Book Review: All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (& Bipolar Disorder)
My own brain is to me the most unaccountable of machinery--always buzzing, humming, soaring roaring diving, and then buried in mud. And why? What's this passion for?" -Virginia Woolf, quoted in All The Bright Places (pg. 75)
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Complete review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2478889477
I am 3 years late to this book, but I read it today all in one sitting.
And...I am actually incredibly disturbed and feel the author should be ashamed of herself.
As someone with bipolar disorder, I feel offended by what she did to Finch as a character. She completely trashed him and then wrote this Author's Note about how much she cares about suicide and bipolar disorder because of her experiences with it, yet was so horribly unfair to the very character who has this illness (potentially) and glamorizes the hell out of him (view spoiler) But it's all okay because the worst and most selfish character in this book, Violet, gets forever changed and that means (view spoiler) Am I the only one who feels like this? Because I have read other YA books dealing with mental illness and suicide and was completely okay and moved by them, but this one is the worst.
Finch was treated unfairly. Extremely unfairly. And therefore, as someone with bipolar disorder, I feel treated unfairly and feel that my illness was misused for a dramatic fiction book.
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The Fault in Our Stars is a bad, overrated book with completely unbelievable characters. There, I said it.
All the Bright Places borders on the 'unbelievable characters' flaw, but I found myself completely wrapped up in Theodore Finch. I lost major connection to Violet Markey. But this book is not okay. It is harmful.
"The thing I don't say is: I want to stay alive. The reason I don't say it is because, given that fat folder in front of him, he'd never believe it. And here's something else he'd never believe - I'm fighting to be here in this shitty, messed-up world." (pg. 15) (emphasis mine)
Theodore Finch has bipolar disorder. At least, his crappy school counselor thinks that he does:
"What do you know about bipolar disorder?"
I almost say, What do you know about it? But I make myself breathe and smile. "Is that the Jekyll-Hyde thing?" My voice sounds flat and even. Maybe a little bored, even though my mind and body are on alert.
"Some people call it manic depression. It's a brain disorder that causes extreme shifts in mood and energy. It runs in families, but it can be treated."
I continue to breathe, even if I'm not smiling anymore, but here is what is happening: my brain and my heart are pounding out different rhythms; my hands are turning cold and the back of my neck is turning hot; my throat has gone completely dry. The thing I know about bipolar disorder is that it's a label. One you give crazy people. I know this because I've taken junior-year psychology and I've seen movies and I've watched my father in action for almost eighteen years, even though you could never slap a label on him because he would kill you. Labels like "bipolar" say This is why you are the way you are. This is who you are. They explain people away as illnesses. (pg. 271)
Theodore Finch is Amanda Heck, and Amanda Heck is me, the author of this review.
The above quote resonated with me so deeply that I began to cry while reading. I have Type 2 bipolar disorder, a label that was given to me nearly two years ago after several mis-labels were applied to my wounded heart and mind. I used to believe exactly what Finch did: Bipolar disorder is a Jekyll-Hyde disease. It makes you half-human, half-monster. It is a label for crazy people. It is destructive, just like Finch saw in his father, and like I saw in my own father. And then Finch is completely done away with. Tossed aside. No help or true love or redemption.
I felt tossed away.
Finch completely breaks on page 271. He breaks and begins to recite and believe the lies I have struggled with.
I am broken. I am a fraud. I am impossible to love. (pg. 277)
That. is. real.
Finch's potential diagnosis does not come until page 271, and that is 71% of the way through this book. The remaining 29% is a horrific tale that broke my heart in two, complete with an amazing Author's Note.
But most of this book? Filler. And not good filler either.
The rest of this review does spoil the ending. If you don't intend to read this book, please proceed. I would not say I recommend it.
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I read several reviews of this book on Goodreads, and though the book has 24,852 Reviews with a 4.18 total score, I came across a few very interesting 1-star reviews. The consensus from these low star reviews is this:
I'm not charmed enough by the relationships or humor or writing here to forget that suicide is used as a cute plot device. - Wendy Darling
Perhaps it's just me, but I am getting so tired of these Lifetime special kind of books that seem to hit me over the head with emotional manipulation....These characters all feel so fake; like plot tools the author uses to extract our emotions. - Emily May
the characters weren't people, just mental illnesses put into bodies. "quirky" but in reality mentally ill. not cool. nobody treated the characters' problems like they were real problems and that pissed me offfff
however, if you enjoyed the book/could relate to the characters, that's totally fine. this one just wasn't for me unfortunately. - Raeleen Lemay
It makes me sad that these characters were defined by their illness and the adults in this book didn't give a flying f--- about what was going on with them. This book does not do a good job of portraying mental illness as it gives no hope and leaves the reader with a false image of a depressed person being nothing more than their depression. - HaileyinBookland
I feel like [Violet] only really existed here to be the emotional component of this book. She's used as a prop mostly and a prize, yet I never saw her as having any personality beyond just being a sounding board. There is plenty of woe is me/my sister died so I use that as an excuse to hide from life from this character. She just felt insubstantial to me, her only purpose being to tell the readers about the emotional weight of the tragedies around her. - Darth J
And finally:
But this book features a number of things I don’t care for: most prominently, I don’t tend to like books where one character changes another character’s life (by being irrepressibly quirky, or by teaching them to see the boring old world around them with new eyes, or by being impossibly good) ...There were a few things that really bothered me about their relationship – and the romance is pretty central to the novel, so if you aren’t on-board with that, it’s difficult to enjoy the book...Finch isn’t a bad guy. He’s very much struggling with his own issues in the book. And I don’t expect romances to be perfect. But I don’t want to idealize relationships in which one person wants to fix another, and where boundaries aren’t respected, and I feel like the book wants me to be 100% into Violet + Finch in love....
