C.G. Drews's Reviews > Turtles All the Way Down
Turtles All the Way Down
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C.G. Drews's review
bookshelves: 5-star, best-of-2017, contemporary, read-2017, mental-illness, young-adult
Oct 18, 2017
bookshelves: 5-star, best-of-2017, contemporary, read-2017, mental-illness, young-adult
This was ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT and also gave me an existential crisis so thanks for that. I'm actually floored by how good it was. I mean, I haven't read a "new" John Green novel in forever, but this is worth the wait. I wasn't actually nervous going in. It's about mental health (#OWNVOICES I REMIND YOU) and missing persons and smol sad rich boys and everything about this just shouts that it's my kind of novel. It really really hit home so hard for me. I loved it.
OK note on the title: I see a lot of people complaining about the lack of turtles and like...I'm sorry but I'M LAUGHING. HAVE YOU NOT MET JOHN GREEN. It's a metaphor!! The title of the book being a metaphor is like perfect. (I mean no one complained about the towns not being made of actual paper in Paper Towns so I don't even get how everything thinks this is different.) THE BRAND IS ON POINT.
Anyway. Excuse me. I have an enthusiasm for this book.
+ OK so the plot was really amazing!
Bit slow but really really good. I loved that it wasn't rife with cliches or annoying tropes. It was just so pure almost. It felt actually real. It's not really a "detective" story (I thought it was going to be??) but Aza is lowkey curious about the mission millionaire because she used to know his son, Davis. She does a bit of digging, but she does more investigative work on Davis. So.
+ Aza was honestly amazing.
She is EXTREMELY quiet. She probably hardly ever talks and she's very much locked in her own head. And I HATE that that's a negative. Because be in your own head if you want, I say. I appreciated that she's quiet and that she thinks a lot. She's obviously extremely intelligent. ALL JOHN GREEN'S CHARACTERS ARE. I love how "pretentious" they are because I was 100% like that as a kid. Let's talk about the stars and metaphors and what poetry means and the infinite possibilities of death and life. The sheer amount of knowledge these kids spew out is just refreshing and perfect to me. I am HERE for smart people. (Also because I'm not one so it'sl ike??? Nice. Thanks. Let me osmosis the intelligence.)
+ The anxiety/OCD was really brutally and honestly talked about.
The only thing I'm angry about is that the word "OCD" is never used. I actually hate when books do this and it would've made me really upset reading if I hadn't already have known from listening to vlogs/interviews. I'm the kind of person who wants to KNOW and have solid answers. And I think OCD should've been stated because...liek this isn't your typical "oh she lines everything up and washes her hands 298 times a day" sort of OCD that books like to present. This is the real and brutal version of OCD. And the fact that we get like the thought-spirals and the psychology behind it is what is the BEST in my opinion. You are not watching someone with OCD, you are experiencing what it's like to have OCD while reading this book. And that's freaking important ok.
+ I have mixed feelings about Aza and Daisy's friendship tho...
I mean, I LOVED them as friends but then Daisy (view spoiler) Aaaanyway. Still (mostly) a good female-to-female- frienship that WASN'T built on obsessing over boys or being catty! YAS.
+ AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT DAVIS? WHO IS SUPER ADORABLE AND I LOVE HIM.
It was like SUCH a cute romance. Slow and cautious and fraught with problems just from Aza's OCD and Davis insurmountable grief. He was also the BEST big brother ever and I just... <3 <3 I loved how geeky and nerdy and beautiful he was. Honestly. DAVIS.
+ It's also really DEEP.
Like it talks psychology a lot and some of the metaphors were really intense and like wow. It was so layered. I LOVED it.
+ And yes I teared up at the end.
I mean. It's a John Green novel. I LOVED the ending and I hated it and I LOVED IT and just ajfdsakld I have at least 4 emotions which is double as many as I usually have. Goddamn. I'm not used to this I need to sit down.
ALL IN ALL: I think this is an absolutely deep and existential book that really discusses minds and who we are. It's sad and it's not sugar coated. Liking a boy doesn't make Aza "better" (lol @ that trope, John Green dismantles it SO WELL) and there's no messages that you need to be fixed to have a good life. Your mental illness isn't ALL of you, but it is some of you. And as someone who has anxiety disorders too, I really appreciated this. I appreciated the whole heckin' book.
FOREVER A JOHN GREEN FAN.
(new favourite quote of ever)
OK note on the title: I see a lot of people complaining about the lack of turtles and like...I'm sorry but I'M LAUGHING. HAVE YOU NOT MET JOHN GREEN. It's a metaphor!! The title of the book being a metaphor is like perfect. (I mean no one complained about the towns not being made of actual paper in Paper Towns so I don't even get how everything thinks this is different.) THE BRAND IS ON POINT.
Anyway. Excuse me. I have an enthusiasm for this book.
+ OK so the plot was really amazing!
Bit slow but really really good. I loved that it wasn't rife with cliches or annoying tropes. It was just so pure almost. It felt actually real. It's not really a "detective" story (I thought it was going to be??) but Aza is lowkey curious about the mission millionaire because she used to know his son, Davis. She does a bit of digging, but she does more investigative work on Davis. So.
+ Aza was honestly amazing.
She is EXTREMELY quiet. She probably hardly ever talks and she's very much locked in her own head. And I HATE that that's a negative. Because be in your own head if you want, I say. I appreciated that she's quiet and that she thinks a lot. She's obviously extremely intelligent. ALL JOHN GREEN'S CHARACTERS ARE. I love how "pretentious" they are because I was 100% like that as a kid. Let's talk about the stars and metaphors and what poetry means and the infinite possibilities of death and life. The sheer amount of knowledge these kids spew out is just refreshing and perfect to me. I am HERE for smart people. (Also because I'm not one so it'sl ike??? Nice. Thanks. Let me osmosis the intelligence.)
+ The anxiety/OCD was really brutally and honestly talked about.
The only thing I'm angry about is that the word "OCD" is never used. I actually hate when books do this and it would've made me really upset reading if I hadn't already have known from listening to vlogs/interviews. I'm the kind of person who wants to KNOW and have solid answers. And I think OCD should've been stated because...liek this isn't your typical "oh she lines everything up and washes her hands 298 times a day" sort of OCD that books like to present. This is the real and brutal version of OCD. And the fact that we get like the thought-spirals and the psychology behind it is what is the BEST in my opinion. You are not watching someone with OCD, you are experiencing what it's like to have OCD while reading this book. And that's freaking important ok.
+ I have mixed feelings about Aza and Daisy's friendship tho...
I mean, I LOVED them as friends but then Daisy (view spoiler) Aaaanyway. Still (mostly) a good female-to-female- frienship that WASN'T built on obsessing over boys or being catty! YAS.
+ AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT DAVIS? WHO IS SUPER ADORABLE AND I LOVE HIM.
It was like SUCH a cute romance. Slow and cautious and fraught with problems just from Aza's OCD and Davis insurmountable grief. He was also the BEST big brother ever and I just... <3 <3 I loved how geeky and nerdy and beautiful he was. Honestly. DAVIS.
+ It's also really DEEP.
Like it talks psychology a lot and some of the metaphors were really intense and like wow. It was so layered. I LOVED it.
+ And yes I teared up at the end.
I mean. It's a John Green novel. I LOVED the ending and I hated it and I LOVED IT and just ajfdsakld I have at least 4 emotions which is double as many as I usually have. Goddamn. I'm not used to this I need to sit down.
ALL IN ALL: I think this is an absolutely deep and existential book that really discusses minds and who we are. It's sad and it's not sugar coated. Liking a boy doesn't make Aza "better" (lol @ that trope, John Green dismantles it SO WELL) and there's no messages that you need to be fixed to have a good life. Your mental illness isn't ALL of you, but it is some of you. And as someone who has anxiety disorders too, I really appreciated this. I appreciated the whole heckin' book.
FOREVER A JOHN GREEN FAN.
Anybody can look at you. It's quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you do.
(new favourite quote of ever)
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Reading Progress
October 17, 2017
–
Started Reading
October 17, 2017
– Shelved
October 18, 2017
–
28.32%
"This book is about sadness and anxiety and an inability to perform small talk, ergo I QUITE FIERCELY LOVE IT."
page
81
October 18, 2017
–
64.69%
"This book is giving me a mild existential crisis. (IN A GOOD WAY.) (But I'm also exhausted.)"
page
185
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
5-star
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
best-of-2017
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
contemporary
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
read-2017
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
mental-illness
October 18, 2017
– Shelved as:
young-adult
October 18, 2017
–
Finished Reading
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Oct 18, 2017 05:19AM

