Turtles All the Way Down

I absolutely love John Green’s narrative voice: no matter how inherently unappealing his subject matter might be (and often it is), he still hooks me within the first paragraph. I plowed through Paper Towns and The Fault in Our Stars just as I did through this one—yet if the same stories had been written by a different author, I probably wouldn’t have finished any of them. (The Fault in Our Stars, for instance, is a story about teenagers who are dying of cancer, yet trying to live what time they have left to the fullest. Utterly maudlin, and I don’t do sad, as a general rule. But Green’s writing is so compelling and his characters so quirky and memorable that I just couldn’t put it down. Paper Towns wasn’t as devastating, but it wasn’t exactly happy either.) I’m starting to sense a theme for him: if you’re looking for a “happily ever after” (mild spoiler alert), Turtles All the Way Down won’t give it to you either. Green seems to go for the bittersweet, dark-cloud-with-a-silver-lining kind of endings.

The story follows high school senior Aza Holmes (“Holmesy” to her best friend Daisy), whose defining characteristic is her OCD and anxiety disorder. She is, specifically, obsessed with microbial infection and death (and even more specifically, infection with clostridia difficile, or C. Diff—even though she knows mountains upon mountains of facts that ought to convince her how unlikely this is). The main point of the story seemed to be to raise awareness about mental illness, as over and over again Aza says that she’s never going to “un-have” this, she’s never not going to be sick, despite regular trips to her therapist, medication that doesn’t work for her, and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). As a naturopathic doctor, I kept thinking, man, this girl has some serious dopamine dominance. She needs genetic testing and neurotransmitter balancing… She doesn’t have to live like that. She’s not condemned to live in the hell of her obsessive thinking for the rest of her life—yet at the end of the book, the audiobook made the announcement, “If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness…” and then gave information about where they can get help. Even though the whole point of the book was that there is no help, not truly. I found that to be pretty bleak, though I was fascinated by a fight Aza has with Daisy about how selfish Daisy thinks Aza is: because of her illness, Aza can’t focus on anyone but herself. It was very psychologically astute, I thought, and well-rounded, to show not only Aza’s experience being stuck in her own thought spirals, but also how this looks on the outside to those who love her.

But you can’t have a story that’s entirely about a character’s ordinary life experience—something has to happen, too. In this case, the primary plot is that Aza finds out about the disappearance of the billionaire father of a boy named Davis whom she’d met years earlier. There’s a reward of $100K for anybody with information about where he might have gone. Aza and Daisy look Davis up, and Aza and Davis begin a semi-romance that isn’t ever fully defined. I loved the fact that Davis isn’t portrayed as just a spoiled rich kid—he’s very nuanced. His mom died years earlier and now his father is gone too, and he’s just lonely. He finally gives Aza the reward money even though he asks her not to share anything she might learn about his father’s whereabouts—just because he doesn’t want to have to wonder whether she’s hanging around for the money, or because she actually wants to be with him. When Aza splits the money with Daisy, the tensions that arise between the girls because of the newfound windfall is also quite insightful. Most novels will go with the stereotypical “corruption of wealth” theme in such a circumstance, but real life is usually more complex, and Green captures this well. Money does change people, but it’s often not so cut-and-dry as simple greed.

Green’s characters are still caricatures in some ways, and I’m starting to think he doesn’t think it’s possible to write an uplifting ending without it coming off cheesy. So even the bittersweetness of his endings feels a little artificial, like it’s more reflective of his own life philosophy than how things might actually turn out for the characters he’s created. But in the nuances of his characters’ interpersonal relationships, he absolutely nails it. His books are a terrific read (or listen) for an author interested in character study.

I adored this book! Author John Green put me right into the mind of his teen protagonist. This was my second John Green, and now I want to gobble them up!

“Turtles All the Way Down” showcases protagonist Aza Holmes. Aza is a young girl who is riddled with anxiety. Beyond her anxiety, she also struggles with OCD and other mental health issues which cause her mind and thoughts to be in, what seems like, an endless state of spiraling. Outside of the prison that is her mind, Aza and her tenacious best friend Daisy hear about a missing billionaire. A missing billionaire who just so happens to lives across the pond behind Aza’s house (and also has a cute son who Aza went to camp with when they were little). Also- in exchange for knowledge of the missing man’s whereabouts, a considerable amount of reward money is up for grabs. The story follows Aza’s struggle with her mental health and also documents Aza and Daisy’s attempt to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of billionaire Russell Pickett.