My second, biggest problem with the book is the way in which Finch’s own mental health is treated. It’s pretty clear from the beginning of the book – and through Finch’s narration – that he’s struggling with undiagnosed, untreated bipolar disorder. And, bah, the book is just CHOCK-FULL of people who fail Finch. His family and friends treat his frequent disappearances and depressive episodes as normal. His mother doesn’t understand mental illness. His father is physically abusive. The one teacher who recognizes that Finch has bipolar disorder … tells him that and then watches him get expelled from school without doing anything, presumably. I don’t have a problem with any of this, per se – there’s a lot of stigma around mental health and people don’t always understand and sometimes everyone is the worst. But, for me, the book failed Finch as well. - Layla (Source: http://www.themidnightgarden.net/2015/01/allthebrightplaces.html)
I completely agree with many of the points made from the reviews above. I especially agree with Darth J's view on Violet, which is why I pretty much am ignoring her in this review. I did not connect with her at all and felt she was a prop only meant to move the story along. I also was unconvinced by the romance, which is not uncommon for me. I have never been convinced by any romance in YA books, except for a small handful of titles (i.e. The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon; Percy Jackon series by Rick Riordan; The Legend trilogy by Marie Lu). So I was skimming a ton - I still was reading the book - just very quickly.
I saw the end coming. But it occurred in a much more grotesque manner than I imagined. I was furious with Finch's family and Violet most of all. The complete disregard for Finch's disappearance and lack of communication for DAYS made me so incredibly angry. It's one thing to not understand mental illness but completely another to pretend there is nothing wrong with a teenager on the edge of expulsion, with no apparent friends, a broken relationship with a "girlfriend," an abusive father and dismissive mother disappearing over the course of several days.
To me, Violet was the culprit and the most selfish character of all. Finch's parents are not as worse as she is.
Here are my notes from the book itself:
March 10 - Finch's last phone call with Violet
March 18 - Violet doesn't hear from Finch for 3 days (pg. 287) She finally goes to his house and sees him
March 21 - Finch and Violet celebrate Finch's birthday (pg. 299). Violet does not hear from Finch a few days after this. Finch is gone (pg. 312)
THE REST OF MARCH (pg. 316) - So literally, from March 23 or so, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE FINCH IS. (pg. 317) Violet receives cryptic messages from Finch, and then "everything goes quiet"
April 5 comes and goes and FINCH IS STILL MISSING. ON APRIL 11TH (pg. 322) Violet decides to go looking for him. Omygosh.
Then literally, it is April 26. Finch is still missing, and his family is LITERALLY JUST STARTING to be concerned. April 26 is when Finch's sister says they received emails from Finch. Finch also wrote to Violet, Brenda, and Charlie, and then Violet FINALLY REALIZES "Something is wrong." (pg. 328)
They find Finch April 26.
So, nearly a whole month goes by with Finch missing, and his family only became concerned on April 26. Finch was missing from about March 23rd to April 26. And no one was concerned at all. I literally do not understand this portion of the book.
That is the major point of contention for me with this book. I do not believe it is possible for a family or ONE'S OWN GIRLFRIEND to not be concerned and think "Oh, this is just what Finch does. He goes dark and his phone is switched off and I get cryptic texts from him but don't respond and have no concern" FOR A WHOLE MONTH.
And then there's this:
Mr. Embry clears his throat. "I'm sorry about Finch. He was a good, screwed-up kid who should have had more help." (pg. 345).
^This right here is not okay. Not okay at all. And what is it with public school counselors being portrayed as horrible, careless people? (I'm looking at you, Thirteen Reasons Why).
Those things really upset me. Especially Mr. Embry and Violet's characters.
Besides that, I give this book a 3.5 out of 5. I am in love with this book because I relate so closely to Finch, but also hate it because of the incredibly poor execution of events, convenient romance, and pretty much every character besides Finch. His character wasn't perfect either (other reviewers mention the overly emphasized quirkiness as well as the pixie boy trope), but he and the Author's Note but he and the Author's Note saved this book from me trashing it.
Finch was definitely treated unfairly though. Extremely unfairly. And therefore, as someone with bipolar disorder, I feel treated unfairly and used for a dramatic fiction book. I am shattered and hurt.
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