Turtles All the Way Down
by John Green
4 stars
Synopsis from Goodreads: 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.
I did not let this book sit unopened very long. Green hooked me, and I got caught up in Aza’s life, wondering about her romance with her old childhood friend Davis and whether she would solve the mystery of the disappearance of Davis’s father. Since I am an Indianapolis native myself, I love the references to White River, Pogue’s Run, 465, and the Applebee’s at 86th and Ditch. (Very few people could make me want to eat at Applebee’s, but John Green may have done it.)
Green writes about his character’s issues with anxiety and obsessive compulsion with the kindness of a healthy friend who understands what it’s like to live in an unhealthy mind. I find the illustration that Green uses very fitting- that dealing with severe anxiety is like trying to find your way through complete darkness, but typically the flashlight of sanity can come back on and light the way. And so it is with this book – we get awash in Aza’s downward spiral of anxiety only to get brought back up by the pull of the story of her life. And also unexpectedly find out a fair amount about tuataras at the same time.
Read-alikes
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone
