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Kayla Yohe

Mrs. Cramer

English Comp 1, Pd 4

15 November 2019

Two is Better Than One

The author goes back and forth between the two characters to not only express their

feelings, but to state what the two are doing with their lives day by day and how the two points

of view really grabs one’s attention. In the novel All the Bright Places, Jennifer Niven uses

multiple points of view to create two intriguing characters – Finch and Violet.

Before getting into the details, both high school students, Violet and Finch, are suicidal

due to personal reasons but throughout the novel all the reasons become unraveled. About a year

ago, Violet’s sister and herself were involved in a car accident and sadly, her sister did not make

it. Finch is just not happy and doesn’t seem to believe there is a point to life, the people he goes

to school with sees and considers him as a ‘freak’ and he has had parental problems for the past

few years. Since that period, Violet has refused to neither ride nor drive in a vehicle. As Finch

stated on page 185 “I stand at the window and watch her climb onto her bike”, it does not matter

the distance to Violet, she would much rather transport herself on a bike or walk than ride which

expresses the feelings she has towards anything relating to her sister.

While Finch doesn’t open up about his life to anyone, when the book is spotted on his

point of view, he really expresses how he feels to himself about his life and most importantly,

Violet. He talks about his doubts in life, thinks of the ways to possibly die, fighting the people he

hates in school, how much he wishes his dad wasn’t a psycho, and how he could potentially
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make Violet as happy as she could possibly be. His point of view in this novel is very intriguing

to say the least and as a person, Finch is very unique, and one could definitely consider him as

his own person. He does not keep things simple and is depth involved in everything he gets

himself into. Violet thinks of something and he then doubles what she wanted to do during that

time. He is a very over the top person, considering he almost killed himself at his own high

school.

Violet’s point of view is much different compared to Finch’s and that is why the novel

itself gets one so hooked. She tends to keep to herself, doesn’t really talk to anyone - that is until

she becomes connected with Finch, and loves to keep things simple and to the point. Wherever

Finch and she traveled for their graduation project, she enjoyed going there, getting the work

done, taking the notes, leaving an object and leaving. However, Finch eventually got her to

appreciate what there was to offer in nature and asked her to sit and talk no matter where they

were or what time it was during the day. She is close with her parents and even though since her

sister has passed she has been quite distant, she still cares a lot about how they feel about the

things she is doing, who she is spending her time with, and both parents are trying to get her

connected back into the social life and maintaining her to stay focused on school.

Overall, the two points of view is really put together in this novel and is indeed,

intriguing. Besides all the chaotic, nonsense the two high schoolers have been through, it is very

touching and will down right put one in their feelings. This novel is a heart-feeling, emotional

novel that many high schoolers do feel as they face the last 4 years of school. As for Violet, she

really did not deserve the death that was put upon her and she never have blamed herself for any

of it. As for Finch, all the flaws did not matter to that girl and Violet really did have a soft spot

for him. Both two deserved the world and to be honest, deserved each other. They knew each

other better than anyone else knew them – to a certain extent and could truly be their true forms
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of self around each other, you don’t get that sort of comfort around someone every day. I

recommend this book to anyone with the love for a romance novel with a few twists in between

that will break a heart.