All the Bright Places

Introduction

I am going to insert a trigger warning here. This book deals with incredibly heavy and serious subject matter, and it is not one to be taken lightly. If you are going to be negatively affected by content exploring the themes of mental health, abuse, bullying, and suicidal thoughts and actions, this is not the book or movie for you. For those who may struggle with their mental health and would like to seek help, I am including different resources and hotlines in this introduction. Please proceed with caution.

All the Bright Places, written by Jennifer Niven, was published on January 6th, 2015, by Knopf publishing company. For those who might not know, May is mental health awareness month. As I mentioned on social media, though and I am not uploading on any particular schedule, I do still want to do one themed book per month. Knowing this and having already read, watched, and loved All the Bright Places, I knew this was the book I wanted to cover. If you have not read this book or watched the movie, I would start there, but please read my trigger warnings before you do. The subject matter is as important as it is heavy, and I am not exaggerating when I say that this book weighs heavy on my heart. Please remember that the Plot section will not contain spoilers and will provide a general overview, but the Thoughts and Movie sections will contain spoilers. This review - particularly the Thoughts section - is very long. Usually I would try to keep it more concise, but I believe that the themes of this book are incredibly important and should not be whittled down. Thank you to those willing to read all of it, and please feel free to reach out via email or Instagram direct message if you want to start a conversation. If you choose to start conversations in the comments, I encourage you to do so, but I ask that all discussions are kept kind and respectful.

If you want to learn more about Jennifer Niven and her other works, check out her website, https://www.jenniferniven.com/jenniferniven/jennifer, and follow her on social media @jenniferniven.

Resources

These resources are also included on page 383 of All the Bright Places.

Suicide Prevention

American Association of Suicidology (AAS) - https://suicidology.org/

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) - https://afsp.org/

IMAlive - https://www.imalive.org/

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - https://988lifeline.org/ or call (1-800-273-TALK)

Diagnosing Mental Illness in Teens

Helpguide - https://www.helpguide.org/

Mental Health America (MHA) - https://mhanational.org/

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - https://www.nami.org/Home

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - https://www.nimh.nih.gov/

Teen Mental Health - https://mentalhealthliteracy.org/

Survivors

Mayo Clinic - https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/end-of-life/in-depth/suicide/art-20044900

SOS: A Handbook for Survivors of Suicide by Jeffrey Jackson (published by AAS) - available online, along with other helpful resources, at https://suicidology.org/resources/suicide-loss-survivors/

Bullying

Stomp Out Bullying - https://www.stompoutbullying.org/

StopBullying - https://www.stopbullying.gov/

Abuse

Childhelp - https://www.childhelp.org/

National Child Abuse Hotline - (1-800-4-A-CHILD) - (1-800-422-4453)

Plot

A chance meeting and a class project forces teenagers Violet Markey and Theodore Finch to work together, though it seems they have nothing in common. The more they get to know one another, the more they realize they may be exactly what is needed to save the other. Set in Bartlett, Indiana in 2015 and told through two first person perspectives, read as their stories intertwine.

Thoughts

I put one in the introduction above, but in case you skipped that and came straight to this section, I want to give a trigger warning for the sensitive content that is contained in this book. I think conversations about mental health and mental health struggles are incredibly important to have, and I think this book is an important one to read because of that. However, All the Bright Places contains themes of mental health struggles, suicidal thoughts and actions, bullying, and abuse. This book is not one to be taken lightly, and if you think that reading this book, watching this movie, or reading this review will be a detriment to your mental health, PLEASE DO NOT READ OR WATCH. If you feel you need to seek help, I am including resources in the introduction section. All my love to those who may read this, and please proceed with caution.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the almost opposite attitudes and behaviors between Finch and Violet. Finch does not fear death, and is ready to embrace it. He is so ready, that he actively and often considers taking his own life. Despite his outlook on life and internal personal struggles, he counts his days up. He feels awake and alive, and he keeps track of how many days he feels that way. He makes the most of every moment as if it’s his last because he is acutely aware of the fact that it might be. He’s intentionally comedic, almost giving a class clown feel to his character, and he makes it clear that he doesn’t care - or at least pretends not to care - about what others think of him. His mental health journey is full of ups and downs, and though he is never given an official diagnosis, it is speculated that he may have bipolar disorder. He rejects the idea immediately, recognizing the label - which I will dig into deeper in a later paragraph - and does not want to seek professional help. The only reason he sees the school counselor is because he has to due to his probation requirements.

