All the Bright Places - a review

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven is about a boy called Finch and a girl called Violet. Finch is a little different from everyone else, and is struggling with depression and other issues, and thinks about suicide quite a lot. Violet has lost her sister in an accident, and has a hard time moving on with her life and recovering from that loss. They meet on the ledge of their school's bell tower, and that's where everything starts.

I read this in two sittings, in two days. It is a long book, but it didn't really feel like that. At first I didn't really like this, but I wasn't going to stop reading, so I just kept on going. Then at some point it started to get better and better, and in the end I liked it. It was never going to be a favourite, but I did like it. The last few dozen pages felt a little long or slow, but given what happens, it didn't really bother me. And well, maybe it was just me who felt that way, anyways. It did end the story, and the book would have felt incomplete without those pages.

The story was very realistic, and true. There were funny parts, and sad parts. Some passages I really really liked, and some made me cry, just because I could really recognize the feelings and relate to some of the things that happened. In the end, I felt very emotionally drained. And at the same time, there were really adorable and sweet parts. I laughed, and I cried. Not just once, but a few times.

I had a love/hate relationship with some of the characters, most of all Finch. I really liked him at some parts, but sometimes he just felt very fake, pretentious, and like he was trying way too hard. But I have to say, that got better the more I read. I really liked Violet and her story. The book is written in two points of view, and I liked to read more from Violet than from Finch. Some characters I felt a little 'meh' about, but then they said something or did something that made me like them.

I gave this book 4 stars, but I feel like that is a little bit too high a rating. 3 is too low, though, so I'm just going to stick with 4. I would also like to add that there is a lot of things about suicide that could be triggering. This book deals with it really nicely, and ten points for that, but still. Think before reading.

Violet creates a web magazine in the book, which is actually a real thing. You can click here to check it out, if you like.