Book review: Turtles All The Way Down
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Author: John Green
Completed: January 2021
Overall rating: 4.0/5
Synopsis: “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” from Goodreads
Thoughts
Okay, so John Green never misses in my opinion, and YA novels being my guilty pleasure, this book was no exception. In this story, a highschooler named Aza is involved in trying to solve the mystery of her childhood friend’s millionaire father going missing. She’s doing so alongside her best friend who is very passionate about writing Star Wars fan fictions. All the while, Aza is struggling with OCD and anxiety. So the plot is quite interesting, making this book very difficult to put down. I think it took me only a few days, which now that my attention span has basically reduced to zero, is really quick. This book touches on mental health, grief, friendship, and a little bite-sized bit of romance. But mostly the other three.
Since I was young, I have had some OCD tendencies, from unexplainable urges to repetitive habits. However, they are not overly distressing, nor have I been diagnosed, so I am very hesitant to say I have OCD. Anyways, reading this book was often painful in that “I wish I could jump into the book to help but I can’t because it’s not real” type of way. You know how in horror films, you’re yelling at the screen because the characters are unknowingly making awful decisions? Since this book is told in Aza’s point-of-view, we get to read her internal monologue. Aza is very self-aware, shedding some light on what it’s like to live with OCD and an anxiety disorder.
All the while, don’t forget they’re trying to solve the case of the missing rich man, so although the average person might have been able to guess the ending, I still ended up being quite surprised.
Overall, I liked this book a lot. Read it if you want a good page-turner.
Okay that’s it y’all, I don’t know how to write a book review, and honestly, I read this book so quickly and just wanted to recommend it! I want to keep writing book reviews in the future because (1) I’ll have something to post, and (2) I’ll have more motivation to read. However, they’ll probably stay short like this one because any longer and it’ll start to feel like homework.
With love,
Ariana
