Turtles All the Way Down

by John Green

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“So surprising and moving and true that I became completely unstrung.” – The New York Times

Named a best book of the year by: The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, A.V. Club, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Vulture, and many more!

JOHN GREEN, the acclaimed author of Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, returns with a story of shattering, unflinching clarity in this brilliant novel of love, resilience, and the power of lifelong friendship.

Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis. 

Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

• ISBN10: 0525555803
• ISBN13: 9780525555803
• Publish Date: 18 September 2018 (first published 10 October 2017)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dutton Books for Young Readers
• Edition: International edition
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Berls]

3.5 stars. Pretty good - I read it quickly but probably more because (1) I was off work and (2) I had a book club deadline I wanted to meet more than that I couldn't put it down. In fact, there was a few moments fought off sleep.

On one hand, I like Aza as a character. She's annoying and frustrating, but the way she's struggling with this mental illness (It feels like a version of OCD to me) felt pretty realistic. My husband has OCD and believe me, he's annoying and frustrating at times. But I still love him and Aza was still loveable. I felt for her and the pain and frustration she felt with her inability to control her spiral.

On the other hand, it's so hard to picture a teenager talking/thinking the way she does. In fact, that would be my most common complaint with John Green's portrayal of teenagers. Sometimes they get really angsty and realistic and other times, I find myself WISHING teens thought that deeply more often. This definitely had a bit of both.

I really REALLY enjoyed Aza interactions with her crush... whose name I have currently forgotten. Man, did I feel for him and his little brother Noah. And the mystery surrounding their father was interesting, though far less prominent to the story than i thought it would be.

Overall a good read, just not my favorite for the year or anything.

[Joséphine]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Initial thoughts: I genuinely liked the characters and the way they were portrayed in Turtles All the Way Down, which surprised me. They were clever and resorted to philosophical musings, just as most other characters in the John Green book I've read but here, I didn't think they were trying too hard. Turtles All the Way Down was also very raw in dealing with mental health, particularly anxiety and OCD. That made it difficult to read this book at times, and made me squirm uncomfortably at the no-holds-barred description. I welcomed that because it's important to talk about these things.

The reason I didn't like Turtles All the Way Down more was the plot — or rather, the lack of it. The plot happened by the way, as the main characters lived their day-to-day lives. What made that approach so weird was that the conflict directly impacted Davis, and yet, it didn't even come across as very significant most of the time; only then when it was convenient. Many of the implications were addressed superficially or completely swept under the rug. On that front, Turtles All the Way Down completely missed the mark.

Nonetheless, the navigation of friendships, family, and relationships were done really well. In conjunction with Aza's personal struggles, Turtles All the Way Down still had quite a bit to offer readers.

[anastasia]

Full Review on my blog!


“You’re deflecting.” I just stared at her. “You’re right that self isn’t simple, Aza. Maybe it’s not even singular. Self is a plurality, but pluralities can also be integrated, right? Think of a rainbow. It’s one arc of light, but also seven differently colored arcs of light.”

Where do I begin? John Green is one of those authors that always brings the feels. Turtles All The Way Down is the latest YA Contemporary from best selling author, John Green. I’ve read other books by John Green, you know the typical ones, TFIOS, Looking for Alaska, & Paper Towns. Which were all really great, so I kinda had expectations going into this one. And let me tell you, WOOOW, what a novel. This is a book about mental illness, it’s a book about the power of lifelong friendship, and there is a bit of romance thrown in the mix.

It all begins with a fugitive billionaire and the promise of a cash reward. Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. But at its heart is Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.

Aza’s character felt super realistic and I am so impressed now. This was honestly one of the best depictions of anxiety or any mental health battle I’ve ever read. It didn’t sound like someone trying to write the concept… John Green has clearly lived this. It was incredibly raw, honest, and beautiful at times. Aza’s story isn’t the easiest to read, and she probably won’t be a relatable character to all people. There were things about her I could relate to, and I loved her voice. I also adored her friend, Daisy. Their friendship was actually my favorite part of this story. I also liked Aza’s mom and the Davis story-line, even though it wasn’t the focus.

