Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
John Green has never failed to impress me with his writing. In reading and reviewing Turtles All the Way Down, this novel is no different. See below to read my full review of Turtles All the Way Down.
Book Information
Aza Holmes is a lot of things. Normal is not one of them. She has anxiety and another crippling mental health disorder called OCD. She knows that her thoughts are irrational. She knows that she will not die. Well, most likely not die. Maybe won’t die. No, she won’t die as long as she gives into her thoughts. As long as she changes the Band-Aid and puts the hand sanitizer in the wound on her finger that she never lets close. She won’t die from her intrusive thoughts. She won’t….
Review | Heidi Dischler
Wow, this book was a little hard to read. Maybe it’s because I have my own anxiety. Maybe it’s because sometimes I let my own intrusive thoughts get the best of me. Maybe it’s just because this book is so well written that I felt like I was in Aza’s head. Maybe it’s all of these put together. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.
Regardless of why this book was hard to read, it was so real at the same time. It made my skin crawl to be stuck in Aza’s head as she had an endless barrage of intrusive thoughts that told her the microbes in her own body would destroy her. She was such a real character, developed so well that I could feel her emotions and sympathize with her pain. Daisy, her best friend, was just as relatable and raw and real. Davis? Exactly the same. Each had their problems. Each had their dimensions and quirks and personalities. The amount of work that goes into developing characters like these is astronomical. I should have expected this, though, because John Green has always put the work into his novels.
In terms of plot, this novel had a lot going on. It felt more like life’s chaos than it did a novel with acts and structure. I was surprised, though, because I normally don’t like novels that don’t have structure and form. I absolutely loved this novel, though. It felt so close to life and how nothing is truly structured in real life. We often jump from one thought to another, one plan to another, one event to another. It happened throughout the novel where you thought the plot would be centered around one thing, but then it would turn around and center around something else. I loved it because it felt truly like living.
Overall, this novel had me engaged the whole entire time. It was painful to read, but only because Aza’s journey is painful. It’s something that needs to be acknowledge, and even if it doesn’t make sense to some people, it is so so real to others. If you enjoyed novels like The Words We Keep, All the Bright Places, All the Little Things, and Every Last Word, you’ll love Turtles All the Way Down.
Source: Audiobook from Libby Public Library
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