Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

I am not going to lie, I picked up this book begrudgingly. Every John Green book I have ever read has set me up for disappointment and I really expected this book to be the same way. Turtles All the Way Down started off with a great beginning with an incredible attention-getter. The main character, Aza, had a unique way of thinking that is brought upon by her anxiety. I think seeing the thought process of Aza right at the beginning of the book is a great way to introduce the reader to a certain character and to tell us so much about them in a short amount of time.

This book sometimes felt like it was digging its way into my brain. It felt like there was a connection with the character as we can see into her mind since she puts everything out onto the page rather than withholding anything. It is a very fast read and a hard book to put down because of this.

Aza and her best friend, Daisy heard about a local billionaire with a warrant out for his arrest, Aza happened to know that man’s son and so they tried to get some answers since there is a one hundred-thousand-dollar reward if he is caught. As the two play detective and try to figure out where this man ran off to, we see Aza struggle with her anxiety.

The book is written in the first person, being able to see into Aza’s mind allows us to observe what she is going through during their investigation and how each day affected her. The very first piece of their investigation involved filthy water which causes the germaphobe inside of Aza to come out. With an open wound, she must check and recheck it to make sure no feces infested water could have caused it to become infected.

Going into this book, after reading the synopsis, you expect these teenagers to go into full-on detective mode. If that is what you are into, this is likely not the book for you. Don’t get me wrong, that is a semi-big part of this book. Although, it mainly focuses on the struggles of Aza following her and Daisy’s initial detective adventure and how everything spiraled out of control since that day.

The climax of this story is one of Aza’s biggest fears, not necessarily what happened to her, but where she went because of what happened. Seeing Aza’s thought process through this part of the book really allows you to see her how she had declined since the beginning of the book. We can see her decline throughout the story, but this puts it over the top and really shows us what these experiences have been doing to her.

This is one of the better John Green books I have read. It is more realistic and has a lot of connections for some readers to the character. The ending of this book was actually a proper ending. It did not end abruptly nor super disappointing. I would say that Turtles All the Way Down has a more proper ending compared to a lot of other John Green books that only set you up for disappointment.

Green, John. Turtles All the Way Down. London: Penguin Books, 2018.