C.G. Drews's Reviews > Turtles All the Way Down

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)[said all that absolute shit about Aza and it wasn't only cruel, I don't think it was dealt with properly???? Like how dare she say that stuff. Like being friends with Aza is "exhausting" and Aza doesn't care etc. etc. And at the end they just forgive each other. OK SO MAYBE I CAN JUST HOLD A GRUDGE BUT I'M PISSED OFF. I think Daisy should've had a little more comeuppance for that. Because saying stuff liek that to a mentally ill person underlines the horrible ideas that: (a) mentally ill people are too much work, and (b) you're being a gift from god to befriend them. This really hurts and I just WISH it'd been more addressed. (hide 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)