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Of course I also shed a few tears at the end... I just couldn't not cry


@Lizzie: Ikr?!? I think that conversation needed to be unpacked and dealt with. (view spoiler)


@Rachel: I don't think that labels are bad so for me I felt it was a disservice to a chance to actually educate people on what OCD REALLY is instead of like the world being full of the harmful stereotypes (like "oh she lines up her pens! she must be OCD!"...which need to stop).


@Dara: I hope you get a chance to read it!! It's super amazing!



But the ending. I can't handle his endings. :'''(






Awesome review as always! Keep it up! :D

Disagree about the argument with Daisy though. I feel like this is real. People do get exhausted by mental illness, because it can become exhausting. And an author’s job is to tell a story, not make perfect fictional people, who are always kind and patient. I think that argument is actually pretty perfect, because like all great arguments, you can really get on board with one perspective and the other. And you can feel the guilt as well as the indignation from both angles. It’s brilliant. Plus, true friends fight and forgive and move on. They realise their friend love is unconditional. I think it speaks to the strength of their friendship and I’m glad Daisy wasn’t painted as the bad guy for her outburst - just shown to have a garden variety character flaw like the rest of us.
Love your review though and believe any opinion on books sparking debate on interpretation makes it all the more enjoyable and fascinating. That we can all read the same words and come out with different take aways is what it’s all about :)

