Author: Jennifer Niven
Summary: Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
Review
I had heard nothing but good things about this book, and after reading ( and loving ) The Fault in our Stars I thought this book would be a great read for me. Well...... I had so many issues with this book. First the disconnection I had to the characters, second the way it desensitised serious mental health issues and lastly the predictable and frankly dull plot. So be careful before you read because I am going to tear this book to shreds.
Let's start with the characters- Violet and Finch were just completely unrealistic and I simply couldn't get invested into their story because of it. Pretty much from the start to the end of the book I found Violet to be self centred and extremely ignorant. I hated her treatment of Finch from the beginning and this disconnected me from their romantic relationship ( which truth be told was one of the only reasons I picked up the book). Violet was just a bitch to be honest. She was too focussed on the past to realise the issues in front of her and honestly her incompetent and naive handling of Finch's bipolar disorder probably caused more issues than it solved.
As for Finch I did enjoy reading his character at some points. Seeing him struggle with bipolarity was heartbreaking at times and the emotions he was feeling and the things he said were sometimes relatable to me. When he was in a good mood I enjoyed his adventurous spirit and his flirtatious attitude as it added a lightness to the book that was much needed. Finch's character is something we don't see enough of in literature yet the story and other characters were written in such a bad way that an important message about mental illness turned into a fluffy romance about lost love that is done over and over again.
Personally I have grown sick of contemporary books that romanticise serious issues like mental health and I had sincere hopes that this book would actually reflect a more positive side to such important problems. But no, this book completely downplayed bipolarity until the last 40 pages f the book and even then Finch's suicide was almost ignored and devalued. Many young adult books pick up on relevant issues like mental illness but not enough illustrate a positive representation of them. For once I would like to see a book that actually helps a character that is suffering. The school guidance councillor, Finch's parents, Violet- none of them actually helped Finch. Was it any wonder he committed suicide? It was blatantly obvious he was seriously struggling and yet no one even batted an eyelid and it resulted in his death. I understand that this does happen to some people but I think literature is a perfect way to let people who are struggling know that they are not alone and that there is always a way out. The message of the book was important and we shouldn't ignore mental illness but I think Niven could've found a better and more positive way of concluding the story. If she had let Finch live it would've been a message of hope for others suffering with mental disorders.
The book's writing was good and quite poetic but the plot itself was unrealistic and overdone. Although I enjoyed the adventures Violet and Finch went on the enjoyment of the narrative ended there. The beginning of the book was extremely slow for me . The ending was predictable and I hated the way Finch's death was glossed over, his family didn't even seem to care that he was dead and the same for Violet.