Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

117 reviews

abigail_moffat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Car accident, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Self harm, Chronic illness, and Violence

Minor: Addiction

chuckielittle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

It's exceptionally hard to rate this book, relating to and having lived so many of its events personally. The characters felt believable and real for once (which is rare in a YA novel) and weren't in the least irritating.

Parts of it did feel an awful lot like info-dumping, but it was all important, valuable, and relevant information that added to the storyline and filled it out more.

Heartbreaking, hopeful, and cathartic, to sum up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Mental illness, and Bullying

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Car accident, Alcohol, Self harm, Animal death, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Child abuse

david_slack110507's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I really do like the message of this movie. I think that while I cannot comment fully on how accurate this book is with its portrayal of mental health and suicide, from what I read I felt that it was a good portrayal of those suffering from a multitude of mental and emotional health-related problems such as survivor's guilt, suicidal thoughts, depression etc. 

I do think that the main reason why I struggled to like this as much as others and rate this higher was that 1) I took A LOT of time to thoroughly read this and I'm honestly ashamed it took me those long to finish this (And it's not because it was bad/boring or anything along those lines but rather I just didn't really find the time to read it or I preferred to read other books) and 2) The main romance between Finch and Violet, while cute and definitely important just didn't fully connect with me and maybe that's a fault on my end rather than on the book's writing as I'm not the biggest fan of romance heavy/romance books in general. 

I do like that the book attempted to show how anyone even those who are living the "perfect" life can suffer from mental health disorders but just maintain it so as to maintain said "perfect" life such as Amanda. However, I think that many of the side characters struggled to make an impact and stand out to the point that I sometimes forgot who the author was referring to when she mentioned a minor/side character's name (However, again this could have been my lack of focus on the book).

Overall, I wish that I had had a better time with this as there's a lot of potential and the commentary on the mental health of teens was really well done (And I like that at the end of the book, there's a list of sites for seeking help for certain issues such as suicide prevention, diagnosing mental health/illnesses in teens, bullying and abuse etc for certain countries) but I just couldn't get into it how others did but I'm glad that many could take comfort and find help or hope from this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Grief, Suicide, Death, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Self harm, and Violence

Minor: Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Sexual content, and Deadnaming

madnotmadi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Car accident, Self harm, Suicide, and Mental illness

marvelgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse and Drug abuse

Minor: Eating disorder and Self harm

_mariah_'s review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Bullying and Car accident

Minor: Self harm and Eating disorder

raygai's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

It is a book about 2 depressed teenagers who find love in each other

butterbb109's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I had only discovered the book after watching the movie, a movie which I have watched more times than the fingers on my hand. I adored the movie, and thought to give the book a try, which lived up to my expectations. It was a beautifully written book, painting a picture that displayed the raw, dark emotions of Finch and Violet. Although some would say the book is cliché, or sounds like a teenage “fan fic”, it’s truly emotional, and written perfectly. Jessica Niven wrote in a way that made me bawl my eyes out multiple times. I had never understood the term “kin”, but when it comes to Finch, it felt as if my thoughts had been a written out by someone else. I have never related so much to a character, I truly feel as if I have been heard and seen after reading this book. Jessica writes in a way that’s relatable and informative on mental health, showing that everyone is struggling with their own things, no matter how big or small. I also think the author invites the readers to reach out, if they can relate, to be better, because people care about them, and there’s so many Bright Places on this earth for us to see.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Grief, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Self harm

mayreads's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I'm not sure where I should begin, but the premise of the book does not live up to the execution. Finch is overly obsessed with the concept of death and Violet is in the process of mourning that of her sister. When they meet on the top of a clock tower, they form a tentative friendship. Though the ideas behind both characters are okay, the execution and development are severely disappointing. The trauma that Violet endures, for example,

being forgotten as soon as she steps into a car

may be one of the most distasteful aspects of the book.

Violet went months refusing to be near cars, but when Finch demands she get in everything is fine?

I understand the idea of having her develop past her trauma, but the rush of it was honestly off-putting. The end also seemed very unnecessary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Death, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying and Car accident

mirandap442's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Self harm, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gaslighting, Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Racial slurs, and Racism