I loved this book. I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads! Controversial opinion here but I think that this is John Green’s best book. “Turtles All the Way Down” is far more mature than any of his other books. It is thought provoking, witty, insightful, heartbreaking, dark, and real (basically all of the adjectives). The dialogue and relationship dynamics between the characters in this book is fantastic.
Though this novel is intended to focus on the mystery of the missing billionaire, “Turtles All the Way Down” is without a doubt a character-driven novel. The characters and their interpersonal relationships are the driving force behind this book and that is what makes this story such a success.
Let’s start with Daisy. Daisy provides the book with a majority of its more lighthearted moments. Daisy is quick-witted and very direct. Daisy is a “take no prisoners” type of gal and I love her. She spends her free time writing Star Wars fan-fiction (which is a fun little subplot) and she is a devoted supporter of Wookie rights.
Aza is a wonderful protagonist. I enjoyed getting to learn more about the depths of her thoughts and gaining insight into the inner-workings of her mind and how it processed things. Aza is in a constant and indefinite battle with her own mind. Her OCD and anxiety have a heavy hand over every aspect of her existence. Aza’s spiraling, her thoughts, and her emotions are almost too real (not in a bad way!). Authors often mischaracterize mental illnesses but Aza is written in such a realistic way that you can actually visualize the push and pull dynamic between her thoughts and reality.
If you squint really hard, there is some romance in this book. Just kidding about the squinting part! There are some romantic aspects and a romance side plot but it is quite quick. At first, I felt that the romance subplot was a bit strange. It seemed like such a stark departure from the general storyline and I was afraid that it would take away from the significance of Aza’s mental illnesses and struggles. As I continued reading, I grew to appreciate this aspect of the book. It provided the story and Aza with a bit more depth without taking anything away from Aza’s character development. It was also a nice way to highlight some of the “good” days and moments that Aza had. Though her mind made it difficult for her to live in the moment and enjoy living, not every day is a bad one. I liked that the Aza and Davis relationship highlighted Aza’s good days rather than assuming that all of her days were bad.
I also walked away from this book being educated on a vast array of topics that Green covers. I enjoyed that these facts were relayed to me in an interesting way rather than feeling like I was sitting in the middle of a boring two hour lecture. John Green covers Indiana state history, the significance of the Tuatara (which is a species of reptile for those of you, like me, who didn’t know), and even some medical terminology. This may seem like a lot of information and trust me, it is, but John Green presents it in such a way that it really added to the story without overwhelming me or losing my interest.
Overall, really great book. Highly recommend!

This book is amazing! I’ve never read a book that touches on mental health like this. It brings so much light to anxiety and touches on OCD. I’m very happy to know that so many others have read it and loved it as I do. It’s a must read!!

I read everything John Green writes. Not because I’m drawn to young adult (YA) fiction, but because I think Green is the best American writer going right now, bar none.

Okay, let me dial it back. When I say “best,” I of course mean that I enjoy reading his books, but I also mean that he does something better than any writer I’ve read this side of JD Salinger: from the first sentence you are as comfortable, as in tune with his style, as lost in the prose, as you will be in 100 or 200 pages (unfortunately few of his books are longer than 300 pages).

Since first reading his work (I grabbed Looking for Alaska at the Hong Kong Airport in a panicu200a—u200adown to one book with a 15+ hour flight ahead of me), I’ve tried to write books that are as effortless to fall into as Green’s. Combining that crucial first impression/hook that grabs the reader while also making the opening so relaxed that the reader can glide into the prose and ‘get’ the narrative voice from the first sentence is a whole lot harder than it looks. I think I got close in Too Rich to Die, and by a combination of coincidence and massive workshopping, I wasn’t too far off in The God Patent. But in The Sensory Deception I plunged the reader in without net in a way that I meant to be unsettling; if I’d read Green before I wrote The Sensory Deception, I would have opened that book differently.

There’s a much more important point to this review that links it to my reviews of two other books, Garth Stein’s How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets and Alex White’s Every Mountain Made Low.

In Turtles All the Way Down, Green exemplifies the purpose of literature. It took Green several years to write Turtles because it covers a deeply personal subject, an obsessive compulsive disorder that he experiences: fear of infection coupled with self-abuse (no, not like that) like washing your hands until they bleed.

The core strength of literature, what makes it more powerful than essay, is that by putting the reader into the heart and mind of characters, we experience what they experience. Our brains mirror the response of those characters and we semi-literally share the experience and that affords us the ability to learn the lessons learned by the characters. Heady stuff! The very reason that I never tried to describe Katarina’s model of the soul in The God Patent. First, it would be a long, complicated explanation, but second, it wouldn’t have any impact. You have to ride along with Katarina, Ryan, and Emmy and figure it out for yourself to taste any magic.

We can say a lot about Turtlesu200a—u200atouching story of a teenage girl living an average life, trying to rescue a wealthy but neglected boy and be the best friend of a generous artist who accommodates her self-absorption, all delivered perfectlyu200a—u200abut a year after you read this book, you’ll be thinking about it every time you put a Band Aid on your finger.

My favorite book from my favorite author. John Green, you are my inspiration.

loved it: painfully realistic

Great story, better characters. I found myself taking every spare moment I had to dive deeper into this one. Before this book, I had never been convinced authors could accurately depict what it really felt inside your head when you felt anxious. Seriously, perspective-altering descriptions, if you are an anxious person or love one give this a read.

It was amazing. At first I didn’t think I’d like it, but then I got to the 2nd page and thought “Oh my gosh this is going to be a great book!”

Aza’s journey with OCD is as compelling and vivid as Sam McAllister’s battle in “Every Last Word.”