All the bright places (Jennifer Niven)

I genuinly hope I'm not offending anyone by the way I'm talking about mental illnesses, I'm just trying my best to review this book and since it's so closely tied with this topic, I wanted to address it as well.

Theodore Finch and Violet Markey meet each other on their school's bell tower for the first time, where they're both for different reasons. Violent is still deeply troubled by her sister's death, while Finch is suffering from a bipolar disorder. At first, Violet doesn't want to be associated with him because of his reputation as freak, even though he helped her down that tower, but when they have to work on a school project together, Violet and Finch both open up towards each other. Violet's world starts to grow again with Finch at her side, while Finch can't stop his from shrinking.

"Is today a good day to die?"

Sadly, very few books actually deal with topics like mental illnesses and suicides, even though it affects so many people. I understand it's a very sensitive issue and bringing it up can be difficult, but the way Jennifer Niven managed to do it in this book shows it's definitely possible and needs to be done a lot more, not just in books, but also in school and most importantly in media to erase the stigma that comes with any kind of mental illness. This story shows how important it is to speak up, to never be ashamed and to seek help.
I had my troubles with the first few POV chapters of Finch, mainly because I've never been confronted with any kind of mental illness before (Thanks for not educating us about these illnesses, German education system!), but I learned to love them as much as I did Violet's, whose feelings I understood really well from the beginning on. I really enjoyed the writing, especially the way the facts and quotes were integrated.
The story itself was in a way really beautiful and lovely, but on the other hand obviously increndebly sad and touching. I was sobbing throughout reading the whole book and it showed me how important it is to talk about your feelings instead of ignoring them, which will sooner or later lead to horrible things. Even though the ending was kind of predictable, I was actually suprised that it did happen, because I wouldn't have thought the author was brave enough to go that far. She even managed to make me cry with her note at the end of the book, which was very meaningful and should definitely be read as well by everyone who picks up this book.

Rating: 5/5 ✹

Whenever something is bothering you, please speak up. Whatever it is, it's not your fault and you shouldn't be ashamed. So please speak up.

Leah