Words for a Wednesday: All the Bright Places

August 05, 2015

Okay. I'm going to warn you guys now: today's Words for a Wednesday is actively designed to make you cry. Partly because I'm evil like that *mwa ha ha*, but mostly because there is no other way for people to fully understand the beautiful All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven.

It's about a girl who learns how to live from a boy who wants to die. You know the waterworks are coming just from that one sentence, but they're necessary. The topics covered in this book are big: mental health; love; loss; hope; the lack of it, and the general difficulties of being a far-from-normal teenager. These tears are organic and real, and they're a direct product of Niven's skilled handling of those topics.

Right *cracks knuckles* lets get down to some of the best quotes - I think I'll do some proper photography of them today, like a good little blogger. Oh, and if I were you, I'd definitely go and read the book, like, right now, but there are no spoilers in the bits I've chosen, and I think they all make sense without having read the full story. Here you go!

"You are all the colours in one, at full brightness." - All The Bright Places, Jennifer Niven

Honestly, what girl doesn't want to have this said to her? And I love the idea of someone being so important to you that they're almost overwhelmingly bright, that they take you over and are a bright, brilliant white.

Because, when you think about it, white is all colours at once.

"Sometimes there's beauty in tough words - it's all in how you read them." #AllTheBrightPlaces

I love this quote because it's so illustrative of the book itself. Sometimes, tough words need reading, and they can be beautiful. There's joy in sadness and light in dark - we just need to find it through those tough words.

Ultraviolet Remarkeyable

Finch's nickname for Violet is, really, the sweetest thing in the world for me. I love that, although it could be argued he has bigger problems than she does, they support each other. And he says the cutest things.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments."

This one is just so true and brilliant. Can you name one day where you remember every second and all the details of those seconds? It's unlikely - and I think that that's okay. Because moments are the highlights of our lives, the summary show - if we had to remember whole days, we couldn't remember half the brilliant things we do. Moments are powerful.

"People rarely bring flowers to a suicide." - All the Bright Places

Wow. This one hits home for me because it's so true - and why does it have to be? Suicide is a tragedy, however you look at it, and often, the person who's died was suffering from an illness: it just happened to be mental instead of physical. I don't think that means their loved ones' grief is less, and it certainly doesn't mean the death has to be hidden.

Tears are important. Grieving is important, because not only does it let people move on with their lives, but it also helps them think about how to help others. Emotion is so often our inspiration for doing something about the thing that caused it.

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Have you guys read All the Bright Places (if not, you totally should)? Which are your favourite quotes? And do you agree that tears are necessary?

Oh, and what do you think of my photos? I'm not a pro yet, but I'm really enjoying it!