All The Bright Places, a novel by Jennifer Niven, is a story about two high school students who meet each other at the edge of a clock tower on their school campus. Throughout the novel, the perspective switches between the two main characters, Theodore Finch and Violet.

Theodore and Violet get partnered up for a project after the clock tower encounter, and as a result, become friends. The friendship between Theodore and Violet deepens as the project progresses and they learn more about each other. Theodore learns about Violet and her sister, while Violet learns about Theodore’s personal life and who he is outside of the labeled school “freak.”

The beginning of the book starts slowly to build up each character’s personality traits and relations between the two main characters. This allows for the much-needed context of the characters and explains the reasons they act the way they do. However, this does not take away the surprises prepared for the reader later in the book.

Violet and Theodore complement each other extremely well due to their polarity, which makes their character dynamic relatable and eye-opening. This is reflected in the actions the characters take. For example, when Violet decided to drive to look for Theodore, towards the end of the book, it shows her determination and caring nature.

Compared to the film adaptation, despite both being written by the same writer, All the Bright Places the novel is more enjoyable. This is due to the book giving clearer insight into the character’s perspective, their thought process, and their emotions. The movie has slight differences, like meeting on a bridge rather than the school clock tower and having some of the places traveled to in the novel removed from the storyline in the movie.

Niven utilized a narrative approach while writing this novel. The way she writes the novel keeps the reader hooked even through the drier parts of the story. This story is more geared towards Young Adults.

If you are looking for a quick read, I would recommend it. If you tend to lean more towards happy and light-hearted stories, this may not be the book for you.