ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES

Jennifer Niven

Chapter 1 - Finch: I am awake again. Day 6.

Theodore Finch starts each day by asking himself if it's a good day to die. He describes
being awake only six days after doing what he calls sleeping through the holidays. He’s standing
on the ledge of the bell tower at his school, and thinking about jumping. He's also shouting
down to students on the ground. And one of them points up but Finch realizes he isn’t pointing
at him, but instead at a girl on the other side of the tower. The girl is Violet Markey, a popular
cheerleader. Finch talks to Violet and convinces her to step back over the railing. After she’s
safe, Violet does the same for him. However, the crowd below assumes it was Violet who saved
Finch. With this, Finch is on probation, he’s required to attend weekly counseling sessions along
with meeting other requirements.

Chapter 2 - Violet: 154 days till graduation

Violet sees her counselor, Mrs. Marion Kresney. They discuss Violet's bad dreams, college
plans, and the website she used to run with her sister, Eleanor who is now dead. They also
discuss her refusal to drive or ride in a car, as well as her withdrawal from all her usual school
activities. Violet leaves the office when Mrs. Kresney's talk becomes too much. As she walks to
class, people stop her in the hallway and tells her how courageous she is for saving Finch, which
leads to her pondering Finch. In class, she has a headache, and she receives notes from her ex-
boyfriend, Ryan Cross, about saving Finch. When the bell rings, she lingers at her desk so she
doesn't have to talk to Ryan. She also talks to the teacher about getting out of writing a ten-
page paper, hoping that her extenuating circumstances could save her.

Chapter 3 - Finch: Day 6 (still) of being awake

Theodore Finch is in U.S. Geography, a class he shares with Violet. The teacher, Mr. Black is
talking about the many wonders of the state of Indiana when Violet arrives late and
accidentally drops her things while she is walking into class. To draw attention away from her,
Finch knocks his things onto the floor. And the class is assigned a project requiring them to
wander Indiana, and Finch announces that he chooses Violet as his partner. Violet tries to get
out of the project altogether, but Mr. Black did not let her. After class, Roamer bullies Finch in
the hall and Finch struggles against his instinct to fight back. In the parking lot, Finch is hanging
out with his friends Charlie and Brenda. Then he goes home and he writes down some thoughts
on suicide, specifically about suicide by jumping, and researches Violet Markey, looking her up
on the Internet. Upon seeing that Violet's sister died, Finch signs up for Facebook to send her a
friend request. He talked to his mom, chats online with Violet after she accepts his request, and
plays guitar.

Chapter 4 - Finch's rules for wandering

Finch has made a list of rules for wandering, which is how he refers to his class project
with Violet. Actually, there are no rules, only guidelines because for Finch, life is made up of too
many rules as it is. One of the guidelines is they can't use their phones to get to their
destination which means they need to learn to read actual maps. Another is they alternate
choosing places to go, but they should also be willing to go where the road takes them. The
final guideline is that they will leave something behind to show they were there.

Chapter 5 - Violet: 153 days till graduation

Violet is going to a sleepover at Amanda Monk’s house. However, the sleepover turns out
to be a drinking party. Violet feels out of place, and remembering the last party she attended
was the one where her sister was killed in a car accident on the way home, she felt sick to her
stomach and went outside before she throws up. As she heads back to her house, she runs into
Ryan Cross. Despite his attempts to get her to return to the party, Violet leaves. At home, her
parents invite her to talk, but she declines. Later, she checks her facebook and she saw Finch
has posted a video of him singing a song. At the end, he asks Violet to confirm that she's alive.
They chat, and he assures her no one else will see it. And Finch suggests coming over, but she
refuses and later on, agrees.

Chapter 6 - Finch: Day 7 of the Awake

Finch is in his mom's car, better known as Little Bastard, speeding like crazy to get over to
Violet's. He arrives to find Violet outside waiting. They started walking together, and Finch
confronts her about being on the bell tower, about her life, California, writing, and other things.
Later on, Violent confesses that her trip to the bell tower coincided with her sister's 19th
birthday. And she wants to know why Finch is known as "Theodore Freak." She also confesses
to being skilled at picking locks, which is how she got into the bell tower. When Finch went
home, he decides to go for a run. He's reflecting on how he's always bullied and his fear of
sinking into another depression. Finch is running past the place where Violet and her sister had
the car accident, he finds a license plate and takes it with him.

