Devastating! This YA novel by Jennifer Niven is heartbreaking. And hopeful. Stunning. Sad. Beautiful. Theodore Finch is fascinated by death; knows suicide letters by heart, yet each day he finds some reason to stay present. Violet Markey lives in the future, when she can escape high school, her small Indiana town, her aching survivor's guilt from the accident that claimed her sister's life. Finch and Violet meet, unexpectedly, on the ledge of the bell tower at school six stories above the ground. They help each other back to safety and, through the course of a school project, help each other truly live. Then Finch is handed an unwanted label and his fear of it makes him shrink as Violet continues to grow.
This is an unflinching look at bullying, mental illness, child abuse, and teen suicide. (Mind your triggers!) You wouldn't think a book with so many dark themes could be hopeful, funny, bright. This one manages. The characters are so well-drawn.... I haven't read Niven's other work, but this is a tour de force.
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