[Book Review] All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places

penulis Jennifer Niven

400 halaman, YA-Depression, Suicide

Dipublikasikan 6 Januari 2015 oleh Knopf Book for Young Reader

An exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learn to live from a boy who intends to die.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death. Every day he thinks of ways he might die, but every day he also searches for—and manage to find—something to keep him here, and alive, and awake.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her small Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s death.

Review Singkat All the Bright Places:

Saya suka buku ini. 5-bintang-suka, rela-begadang-sampai-pagi-buat-menamatkannya-suka. Gaya penulisannya sendiri sedikit mengingatkan dengan gaya penulisan John Green. Malahan secara umum si Finch ini bikin agak de javu dengan Miles Halter/ Pudge (Looking for Alaska) dan Quentin “Q” Jacobsen (Paper Towns). Walaupun begitu saya lebih bisa menikmati gaya penulisan Jennifer Niven (sorry Mr. Green!).

“The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it’s small things that count.”

All the Bright Places adalah novel YA pertama dari Jennifer Niven. Beliau aslinya adalah penulis novel-novel New Adult, dan walaupun baru kali pertama dia menjajal ladang YA, tidak ada kesan kaku atau amatir di sini. Sebaliknya, saya merasakan bahwa All the Bright Places adalah suatu karya personal bagi Jennifer (bahkan situs germmagazine.com benar-benar ada dan ter-update sesuai dengan yang disebutkan di novel). Berdasarkan Author’s note di bagian akhir buku, buku ini terinspirasi dari pengalaman masa muda Jennifer (yang menurut saya sungguh tragis karena seseorang di usia sebelia itu harus mengalami begitu banyak kehilangan). TEARS, TEARS EVERYWHERE.

Novel ini baru diterbitkan awal Januari 2015 lalu, namun pengurusan hak cipta untuk adaptasi filmnya sudah selesai sejak pertengahan 2014. Konon katanya, Elle Fanning  akan memerankan Violet. GO VIOLET REMARKEY-ABLE!!!

“…here’s what I think: I think I’ve got a map in my car that wants to be used, and I think there are places we can go that need to be seen. Maybe no one else will ever visit them and appreciate them or take the time to think they’re important, but maybe even the smallest places mean something. And if not, maybe they can mean something to us. At the very least, by the time we leave, we know we will have seen it, this great state of ours. So come on. Let’s go. Let’s count for something. Let’s get off that ledge.”