I just finished the book a few hours ago, and my thoughts are a little everywhere, so maybe just bear with me as I try to express all the feelings I’m left with. First, here a a soiler free description, straight from Goodreads.
Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.
Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.
When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.
Initially, my attention was captured by the writing pose, while I was being dropped in the middle of a heavy situation within pages, I did feel like I belonged there. The heavy baggage both characters carry was introduced organically, I never once felt over loaded with information, the kind that pulls you out of the story and into editor mode.
Violet is that attractive, popular character that has been hurled into a different life because of event that shook her foundation. I know many of you think you’ve met this character before, in other books, but those girls are not Violet. Our Violet is cosmically grappling at strings, who is she now? How does she function, move on, recover from the intense guilt? Everything about her called me to in a way that felt real and I immediately cared for her future, present, and wanted to heal her past.
Finch has a wildly contagious amount of emotions that pull him forward and push him down. A small spoiler, for some of you, his mental illness is written about, and represented with great respect of his humanness. At first, his being bi-polar may not jump out to you, if you have ever had contact with this disease, then you’ll see it a little earlier on. You start to feel when he is manic, and then the realization of what Finch is dealing with creeps up on you, you know the symptoms, and you just want to tell him, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, OR A DIAGNOSIS! I cherished that Jennifer wrote Finch as a person who has Bi-polar disorder, not s a bi-polar person, and there is a difference, and she got that.
They wander. They grow. They live.
This book will change you. Last night, I had to go to bed, and I couldn’t close the book. I told my husband, “I’m worried about Violet and Finch.” He responded, ” The characters?”…
The characters? Yes, but also they represent a lot of people, and I’m worried about them all.
Please read this book, and then comment, or bug me on Instagram, because I need to talk to someone else, and just know they get it.
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