Book Review | Holding Up The Universe

Jennifer Niven, once again, turns a simple love story into a beautiful life lesson that readers will be sure to remember. To be perfectly honest, I am still recovering from reading All the Bright Places which I read many months ago. Holding up the Universe similarly tells the story from the dual perspectives of a boy and a girl who experience different hardships in the same circumstances.

We have Jack Masselin who is the “cool guy” at school and from the outside it seems like Jack has it all together but his family is falling apart and he has this rare disorder which inhibits him from recognising faces. On the other hand there is Libby who is labeled America’s Fattest Teen and along with her weight she also has to constantly deal with the loss of her mother. When Jack and Libby meet, the reader is taken on a journey where two teenagers try to tackle the weight the universe bestows upon them.

The thing I love most about Jennifer’s novels is that she integrates her own life experiences into her stories. This enables the reader to form a connection with the author and hence, you’re more susceptible to agree with the message the novel is sending. While this novel was not as emotionally scarring as All the Bright Places, it was just as powerful.

Libby’s weight issues and following her development in the novel from being a homebound girl to this confident young woman encourages all insecure chickens out there to just be comfortable in the skin you’re given. Through work of fiction, Jennifer has managed to spread a positive message which I’m sure resonates with a lot of teenagers. Not only that, by integrating diversity in race, gender, weight etc. the reader is challenged to break stereotypes.

The novel also raises awareness about face-blindness which I had no idea about before I read this book. I absolutely love the fact that apart from life lessons you’re also learning science in this novel. You’re learning how to speak out if you have a problem and about the effects of cancer and loss on a person.

Instead of writing a typical boy-girl romance and leaving it at that, Jennifer delves deeper into the issues that continue to haunt young people in today’s society.

Rating

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Cover To Cover | All The Bright Places

I’m back with another one of these!

If you’re wondering what Cover To Cover is, it’s basically an excuse for me to analyse beautiful covers of the same book and in the end I decide which one I like best. Here’s the first ever Cover To Cover post.

Today’s book is…All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. This has been one of my favourite books of 2015 so i couldn’t go without doing a Cover To Cover on it.

The English Edition

I like the simplicity of this cover. The post-it notes are symbollic yet they give the cover a sort of uniqueness as well. The cover is also a bit cutesy because of the Violet and Finch on it.

The Spanish Edition

This cover reminds me of Eleanor & Park big time. It’s cute but can sometimes appear bare in my opinion.

The Portugese Edition

I like the simplicity of this cover as well and I’m not sure what the train thing is but the boy jumping and the girl reaching out is obviously symbolic.

The Italian Edition

The fact that it is sideways is annoying me. The cover doesn’t seem to represent the book very well to be honest.

The Polish Edition

I believe this is a pretty artistic cover. Although I can’t help thinking it might also appear careless to some.

The Serbian Edition

I think this is also a cute little cover with its post-it notes and patterns at the bottom I also like the font

The Swedish Edition

Again this cover has simplicity through its origami vibes and colour theme.

The German Edition

This cover seems romantic and again there’s the blue colour scheme which most covers have in common. The font seems to be bothering me

The Verdict

If I were to walk into a bookstore and had to pick one of these covers…

It would be a hard choice and I’m not in a state of mind to make that choice so let me know in the comments below which cover you like best!

Favourite Last Lines in Books

The way a book ends is of prime importance to me. You can be left feeling elated, like you’ve just received a fresh breath of air after diving in the pool, or you can be left feeling meh, we all have those “that’s it?” moments come on.

I’m here to discuss the last lines which have left me breathless or always bring a smile to my face whenever I flip to the end of the book.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott. Fitzgerald 

I think this sums up the book perfectly but also promises new adventures and perseverance, I don’t know this quote always gives me the feeling of ‘life goes on’.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This is so melancholic and those who’ve read the book would know how sad the book is. But I believe the ending of the book gives so much closure

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Okay so this is really sad but you know how the whole “I do” is significant of marriage? Maybe this is like Hazel’s promise to Augustus. Nonetheless, all the sad feels come flooding back in every time.

The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak

I could go into a whole analysis of this quote but it signifies that humans are always looking for suffering to the point where even death is haunted. And it’s such a thought provoking way to end the book. I love Markus Zusak!

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfus

Okay technically, the last line would be “It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die”, which in itself is a sad and haunting last line. But here’s the deal, the author uses the above epilogue as a prologue. And it works! I’ve never seen anyone do that before and it’s so interesting.

NOTE: All pictures taken from Google images, they’re not mine!

Are there any famous last lines you can think of ?

Top 5 Favourite Books Of The Year So Far

Yay we’re almost halfway through the year “panics”

In terms of reading this year has been really good to me, I’ve discovered some amazing new authors and surprisingly there hasn’t been one book I seriously regret reading. So that really says something I guess

Without further ado these are my favourite books of the year so far. The titles will have links to my review of the book.

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

I believe this is possibly going to be one of my favourite reads for the year. It made me feel all the feels and that should be enough to get you reading this book RIGHT NOW

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

Okay so this is like one of those George Orwell messes-with-your-brain kind of books. It explores oppression in an interesting way and what I love about this book is, it makes you think. It makes you think about the world we live in and yeah.

Heir Of Fire by Sarah.J.Maas 

 

This takes Young Adult fantasy to a whole new level. Action, suspense and the most unexpected ending this is literally my favourite Throne of Glass book.

