't even pay attention to him and if they did, it was to make fun of him or something. After he died, everyone acted like they were his best friend and mourned him like that. That really frustrated me because, yeah okay, mourn all you would like but YOU DIDN'T KNOW A DAMN THING. If anything, the people who were telling Violet and Brenda “I'm so sorry” were the people muttering “Freak” to Finch about six months before. Just wanted to put that out.
Just a thought: As much as I loved this book, I thought the beginning was very slow for me...
The characters in this book were great. Not just personality wise, but I could relate to them? Well, Violet especially. Like, this girl used to have a blog. I have a blog! It was just so fun reading about how she used to blog with her dead sister before, well, before Eleanor died. I actually stopped reading and looked up the exact URL of Germ Magazine and Eleanor and Violet and was very surprised to see that they actually existed! Like, this was the coolest thing ever. Maybe, E&V was cooler to find than Germ but that's not the point. I was more obligated to read on when I read some of the posts Eleanor and Violet put up.
While we are talking about Violet, this girl has more to what meets the eye. When I first started reading I thought that Finch was the only “messed up person” in this book. Turns out I was wrong. Obviously Violet has got some scars for herself. Before and After Eleanor Violets are two very different people. Before Eleanor Violet was a lot more outgoing and she was actually popular. Dated hot guys, attended parties, got drunk! Yeah, I think I can confirm she was a pretty popular person back then. After Eleanor's death she kind of dragged her down. Of course, she still had friends but they seemed like fake people. Violet got a lot more shy and quieter after her sister's death that's for sure...
The ending. Oh gosh the ending. This is the part EVERYONE talks about. I was sitting at my friends house (They were making me a very ugly Mii on the Wii) and I was screaming. Like yelling screaming. I couldn't believe what was happening. Then I cried, and it was weird. My friends were so confused on what was happening and I felt so bad they had to deal with very emotional Kaitlin. Gah! Dammit Finch! Why you have to die? There were so many reasons why it happened too. Well for one he wasn't happy, his dad, and part of it had to be Violet. I just feel so bad because he was such a great guy. He had a family, someone to love, uhh did I mention a great SAT score?! Finch wasn't happy, that's where stuff went wrong. *cries*
Hope you guys enjoyed this very long review! Let me know how you feel about the book. :)
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