Chapter 7 - Violet: 152 days till graduation

Its sunday morning when Violet receives an email notifying her that the domain name of
the site she shared with her sister is expiring. She's thinking about how she wanted to do
something different with the site than what Eleanor wanted to do because Eleanor was usually
in charge and usually got her way. Violet wants the site to be a place where writers can share
their work. After thinking about it, Violet deleted the notes she and Eleanor had. She also
deleted the email warning her that their domain name is about to expire. Then she emptied the
digital trash so that the email is as dead and gone as Eleanor.

Chapter 8 - Finch: Day 8 of the Awake

Finch and his sisters are on their way to see their father, who they have dinner with once a
week. It will be his first time visiting his father at his new home with his new family. At dinner,
Finch announces he's a vegetarian and lied that he was away figure skating recently. When they
got home, Finch goes up to his room, types up another journal entry about suicide, and then
checks Facebook. He sends Violet a message in which he quotes Virginia Woolf's suicide note.
Later on, Violet quotes Woolf back to him. He did a quick internet search for more Woolf
quotes, and gets turned on quoting back and forth with Violet. Suddenly, Violet talks about
their school project. She says they won't travel in bad weather, and no driving. And when Violet
didn't reply anymore, Finch reads every single post on Violet's old website.

Chapter 9 - Violet: 151 days till graduation

In school on Monday, Violet finds that the school is buzzing with talk of the story which
features Violet’s actions of saving Finch from the bell tower, in the Bartlett Dirt. The title of the
story is "Senior Hero Saves Crazy Classmate from Bell Tower Jump." There are pictures of her
and Finch, but their names aren't mentioned. Then she notices the girls from the school’s
newspaper read and shake their heads at the bad example of journalism. With this, she
wonders if she should try to be friends with them. Instead of doing anything, she skips class and
picks the lock to the bell tower, where she sits on the stairs and reads two chapters
of Wuthering Heights.
Chapter 10 - Finch: Day 9

Finch has decided to give himself a makeover. He's at the Goodwill with his friends Charlie
and Brenda. Brenda tells them that she made out with Roamer at Amanda's party. Later on,
Brenda wonders what Finch is shopping for. Since Finch wants a look that will impress Violet,
Brenda criticizes him for changing to please a girl. Finch finds a leather jacket he likes, and with
that, his new look is complete. Back at school, he's feeling pretty full of himself until it's time for
U.S. Geography, a class he shares with Violet. He feels intimidated as he sees Ryan Cross talking
to her. After class, Finch approaches Violet and tells her it's time they start looking around the
state for their project. They decide the first stop will be Hoosier Hill, and they agreed to meet
up after school.

Chapter 11 - Violet: 151 days till graduation

After school, Violet has her sister's bike and is looking around the school parking lot for
Finch. She is given directions by Charlie and Brenda. Finch tells her that he needs to grab his
bike at home. At his house, he invites Violet to his room to drop off her stuff. Then they set out
to go to Hoosier Hill, their first destination. They talk about things as they ride their bikes, and
Finch suggests visiting every place of interest in the state. At Hoosier Hill, Finch convinces her to
be in the moment, they hold hands and jump off the hill for fun. And Finch asks Violet to take
some notes for the project as he marks their next destinations on the map. When Violet got
home, she had dinner with her family, and checks Finch's facebook page. Finch sends Violet a
message, but she ignores it, and marks another day off on the calendar.

Chapter 12 - Finch: The night of the day my life changed

Finch is having dinner with his family. He excitedly reports about his day by telling his
mother what he learned which is, there is good in this world, if you look hard enough for it. And
since he feels happy about his day, he offers to do the dishes, and even called his mother
"Mum." Finch is about to go for a run, but he takes a bath instead because its raining. In the
bath, he goes underwater pretending he is in a lake. Then he thinks about Virginia Woolf's
suicide by drowning. He holds his breath as long as possible before coming back up, coughing.