TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN by John Green // A RARE BOOK REVIEW

Note: Before I get into this review, I’d just like to say that while this book is excellent, it is very internally graphic. Not graphic in terms of gore or horror, but more like stressful and does not shy away to discuss Aza’s struggles with her OCD. So if you are not in the right headspace to read Turtles, I encourage you to wait until you are. Ok on with the review! 👼

I don’t have OCD, but getting to know Aza on a human level within her experiences, her thought spirals were similar to mine with my anxiety. 
I’m not a huge John Green fan, although I loved TFIOS, but this was probably the best he’s ever written. I could feel everything Aza felt, and it made my head and heart hurt for her pain. At least her mother was present and always in her space when needed. We don’t have a lot of good parents in YA so it was nice to see that.

Daisy. Do I have some words for her. 
Not only did she give a nickname for Aza but I’m pretty sure she gave it to her /for her/, not for Aza. Holmsey? Really? But yeah, in the beginning, she was so funny and quirky and cute, but later on because completely insensitive to Aza and her emotions, especially when she wrote a nasty fan fiction character loosely based on Aza, thinking she was a burden to her. And Daisy only apologized once or twice, then glossed over the whole thing when Aza got back to school. WTF. Aza deserves a better “best friend”.

Davis, somebody hold this marvelous boy! 
I feel like he only understood Aza in a friend turned lover type of way, but didn’t pound her over the head or make her feel badly about herself. However sweet their relationship was, I knew it wasn’t meant to last forever. Especially when Aza went through her spirals WHILE kissing him. Jesus that was painful to read…. but anyway, Davis will always have a soft space in Aza’s heart and mind, and their breakup actually developed into a lovely friendship.

Also, the thing about Aza taking Davis’ hush money of his version of $100,000 for the reward was super-sketchy. And Aza was right to question why he needed to give away the money; where or how they should have told someone; how they would spend it. Daisy spent her half on a new computer and car (even though she can’t drive!); she even got into a huge fight with Aza about it, and Aza’s privilege on not being as poor enough…Yeah, in my opinion, I was practically screaming at these two high-school kids that Davis’ money was hush money!!!! He was just setting them up to keep quiet about ever seeing him so the police wouldn’t ask questions.

-SIGH-

But other than that, Davis was a pretty cool guy. He really wanted to protect his younger brother Noah, who’s 13, and doesn’t want him to grow up without a proper father. However, Davis was still a kid himself; he didn’t know how to help his brother if he could barely help himself. Having Aza as a good friend, then sorta-girlfriend, was nice to have for him to vent and express himself while his father was on the run.

Also, I really liked Aza’s connection to Davis through his secret blog posts she’d found online. Davis is an ameteur poet, and reading his posts made Aza feel less alone; like she had finally found someone who understood her experiences. Even though Davis was neuro-typical (does not have OCD or mental illness), he didn’t know what it meant to really trust someone unless they were in for his money or missing father. And Aza gave him hope that things could change.

As for the writing, I didn’t expect much to go on from John Green’s narratives of his characters speaking like they were teaching us about science and math and philosophy. 
I remember how I’d found Augustus from TFIOS to be very pretentious and stuck-up because of his dialogue. It had also taken me awhile to read outside of John’s narrative voice and into Aza’s, because as a casual watcher of John’s vlogbrothers Youtube channel, I had to decipher between the two voices to fully enjoy Turtles. 

To end this really long review, I’d just have to say that Turtles was a very good read and exceeded my expectations.

Have you read ‘Turtles All the Way Down’? What are your thoughts? Comment below!