BOOK REVIEW: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Plot: Two teens set off to try to solve the disappearance of a local billionaire to win the $100,000 reward so they can pay for college. While main character Aza battles with an “ever-tightening spiral or her own thoughts”, she also has to deal with the aftermath of her father’s sudden death and a crush on the missing billionaire’s son. 

Genre: YA Fiction 

Pages: 286

---

I cannot tell you guys how long I have been waiting for another John Green book. I truly think he is one of (if not the best) young adult writers of this generation.

turtles all the way down started a bit rocky for me, the main characters SEEMED like stereotypes. Key word: SEEMED. But once you peeled back the layers, main characters Aza, Daisy, and Davis were complex characters whose hearts were all “broken in the same places”. 

I thought the plot summary at the back of the book was deceiving. You should know that to me, the book was about understanding Aza’s anxiety disorder and watching her cope with it during her romance far more than the quest to find a missing billionaire.

Green describes Aza’s OCD through magnificent metaphors that allow the reader to visualize mental illness. He describes intrusive thoughts as “spirals”, saying that they “grow infinitely small the farther you follow them inward, but they also grow infinitely large the farther you follow them out.”

Turtles All the Way Down also touches on themes like the meaning of money, questioning of authority and loneliness. 

While this book did not touch me as much as Green's others, I really do think that it is an important and immaculately well-written read. It will make you empathize and (probably relate) with Aza’s condition and broaden your galaxy. 

Did you read #turtlesallthewaydown ? What did you think? And how did you feel about Daisy? I’m still deciding…let me know in the comments!