The Perfect Match

Mohaned Aljundi

All the bright places

By Jennifer Niven
A boy longing to die, and the popular girl who hides her emotions- Could this strangely be a perfect match?

In All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, the two main characters, Violet and Finch met when they were both coincidently thinking about attempting suicide on top of a bell tower of their school. Finch doesn't have many friends and a lot of people tend to stay away from him, while Violet is very popular and one of the last people you would think would attempt suicide. Finch has a lot of experience with having suicidal thoughts and when he sees Violet up there with him, he calmly talks her out of jumping off. When they go back into school, the students and teachers are under the impression that Violet talked Finch out of jumping off and neither Finch or Violet confessed about what had really happened. This caused Violet to become the “hero” of the school. Because of Finch’s encounter with Violet, he becomes fascinated by her and wants to know more about her. He chooses to partner with her in a geography project even though she didn't want to be with him, since it’s perceived by students that Finch is a freak and she was embarrassed to hang out with him. For the project, the two of them have to go to certain places and write about their experience. Throughout their adventures around the city, they seem to get closer together and became friends. However, Violet is still embarrassed to be around him and Finch doesn't like that she acts differently around him when there aren’t people around them. You can see that they have a growing romance with each other but only Finch is able to admit it.

Overall, I really like this book and would totally recommend for people to read it. Although I only read about 150 pages, I like how this book is going and how it's playing out. The plot is very good and the romance that the author develops matches perfectly with the plot of the book. The author always hints at a chance of romance but never makes it clear, making the reader wonder about what happens with them next. Also, the topic that the author chose to write about is a really relevant topic these days since many people, unfortunately, choose to end their own lives. This book kind of acts as an insight of what people with suicidal thoughts think about and how their environment affects their thoughts on their life. It also uses words that are easy for kids the same age as us to understand since it seems to be focusing more on kids that are close to our age. This book is intriguing because it shows the reader what is going on inside people’s heads and shows the feelings that emotionally unstable teens have. I feel like this book gives a good insight for that and the author makes it really personal to the reader as to what the person is going through in the environment that they are set in.

I recommend this book to anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts or is emotionally unstable. This book explores a lot of topics related to this and could definitely improve some people’s lives. Overall, this is a really wonderful and heartwarming book that I think would benefit a lot of people if they read it.