Star crossed lovers, forbidden love and opposites attract novels are popular for a reason. The book, All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, provides an interesting story about teenage love, struggles, and two kids who were meant for each other.
There are two main characters in All The Bright Places. One of them is a girl named Violet Markey and the other is a boy named Theodore Finch. Theodore is introduced as a kid with some mental disabilities like bipolar disorder. Violet is a former popular girl who is struggling with grief.
The chapters in this book don’t have titles, they have the name of whose perspective it is now being written. Sometimes the author, Jennifer Niven, will replay some scenes but from both perspectives just to show the importance of what both the characters are thinking. It’s a great strategy especially when the author doesn’t do it and readers are left wondering what the other character was up to or was thinking.
The novel starts by introducing the characters and talking about their background and childhood. This,this leads up to their eventual meeting . They meet in not great circumstances, but that bonds them because of the crazy situation in which they met.
Violet has some trust issues and is lonely, but throughout the book, Theodore makes his way into her life and they help each other with their struggles. Theodore is more free spirited and wants to have adventures all the time. Violet is more closed off and wants to be left alone. The main theme in this book is coming out of your shell and falling in love.
Theodore and Violet are paired up for a class project… In this project, they have to go around their town in Indiana and record their adventures. Violet just wants to go to random places close to home and be done with the project. Theodore on the other hand sees this as an opportunity to get Violet out and be more adventurous. Each of them gets a certain amount of places they pick. But the pair of teens don’t call this adventuring, they call it wandering.
While they wander to some of the coolest places in Indiana, they become closer and start to fall in love. With Theodore’s character he is bipolar and with that, it can come with some struggles. Violet tries to understand how to help but Theodore does some unexpected things more towards the end of the book.
The theme of falling in love and trusting someone so much that you would do anything, even though before you met them you never would’ve even thought of doing it.