Holiday Review: All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s a 2nd year English Lit student, reading for pleasure is a rare opportunity, so during Christmas I was determined to read at least one book that wasn’t related to my course.

The premise of Jennifer Niven’s All The Bright Places is two kids, Finch and Violet, who meet on the edge of their school’s bell tower and become friends.  From the beginning, this novel is very clichéd: both protagonists are misunderstood and they bond over Virginia Woolf’s writing. The first hundred pages didn’t really grip me at all, maybe this was because the novel had been too overhyped, or I just didn’t find the characters particularly stimulating. However, the plot picked up around halfway through, making me race through the rest of it to the end. I stayed up until 2am one night, desperate to see how it concluded.

I’ve often found that in literature aimed at young adults, mental health narratives are contrived, but Niven’s book was definitely an exception in my eyes

On reason I really enjoyed the book was because of the way it handled mental health issues in teenagers. I’ve often found that in literature aimed at young adults, mental health narratives are contrived, but Niven’s book was definitely an exception in my eyes. The author’s note at the end revealed her personal experience with these problems, which I feel is evidence of how honestly mental health problems were portrayed.

I really did enjoy this novel, becoming much more involved with the characters than I initially thought I would

Ultimately, despite a bit of a slow start and some awful clichés, I really did enjoy this novel, becoming much more involved with the characters than I initially thought I would. Should Niven write another Young Adult novel in the future, I would definitely read it.

Image Credits: George Clark / Flickr (Header)