“The problem with happy endings is that they’re either not really happy, or not really endings, you know? In real life, some things get better and some things get worse. And then eventually you die.”

I think everyone will relate to this on some level because the story grapples with the types of realizations we all face while growing up (so it’s kind of reassuring that we’re not alone in those thoughts). Aza spends a lot of time examining to what extent we author our lives and what our definition of “self” involves. But then she gets stuck in obsessive, infinitely tightening thought spirals that are SO well depicted.

“It’s getting sucked into a whirlpool that shrinks and shrinks and shrinks your world until you’re just spinning without moving, stuck inside a prison cell that is exactly the size of you, until eventually you realize that you’re not actually in a prison cell. You are the prison cell.”

This wasn’t the typical John Green romance with quirky teens, but that ended up being a refreshing change for me. Overall, I really enjoyed it and totally recommend. I am actually looking forward to whatever John Green writes next. I recommend it! Let me know what you thought!





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[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Aza is almost definitely probably for sure going to die of C. diff.

She doesn't have it yet.  Or maybe she does.  She doesn't think so.  But she could.  Probably.  Her mind is an ever-tightening spiral of reminders that her body isn't her own but really she's just an animated corpse and everything she does is actually at the whim of the millions of microorganisms that make up the physical being that is her.  Meanwhile, her best friend Daisy is in a new relationship and this guy she knew as a kid has recently lost his father.  And by lost - it's literal.  His father ran away to avoid legal prosecution and now Davis has to take care of his troubled l little brother Noah and now Aza is back in his life and he really likes her but she freaks out when she kisses him.

Turtles All the Way Down is a rollercoaster ride of what it means to have extreme anxiety and invasive thoughts as a teen and still struggling to find out who you are (probably just microorganisms) and falling in love (how long do someone else's microorganisms stay in your body?) and trying to help a friend and his brother find peace (even when you have no peace yourself).

This book was incredible and stressful.

You can't help but to love Aza with every fiber of your being.  She is a well-meaning girl who is battling very hard for clarity and assurance that everything is going to be alright.  As the book is told in her third-person POV, you get to hear her mental monologue.  It took me several days of short reading spurts to accept this, because as I read, I felt my heart quickening and a sudden consciousness of my sweat and saliva and just everything going on in my body and oh my goodness I don't think that I could be Aza for a single day, let alone my entire life.  It makes me so, so grateful that there are so many resources out there for mental health support.

That said, the fact that reading this gave me so much anxiety is also a testament to how well it is written.  John Green does not apologize for who Aza is and he does not try to fix her.  This book is simply about living with this tightening spiral and managing it, but Aza is not crazy and she cannot be magically "cured".  The mental health rep here is so, so good and even though I don't suffer the level of anxiety Aza does by any means, I really appreciated her.

The story was written perfectly for the perspective.

This book wasn't what I was expecting, plot-wise, but that's okay.  It actually worked really perfectly.  On the outside, the goal of this book is "find Davis' father" but because of who Aza is, this is a small back-thought.  She tries so, so hard to get to it, but at the end of the day she's so busy battling her inner demons that she has very little focus for her quest.

Like any John Green book, there are relationships.  We are shown what it's like to try and live a normal life while suffering in the sort of mind trap that confines Aza.  How her thoughts affect her friendship, her relationship, her family life, and her every day activities like eating or driving.  We get small respites in the form of Daisy's Rey/Chewbacca fan fiction and Davis' obsession with celestial bodies, but mostly it's all Aza all the time.

I really, really liked it but don't think I'll read it again soon.

This is the sort of book that is written really lyrically (beautiful) but just made me so so so so so stressed out I had to keep putting it down because I felt like I couldn't breathe.  There was so much Aza.  So much information all the time and it's written intentionally that way.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  But I am glad to be done with it because I felt like I was drowning, if that makes any sense at all.

For people with extreme anxiety and who are prone to invasive thoughts and spirals, please read this book with caution.