Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down
After Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns, and of course The Fault in Our Stars, it seemed that the bar was set impossibly high for John Green’s newest book, Turtles All the Way Down. Amazingly, he managed to surpass the expectations of fans and new readers alike with his latest novel. This story features Aza Holmes, a high schooler who struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and a small group of quirky supporting characters.
Unsurprisingly, each character speaks and thinks with an eloquence not typically characteristic of teenagers. Articulate, somewhat eccentric characters are a trademark of Green’s, and the undeniable nerdiness of Aza and her friends enhances their personalities.
Aza’s adventure begins after discovering that the billionaire father of a former friend has gone missing. Aza and her best friend Daisy embark on a mission to find the man and turn him in for the $100,000 reward. Their search leads them to Davis Pickett, the billionaire’s son, and Aza soon finds herself falling for him.
However, nothing is easy for Aza as she grapples with the debilitating anxiety that accompanies her OCD. She is constantly bombarded with intrusive thoughts that she cannot control; she is paranoid of infection and, among other self-destructive behaviors, repeatedly opens a wound on her finger when she begins to panic about the pathogens that may be inside. Aza’s condition makes it hard for her to be fully engaged with her surroundings. In fact, much of the novel tracks her thoughts, and the reader is able to understand what causes people with OCD to spiral so far into their harmful thought patterns.
Turtles All the Way Down is by far the most autobiographical novel that John Green has published. Having experienced the detrimental effects of OCD himself, he was able to surpass the superficial romanticization of mental illness that plagues many novels in the YA genre. Aza’s thoughts on her illness throughout the book could only have been written by someone with first hand experience. John Green has accomplished an incredible feat because he managed to write about what OCD is, when often times authors default to writing about what OCD is like, because it is difficult to translate the painfulness of mental illness directly into words, without using extensive metaphors.
While this book is a relatively quick read, it is the most emotionally taxing of Green’s novels, and will have a deep impact on its readers. The story is not sugar-coated and it is therefore difficult to sort through the many emotions that the ending provokes. Turtles All the Way Down will leave readers shocked, hopeful, and most importantly thoughtful. This novel is important because it will stimulate open conversation about mental illness and destigmatize OCD.
