286 pages
Published Sept. 8, 2017 by Dutton Books for Young Readers.
Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery 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 Russell 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.
A beautiful and deep telling of a teenage girl's life with mental illness that is sometimes held back by forced plot points and bad writing. It stands as one of the best and most realistic tellings of mental health in media.
Loved: the vivid descriptions of what character's mental health issue felt like, the humor, the poetry, the relationships that could have been mine or my best friend's, the ending. I couldn't put the book down, I read it in one fell swoop.
Turtles All the Way Down is a book about a girl living with OCD. And while I don't think it's the best John Green book and I'm not sure it's the one you would like best, it is my favorite by far. I don't have OCD, but I am mentally ill. And I have never read a book which conveys how it is to live with mental illness as well as this one. Almost every page contains a highlight of something Aza says which I find deeply relatable. The book is almost devoid of plot, but that is a good thing. Because that's part of how it feels to live with mental illness and it gives a lot of space to depict Aza's inner monologue.
I can't praise this book enough.
В каком-то смысле читать Джона Грина куда тревожнее, чем Эрнеста Клайна: книги первого равномерная небрежная любительщина, уникальная в основном тиражами, но второй пугает меня — абсолютно профессионально и даже чуть изобретательно стилистически, школьное изложение структурно и на, гм, семантическом уровне.
“Holmsie” is the kind of cutesy nickname a teenage girl would never have, unless she’s a fictional female character in a YA novel written by a man. Maybe my tolerance for the YA style is just too low, but I found this whodunnit extremely irritating. Unfortunately, I also listened to this as an audiobook, and the voice actor’s affectations made it even more annoying. The characters were unrealistic, the precocious and chatty best friend was grating, and the plot was simplistic and boring. The only positive thing I might say about it is that it may be helpful reading for teens with OCD.
It is hard to review this book. I am going to take it one piece at a time.
First, the writing. John Green does not get enough respect for his craft. He is seriously a fantastic writer. There were moments in this book where his prose turned to poetry. There were lines in the book that expressed a feeling in a metaphor so simple and clean that there was no way for me to imagine a more effective way to express it. I really admire it.
Second, the themes. Obviously mental health is the main theme in the book. It is expressed in so profound a way as to dwarf any treatment of that theme in any other book that I have read. I was so drawn into Aza's world that I had to sit back and seriously consider my own mental health. This book is not for the feint …
It is hard to review this book. I am going to take it one piece at a time.
First, the writing. John Green does not get enough respect for his craft. He is seriously a fantastic writer. There were moments in this book where his prose turned to poetry. There were lines in the book that expressed a feeling in a metaphor so simple and clean that there was no way for me to imagine a more effective way to express it. I really admire it.
Second, the themes. Obviously mental health is the main theme in the book. It is expressed in so profound a way as to dwarf any treatment of that theme in any other book that I have read. I was so drawn into Aza's world that I had to sit back and seriously consider my own mental health. This book is not for the feint of heart. It will make you take an uncomfortable look at your ideas on mental illness, and your interactions with the mentally ill. Green is able to twine the theme of spiraling thoughts into ever facet of the book. The characters names, what they see, what they say. It is in everything, but it is not in your face. It would be possible not to notice it, if you were casually reading this book (something that you should not do [if it is even possible]).
Third, the characters. Aza is an astonishing character. She is strong, and yet weak. Smart, and yet foolish. Beautiful, and profoundly ugly. She is so complete a character that one does not care, or even notice, that the main action and conflict in the book happen entirely in her head. The other characters are good enough that they could be the protagonists of other, lesser, novels.
If you, like me, have avoided Green's novels in the past, because of their unfortunate connection with teen-girls and you imagine that they must be vapid, I urge you to move past that impression, and form a new one. This book is easily the best novel on mental illness I have ever read. Green captures the desperation, horror, and triumphs of mental illness in such a real and convincing way that it could be required reading for any abnormal psych class. Please read this book, and think about it when you have interactions with loved ones, or strangers, who are suffering with mental illness.
I've loved John Green since reading Paper Towns in 2008. I was thrilled when The Fault In Our Stars received its deserved accolades (and a great movie adaptation to boot). So it's no surprise that I'm squarely in his corner on Turtles All the Way Down. While this book doesn't have the emotional punch of TFIOS, it's similar to Paper Towns (or Finding Alaska) in that it uses a mystery (in this case, the disappearance of a billionaire) as its backdrop. Where it DOES remind me of TFIOS is in Green's handling of a serious illness - in this case mental illness (anxiety and OCD). He does a great job letting readers crawl around in Aza's mind so we can see how debilitating true anxiety and OCD can be. He wrote about it so convincingly that I googled and discovered that he has firsthand experience with anxiety and OCD - …
I've loved John Green since reading Paper Towns in 2008. I was thrilled when The Fault In Our Stars received its deserved accolades (and a great movie adaptation to boot). So it's no surprise that I'm squarely in his corner on Turtles All the Way Down. While this book doesn't have the emotional punch of TFIOS, it's similar to Paper Towns (or Finding Alaska) in that it uses a mystery (in this case, the disappearance of a billionaire) as its backdrop. Where it DOES remind me of TFIOS is in Green's handling of a serious illness - in this case mental illness (anxiety and OCD). He does a great job letting readers crawl around in Aza's mind so we can see how debilitating true anxiety and OCD can be. He wrote about it so convincingly that I googled and discovered that he has firsthand experience with anxiety and OCD - and speaks openly about the challenges they have posed. In addition to respecting his work and being a fangirl of the 99th degree, I also appreciate his willingness to help destigmatize mental illness.
John Green books, man. Maybe this one wasn't as heartbreaking as TFIOS, but it was excellent. Which you can tell because I read it in about the span of a day...
