All The Bright Places

Violet Markey experiences trauma from the death of her older sister, Eleanor, in a car accident. Violet is a bright, skilled writer who has lost interest in many of her former activities and friends. Her devoted and well-meaning parents enrage her by failing to express their grief at Eleanor’s death. Violet experiences survivor’s guilt: She was in the car with Eleanor when it crashed; she is also anguished by the fact that she directed Eleanor to drive home via a bridge that iced over on the night of the accident.

Finch assists Violet in finding productive ways of overcoming her anger and expressing her grief, and he prods her into wandering further from home and riding in a car again. Finch convinces Violet to return to her avocation of writing and, eventually, driving. When Finch’s untreated mood disorder causes him to sink into depression, Finch is unable to accept Violet’s attempt to help him. Violet finds Finch’s body after following a series of clues he left in text messages. She grieves the loss of her lover as well as her sister. Eventually, Violet starts to accept these tragedies and anticipates a bright future. 

Charlie is Finch’s serene and supportive best friend. He assists Finch without resorting to psychotherapeutic jargon. Specifically, when he notices that Finch has climbed the bell tower at the high school, he follows and casually reminds his friend that the cafeteria is serving pizza for lunch; therefore, it would be a bad day to jump. 

Charlie is the even-tempered opposite of the protagonist, Finch. A bright and athletically talented African-American student, Charlie eschews sports teams to avoid conforming to what he considers a racial stereotype. He elects to play chess and work on the yearbook staff instead. A true and loyal friend to Finch, Charlie is enraged by the hypocritical grief expressed at Finch’s funeral by the same classmates who taunted his friend; he is a member of the small group that Violet arranges to memorialize Finch at the Purina Tower. 

Brenda is also a devoted friend to Finch. She dyes her hair pink and red and sports a nose ring. Brenda is the antithesis of the “popular girl” social group to which Violet belonged prior to meeting Finch. Upon learning of Finch and Violet’s romantic involvement, Brenda warns Violet to treat her friend with kindness or face the consequences of her anger. Brenda also expresses condolences to Violet upon the loss of Eleanor. When Violet begins a new online magazine, “Germ,” to replace the one she created with her late sister, she invites Brenda to be a participant. Eventually, the two girls become best friends. Brenda is a primary participant in the small, closed memorial ceremony for Finch that Violet arranges at the Purina Tower. 

Amanda, a cheerleader, is the quintessential teenage “mean girl,” whose popularity stems as much from the fear that she invokes in others as it does from her father’s ownership of liquor stores and her apparent habit of “giving out” easily. Although Amanda maintains a confident and assertive exterior, she happens into Finch at a “Life is Life” meeting, which is a support group for suicidal teens. She reveals that she is bulimic, depressed, and suffers from self-loathing. Though she has treated Finch cruelly in the past, he assures her that he will never reveal her presence in the group to anyone else. Amanda dates Gabe Romero, aka “Roamer,” who has taunted Finch since grade school and labeled him with the nickname of “Freak.” After Finch’s death, Amanda ends this romantic relationship, asks to be included in the lunch group with Violet and Brenda, and participates in his memorial ceremony at Purina Tower. 

Linda Finch is the 41-year-old mother of Theodore, Kate, and Decca Finch. She is emotionally devastated when her abusive husband leaves her to marry a younger woman. Well-meaning but inadequate to the task of caring for her mentally ill son, Mrs. Finch copes by drinking wine and confiding in girlfriends. Although she is the mother of three, she never checks her answering machine for important messages and maintains only a superficial involvement in her children’s daily lives. She works at two part-time jobs (she is an unsuccessful real estate salesperson and a clerk in a local bookstore). Physically and emotionally scarred from her abusive marriage, Mrs. Finch strikes her son Finch as a victim, and he attempts to console and protect her; he never feels that she would be capable of understanding his pain or psychiatric symptoms. Mrs. Finch is essentially loving but unaware of the indicators of teenage suicide. Timid and fragile, she requests Violet investigate the locale where Finch may be found in order to spare herself the trauma of identifying her son’s body.