"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

01 December 2014

All the Bright Places


Niven, Jennifer. All the Bright Places. Knopf, 2015.

Theodore and Violet meet on the bell tower at their school, and one of them is able to talk the other one out of jumping. These unlikely acquaintances develop into friends as they work together on a school project. Violet is grieving the loss of her old sister while Theodore is battling demons of his own. [Sorry, more info would constitute a spoiler.]

This book has been heralded as a mash-up between The Fault in Our Stars and Eleanor and Park. At first I wasn't sure this book would live up to the hype and was afraid I'd be disappointed, but I wasn't. Violet's grief over the death of her sister is very real, and it has colored her world for the past year. Theodore is battling bipolar disorder, which apparently has run in his family and which he refuses to acknowledge or relieve through medication. This book has death, life, love, mental illness - all the things a teen adores in fiction. Recommended.

Recommended for: teens

Red Flags: language

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

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