Violet seems to be his opposite. She fears death and is still reeling from the sudden and accidental death of her sister, Eleanor, which was caused by a car crash. She no longer spends time with friends outside of school, can’t bring herself to follow her dreams or continue her passions, and she keeps herself confined to a three or four mile radius around her town - anywhere she can reach by bike or by foot. Everything for her is incredibly matter-of-fact, and she doesn’t let much joy or laughter into her life because of her survivor’s guilt. After meeting Finch and being forced to spend more time with him, she begins to find that happiness again, and her recovery - while nowhere near easy - appears to follow a more linear trend than Finch’s. That is not to say that she doesn’t still struggle every day with the loss of her sister, but she learns to continue on without her and begin living her own life again.

The plot of the book is great, the idea of wandering being the focal point was interesting for a number of reasons and organically moved the plot along smoothly. The pacing was incredible, and watching Violet get slowly better while Finch gets slowly worse is heartbreaking. Both experience huge turning points regarding their mental health, and not only is that shown in their own perspectives, but through the other as well. You don’t even need to read between the lines to suspect how the book will end, though I refused to believe it on my first read through. When I did read the ending, I remember putting the book down and just crying. It took me several minutes to compose myself enough to finish the book, and even then the rest of it had me in tears. However, as brilliant as the plot is, I do want to spend more time with this review going over some themes and ideas that I think are important to bring attention to.

First, I want to delve into the idea that physical health is more socially recognized and less stigmatized than mental health. It’s seen in Finch’s household, in their community, and it’s talked about in the support group that Finch goes to later on in the book. When someone gets physically hurt, a common sentiment is for them to “get better soon.” The unfortunate reality is that when someone struggles with their mental health, the same sentiments aren’t offered as often. Instead, mental health in our society is stigmatized, ignored, and misunderstood. Finch - knowing this - immediately rejected the idea that he might have bipolar disorder. He didn’t want another label - especially not that one - tacked onto him, not when he could barely get through a school day without being called “Theodore Freak” or getting beat up by the more popular kids. He understood what that label would mean for him.

Second, I think it’s incredibly important that it’s made known that anyone can struggle with their mental health. When Finch goes to that support group, he sees one of the popular kids who had bullied him there, Amanda. While there, it’s learned that she had tried to take her own life twice in the past and struggled with an eating disorder. Looking at her from the outside, it was incredibly hard to tell that she was struggling at all, let alone to that degree. She seemed to have it all: the grades, the friends, the extracurriculars - but she had much more going on inside. That’s why it’s important to support and check in on those you love, especially when you know they’re struggling. It’s also critical not to make assumptions about people based on what they choose to show you because you truly can never know someone without knowing their story.

Third, following Finch’s death, his parents wanted to act like it was an accident, as if he didn’t take his own life. His father - who abused and abandoned his family - cried alongside the rest of them at the funeral. So did the bullies who tormented Finch every day and were part of what drove him to that point to begin with. Everyone wanted to act after the fact and say how sad and sorry they were, how they wished they had known, but only Violet turned to Amanda to actually offer that helping hand to someone still struggling. We have to start taking action before, but it’s also important to remember - as it’s pointed out through Violet’s conversation with the school counselor, Embry - that sometimes just one person can’t do it on their own and more help is necessary.

Fourth, All the Bright Places is a beautiful title, and I think that the wanderings provide a consistency throughout the book. However, there is one specific moment that sticks with me: Finch helping his younger sister Decca cut the bad and unpleasant words out of books to separate them from the good ones. His last words in an email to his sister are to find the beauty in the ugly words, and to not lose her hope in the world yet. In short, look for those bright places. He showed them to Violet, and in doing so he saved her.

This book is a masterpiece, and I feel touched by it on every readthrough. I think that the themes are crucial for us to be exposed to, and I hope that reading this encourages people to seek help, reach out, and start conversations about these topics. For the raw sincerity of this book combined with the plot, character development, and pacing, this one is an easy 10/10 for me. Please, if you have the chance, check it out.

The Movie

The movie, directed by Brett Haley, was released on February 28th, 2020. Starring Elle Fanning as Violet Markey and Justice Smith as Theodore Finch, All the Bright Places was a fantastic adaptation. Very few details were changed, and the themes shone through just as well on screen as they did on paper. That was undoubtedly in part due to the talented cast who brought these characters to life and whose incredible performances did the raw emotion of this story justice. It was funny, sad, and hopeful in exactly the way I would have expected it to be. One aspect that caught my eye was Finch’s wall of Post-It notes, which contained notes specifically mentioned in the book, as well as references to the book that didn’t make it to the movie. It was nice to see that the production team was paying attention and putting in the effort that this film deserves. My favorite line was one of the final ones from Violet as she presents their final project. She says, “There are bright places, even in dark times. And if there isn’t, then you can be those bright places. With infinite capacities.” This quote is going to be one that sticks with me, and the impact it has on the characters, viewers, and story is unparalleled. All in all, I really have no complaints, and if you are interested in engaging with this story but are not huge on reading, this movie is a wonderful alternative.