The book starts off with two main characters, Violet and Finch, at the top of the school’s bell tower, both not planning on going back down the stairs that led them there. This is more than a romance novel- while there are many sweet moments between the story’s protagonists, there is still tension, drama, and the battling of demons to be discovered in this complex coming of age story. If you can relate to the touchy subjects being discussed in this story, you might be able to see yourself in its pages. 2023 Bartending Awards are now accepting nominations.Īll the Bright Places is a book that was bound to break my heart from the first sentence.I also liked that you could distinguish between the two characters perspectives. It was kind of quirky and fit the story line. I’m going to conclude this reflection/list to give you one positive on this book. Lots of unneeded tropes (specifically two of my least favorites “boy saves girl from herself” and “girl is so much prettier without make up”).All parents were absent for reasons that kind of did not make sense.From my perspective (and from other reviewers perspectives), this book romanticizes mental illness (Love can fix your illness).

Seriously the characters weren’t “quirky” they just needed some help.Violet had the Hazel Grace mindset of “nothing really matters because everyone will die”.Finch was weirdly and awkwardly romantic (in a way that only Augustus Waters did right) and had an obsession with unlit cigarettes.

This book was trying so hard to be like The Fault In Our Stars.Violet and Finch were literally cutouts of mental illnesses (bipolar, depression).The characters had no personality traits.The ending was so obvious from the synopsis and just the first few chapters.Because everyone loves an emotional story right? The only purpose I got out of the story was to make the reader cry.

But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. Soon it’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school-six stories above the ground- it’s unclear who saves whom.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. Every day he thinks of ways he might kill himself, but every day he also searches for-and manages to find- something to keep him here, and alive, and awake. Therefore I didn’t even finish it, and am writing a reflection on the story instead of a review since I’m not aware of the full story/character arc. All The Bright Places was a book that I knew going into would be a little bit problematic, but I didn’t expect it to be as poorly written or unoriginal as it was.

All the bright places pages