Did you love The Fault in Our Stars and If I Stay? Then you will probably want
to read Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright
Places, which tackles another trendy topic – teen suicide. My junior year
in high school, the president of student council killed himself at Valentine’s
Day, so as a reader I am both attracted to and repelled by teen suicide books.
The book started slowly
for me, as it seemed overly similar to other realistic fiction YA books like
those I mentioned. Freaky, weird, unpopular boy and pretty, popular girl
with an issue. I had a bit of a hard time buying the initial “meet cute” (or
not so cute) set up. He goes up on the school’s bell tower to think about dying,
something he thinks about a lot. She doesn’t know why she goes up, she just
finds herself there, numb from the death of her older sister in a car crash
months before. He talks her down, but everyone in their high school of 2000
students thinks it’s the other way around. That she courageously and heroically
saw him up there and persuaded him not to kill himself.
So Theodore
Finch and Violet Markey slowly become friends, then boyfriend and girlfriend.
Their U.S. Geography teacher asks them to work in pairs on a project, reporting
on two or three “wonders of Indiana.” Finch manipulates Violet into agreeing to
be his partner on the project, and much of their relationship is spent visiting
strange and quirky curiosities in Indiana.
The
giddiness of attraction between teenagers is well done, as is the aftermath of
a tragedy that takes place late in the book. Some of the metaphors are labored –
like the story of a cardinal who kept flying into the glass doors of Finch’s
home until it killed him – but there is some nice imagery. The depiction of the
parents and the other students is uneven. For example, Finch’s father is a caricature,
but Violet’s mother has some depth.
The book
is narrated in turn by Finch and Violet. I found Finch much better developed than
Violet, and liked his voice much better. Still, they are both flawed but
appealing. The dialog between Finch and Violet is very smart and literate, but
not over the top for the most part. Their internal narratives ring true most of
the time.
“Like
most people in the Midwest, Embryo doesn’t believe in humor, especially when it
pertains to sensitive subjects,” thinks Finch (p. 19 of the advance reader
copy), which isn’t true but is something a teenager might believe.
There is
much in this book that teenagers will relate to. “One year later, I grew out of
my clothes because, it turns out, growing fourteen inches in a summer is easy.
It’s growing out of a label that’s hard, ” thinks Finch after being stuck with
the label Theodore Freak. (p. 108)
“I reach
for Violet because I’m not too steady on my feet and it’s a long way down if I
fall. She wraps her arm around me like it’s second nature, and I lean into her
and she leans into me until we make up one leaning person.” (p. 148) Who doesn’t
wish for a relationship like that?
I predict this book will
be very popular. I recommend it for lovers of realistic contemporary fiction
that deals with issues and for readers who enjoy fiction set in Indiana. I read
an advance reader copy provided by netgalley.com. The book will be available in the young adult fiction section of the Galesburg Public Library soon.
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