Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Publication Date: 10 October 2017

Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult

Pages: 286

Synopsis

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. 

Review

I was so excited to read John Green’s highly anticipated new book! I purchased it on the day it came out and even paid full-price.

The first chapter was brilliant. I loved the way Green wrote about how Aza saw herself in school. She saw herself as the secondary character in someone else’s story; a character that no one really cared about. Check out the opening paragraph:

“At the time I first realized I might be fictional, my weekdays were spent at a publicly funded institution on the north side of Indianapolis called White River High School, where I was required to eat lunch at a particular time – between 12:37pm and 1:14pm – by forces so much larger than myself that I couldn’t even begin to identity them. If those forces had given me a different lunch period, or if the tablemates who helped author my fate had chosen a different topic of conversation that September day, I would’ve met a different end – or at least a different middle. But I was beginning to learn that your life is a story told about you, not one that you tell.”

The first chapter was written very well and I understood exactly what Aza was going through. One thing about Green’s writing that has been criticised is his inability to make his characters sound like teenagers. Read that quote above again and imagine a sixteen-year-old girl thinking that – it’s a little bit difficult. For example, when has anyone ever said “tablemates”? It did take me a while to read the book as though it was told by Aza rather than Green. But I do like the opening chapter a lot, even though the rest of his chapters read a bit differently.

The plot follows Aza very closely, and moves between her attempting to find a billionaire with her friend, Daisy, and her struggles with her mental illness. The plot with the billionaire is interesting at first and it draws you into the story. It leads Aza to reconnect with Davis, who is the billionaire’s son. There were several weird things surrounding that family – the most prominent, I think, being the tuatara. Something strange is revealed about the tuatara – which is a spoiler – and it is a very odd thing for a person to do. It seemed very unbelievable.

I think that Aza is supposed to have OCD and anxiety. While the readers learn about the development in finding the missing billionaire, they also get an insight into Aza’s mind.

“The way he talked about thoughts was the way i experienced them—not as a choice, but as a destiny. Not a catalog of my consciousness, but a refutation of it.”

Aza is constantly thinking throughout the novel. She worries about every little thing and analyses things as though they are life-threatening. The depiction of her mental health was the best part about the novel. Her thoughts were endless and they never had a solution. She just needed to try to live with them, which was a good message to send to the target audience.

Aza did something really gross in the novel that made my blood turn weak whenever I had to read it. She would pick at the skin on her thumb, and while Green made this image come to life in my head, it was disgusting. But the point I’m trying to get at is that the writing about Aza’s mental health was very vivid and done in an exceptional way.

I mostly enjoyed this novel. However, there were several things that I disliked about it.

Firstly, Daisy. In the beginning, I thought she was the typical best friend sort of character who was charismatic and someone whom everyone loved. She continuously called Aza “Holmesy”, which was confusing at first, but then I realised Aza’s last name was Holmsey. Her addiction to Star Wars was enduring. But there was something about her that was lacking. She was clearly not a good friend to Aza, and Aza was not a good friend to her. It was a strange, toxic friendship for a young adult novel. I also don’t think what Daisy did in the end was forgivable. She didn’t understand what Aza was going through at all.

Another thing I disliked about this novel was the plot. It was strong in the beginning: the readers knew the goal of the characters and could sense a romance between Aza and Davis. Mid-way, however, it was hard to know where the main focus would be. The focus moved off Aza and Daisy looking for where the billionaire was and then moved to Aza’s mental illness. This made it difficult for me to understand what I was wanting out of this novel.

The relationship between Aza and Davis was also not that great. I didn’t care about them being together at all. I more so cared about Aza being happy.

Finally (I know this is a lot to dislike but just one more thing), I don’t like the title. It’s a funny title, yes. The joke behind the title is really funny, I laughed at it a few weeks before I read the book. But throughout the entire novel I was anticipating when they would mention turtles being all the way down! And I guess it relates to how Aza’s thoughts are crazy and constant, but they mentioned it for only a second and it was the tiniest part of the story. And instead of a tuatara it could have been a turtle!

Aside from those things, I liked the book. I liked it more than Paper Towns and Looking for Alaska. I still think that The Fault in Our Stars is the best John Green book. Will Grayson Will Grayson is pretty good too.

Overall, Turtles All the Way Down is a poignant read, and for that I have rated it 4 stars. I would recommend it firstly to fans of John Green and then to those who enjoy reading young adult books.

See Turtles All the Way Down by John Green on Goodreads and purchase through Book Depository.

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