All the Bright Places (Niven) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
At the heart—a big one—of All the Bright Places lies a charming love story about this unlikely and endearing pair of broken teenagers…it seems inevitable that All the Bright Places will be compared to Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park and John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, and deservedly so, at least in the case of its central characters. Violet and Finch are the archetypal offering in contemporary young adult fiction: a pair of damaged, heart-tugging teenagers who are at once outcasts and isolated, trapped by the dissonant alchemy of their combined fates.
Andrew Smith - New York Times Book Review


This heartbreaking love story about two funny, fragile, and wildly damaged high school kids named Violet and Finch is worth reading. Niven is a skillful storyteller who never patronizes her characters—or her audience.
Entertainment Weekly


(Starred review.) Niven creates a romance so fresh and funny... [and] she also makes something she foreshadows from the first line surprising. The journey...is romantic and heartbreaking, as characters and readers confront darkness, joy, and the possibilities—and limits—of love in the face of mental illness (Ages 14–up).
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review.) The writing in this heartrending novel is fluid, despite the difficult topics, as Niven relays the complex thought processes of the two teens. Finch and Violet, with their emotional turmoil and insecurities, will ring true to teens (Gr 10 Up). —Heather Miller Cover, Homewood Public Library, AL
School Library Journal


(Starred review.) Two struggling teens develop an unlikely relationship in a moving exploration of grief, suicide and young love.... [A] cast of carefully drawn side characters brings to life both the pain of loss and the possibility of moving forward, though some notes of hope are more believable than others. Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably (14 & up).
Kirkus Reviews