All the Bright Places Themes

All the Bright Places follows the romance of 17-year-olds Finch and Violet, who meet at the top of their school’s belltower where they both plan to commit suicide. Instead of jumping, though, they talk each other off the ledge and soon develop a friendship that leads to a romantic relationship. However, Finch and Violet’s struggles with mental health—and the knowledge that they were both on the brink of taking their own lives—loom large over…

As Finch struggles with an undiagnosed mental illness, he behaves erratically: disappearing for long periods of time, skipping school, and acting out violently. Yet as Violet gets to know Finch and talks to others about him, she’s disturbed to realize that no one else seems as concerned about Finch as she is. Finch’s family and community’s failure to take his odd behavior seriously (or indeed, in the case of his family, to notice that he’s…

Both Violet and Finch love language and literature. Prior to her sister Eleanor’s death, Violet wrote content for a web magazine she created with Eleanor, and she planned to attend NYU’s creative writing program. Finch, meanwhile, is a singer-songwriter who “collects” words as part of his creative process. As he and Violet get to know each other, they explore how their changing relationships to language and literature help them feel more in control of…

Grief and trauma play a central role in All the Bright Places: when readers meet Violet, she’s still struggling to cope with her sister Eleanor’s death in a car accident nine months earlier. Feeling that her life no longer has meaning or purpose, Violet is contemplating suicide. Finch, meanwhile, idealizes death and suicide due to his struggle with an undiagnosed mental illness. As Violet and Finch get to know each other…