I was here by Gayle Forman 

This was my first read of the year. It was eye opening really about the after effects of suicide and the people you leave behind. It also had the best romance.

We All Looked up by Tommy Wallach

Unlike anything I’ve read. Post apocalyptic, music centered and philosophical, it had a good mic of everything.

I highly recommend you go check out at least one of the books I mentioned in this post.

Meanwhile tell me what your favourite read of the year has been?

 

 

January Breakdown

This is basically a wrap up post where each month I review my Bookish Resolutions and reflect on books/movies/events throughout the month.

January was a solid reading and blogging month.

NOTE: Just click on the book titles which will take you to my review of that particular book (only if you want to)

Some of the best stand-Alones I read throughout the month include: 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

 

I was Here By Gayle Forman

I read possibly the best book of the year… Drum roll….

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

I did Bout of Books #12 which was a lot of fun

Top Five Wednesday has now become a regular feature on my blog

Infinity Reads completed one year in the blogosphere and there’s a giveaway!

Infinity Reads produced its 100th post!

 

Movies I watched and loved this month include

The Imitation Game 

I mean just look that!

TV shows I watched:

Pretty Little Liars

Literally been obsessed with this show since like 2012

Currently Reading 

Fairest by Marissa Meyer

Wow look how interesting my life is! not really but yeah that’s all the highlights of January. Let me know what you been up to!

Book Review | All The Bright Places (If the hype was worth the pain)

Title: All The Bright Places

Author: Jennifer Niven

Genre: Young Adult, contemporary

Synopsis

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

Brutally honest, raw and realistic Jennifer Niven has tackled a very serious issue in such a beautifully crafted way. I like to think she has paved the way for other authors to brave writing about mental health and beat the stigma once and for all.

Plot

Set in the small town of Barlett, Indiana All The Bright Places travels in some of the most treasured and wonderful places until it comes to rest in the reader’s heart. Dealing with family issues, death and love the story progressed from lighthearted romance to its fatal crescendo almost like a song. The climax was gut wrenching, sucker punching yet it left you feeling so full.

And yet the story is set against such a mundane environment: school. Our protagonists are just a bunch of school kids except they’re not. That is the beauty of this book, to be able to address suicide and death in a setting such as school which lets young readers know that it is okay, that they are not alone. Help is out there

Characters

You know it’s a good book when the character’s voices are SO strong in your head it leaves you disorientated coming back to reality. That it what I felt being in Finch and Violet’s heads. They had such distinct voices and trains of thought, I’ve never experienced characters with such realistic trains of thought (if that makes sense)

Finch and Violet’s relationship was rustic, funny, lighthearted. They had their emotional struggles, their ups and their downs but the most beautiful bit was how when they were together, Wandering, they lived, they were so present and it gave me a serene sense of peace.

Finch

Finch is quirky, Finch is brave, who is Finch? I was so intrigued by him changing himself throughout the book, his thoughts about the bigger things in life. It’s obvious he has faced abuse, neglect and bullying yet it was still heart breaking when (spoiler) happened. Just thinking about him feeling so trapped in this world like the cardinal makes me want to cry so lets move on.

Violet

I don’t have a comprehensive thought about Violet except that Finch made her into this girl who wants to live, who wants to acknowledge the death of her sister and honor her instead of burying herself in grief. He made her become something, start something new.  He made her into more than just another popular girl.

Writing

All The Bright Places is scattered with statistics about suicides and literal quotes which I found was such a unique writing style as it is educational as well as being fiction. That’s the thing you know, people need to be educated, teens need to know that they are not alone and this book says “To hell with stigma and stereotypes” , it is no-bullshit, we need to tackle this issue now instead of whispering around this. Respect for that to the author

The story of All The Bright Places is in many ways the story of Jennifer Niven’s experiences and I love it when authors are able to bring something personal to their books.

This book made me feel all the feels and drown in them. I became so possessive over it that I wouldn’t read it in public lest someone snatch it from me to read the blurb or something (stupid i know).  Oh and don’t mind the title of this post I just wanted to play on Taylor Swift’s lyrics 🙂

Maybe you could get this as the book of your choice in my giveaway?

Rating

 

January Book Haul- The $3 Edition

Ello Ello!

I recently acquired some books, most of these I stumbled upon by accident and decided to purchase (that always happens by the way). And yes all of these excepting All The Bright Places were $3, I know ABSOLUTE STEALS RIGHT?

And yes I just had to feature my Penguin because who doesn’t love Penguins?

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven–  Been stoked to read this since the beginning of the year. There’s a picture of me smelling the book on Instagram so why aren’t you following me? (@infinityreads03)

 

Popular- a memoir by Maya Van Wagenen- I’ve heard so many good things and apparently the author’s only like sixteen which is incredible. And it’s non fiction so all the more reason to read it!

 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins- I have read Anna already and I do own it in hardcover but I have the old one (remember those?) and these new covers are just so gorgeous so I just had to okay

My sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult-  Since like 2013 I’ve been trying to get into Jodi Picoult so now the opportunity presented itself so I decided to pick up one of her most popular works duh.

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult- Don’t know what it’s about but sounds interesting.

Just One Year by Gayle Forman-  Sequel to Just One Day which I’ve yet to buy (I know, Stupid). I adore Gayle Forman so for obvious reasons I wanna read this series as well then I would’ve read ALL her published works which is SO COOL.

That concludes my book haul. I am so content with the newest additions to my shelf and cannot wait to whiz through them all!

Buy any new books lately? Let me know in the comments and KEEP READING!