Turtles All the Way Down Book Review

Turtles All the Way Down

by John Green

“You’re both the fire and the water that extinguishes it. You’re the narrator, the protagonist, and the sidekick. You’re the storyteller and the story told. You are somebody’s something, but you are also your you.”

Okay, so I created this blog in October, and I haven’t posted anything since. I’ve been reading a lot, but with University, I just haven’t had time to write any reviews. I still don’t have all much time, but I decided that writing short reviews is better than no reviews, and maybe I’ll just get better as I go! *she said hopefully*

SO, without further ado, I give you my quick likes, dislikes, and overall thoughts on Turtles All the Way Down. (Note: after writing this review, I realize that it was not as “quick” or “short” as I had originally intended, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

QUICK SYNOPSIS: Aza is a 16 year old girl living in Indianapolis, Indiana. When a local billionaire disappears, her friend Daisy convinces her to go on a hunt for the vanished billionaire, hoping to collect the reward money that comes with finding him. Along the way, Aza struggles internally with her mental illness—battling intrusive and spiraling thoughts—but must also face how it affects those who love her most.

RATING: 4.5/5

WHAT I LIKED:

-AN UNFLINCHING, ACCURATE DEPICTION OF MENTAL ILLNESS

“The thing about a spiral is, if you follow it inward, it never actually ends. It just keeps tightening, infinitely.”

Mental illness sucks. Unfortunately, pop culture loves to portray mental illness as something that causes a character to suffer beautifully, only to magically be cured by the end. Real mental illness is a lifetime battle. It has ups and downs, good days and bad. What I loved most about Turtles is that John Green doesn’t fetishize Aza’s illness. She struggles with her compulsions and thoughts in the beginning of the novel, and, spoiler, she is still struggling by the end. Her thoughts get ugly, and her behavior causes tension with everyone in her life. This novel is a window into a whole other way of perceiving the world—one that will hopefully give the reader a better understanding of mental illness. Although it’s not beautiful, Aza’s journey is real, and that representation is so important in YA lit.

-POSITIVE FEMALE FRIENDSHIP

“My whole life I thought I was the star of an overly earnest romance movie, and it turns out I was in a goddamned buddy comedy all along.”

Aza and Daisy have been best friends for ever (or at least a really long time), and their friendship was one of the most important parts of the novel for me. While most John Green novels revolve around romance, I loved how Daisy and Aza’s friendship grows and changes throughout the novel. There are ups and downs, raw moments of honesty, and ultimately a better understanding of what it means to be a “good” friend.

-COMPLEX PARENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

Not all of the parents in this novel are evil! Yay! Unlike most YA novels, Turtles contains adults who are actual people. Aza’s mother is kind, caring, and doing the best she can to be there for Aza as her illness worsens. On the other hand, you have the missing Billionaire, Russell Pickett, who completely abandoned his two sons in order to escape custody. It was a pleasant surprise to see some thoughtful characterizations of adults, as most YA lit likes to either kill them or make them the Bad Guys^TM. (Note: Russel Pickett is a bad father, but not just because he is an adult)

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

-THE CRAZY BEST FRIEND^TM

Although I loved Daisy and Aza’s friendship, Daisy’s character fell into one of my least favorite tropes: the crazy best friend who somehow always makes the main character seem more serious and grounded. Their complex friendship complicates this stereotype as the novel progresses, but it is a bit disheartening to read YA novels with the same character archetype over and over.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I really enjoyed Turtles. Overall, it was a refreshing change of pace that broke away from a lot of classic tropes and stereotypes in YA lit. Of course, because it’s a John Green book, it contains lots of profound statements and quotes from old literary geniuses. I happen to like his style, but others find his writing a bit pretentious (okay, a lot pretentious). However, if you are at all interested in picking up a diverse, refreshing read, then I would highly recommend.

IF YOU LIKED…

If you liked Turtles All the Way Down, check out Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman.