Though narrated from a single person’s perspective, ‘Turtles All the Way Down‘ features humane characters. Everyone in the story faces challenges, and their tribulation shapes their identity. The novel has characters bruised by an unfair reality. Everyone in the story understood the meaning of pain, loss, and resentment; this made them better people.
Primary Characters in Turtles All the Way Down
Here are all the primary characters featured in the story of ‘Turtles All the Way Down.’
Aza Holmes
Aza Holmes is a sixteen-year-old student at White River High School in Indianapolis. She suffers from anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD; this affects her relationship with others. Aza’s compulsive behavior makes her fear bacterial infections. She feels everything can kill her. Though Aza fears pathogens, she has an obsession with Clostridium difficile.
While at the cafeteria with her friends, Aza repeatedly freaks at the thought of dying from C. Diff; this makes her do something she frequently does. She takes out a bandaid on her hand and pricks her wound to make herself bleed. In her mind, bleeding will remove any deadly disease in her body.
Aza learns about the disappearance of Russell Pickett, the CEO of Pickett Engineering; this leads her and her best friend, Daisy Ramirez, on a hunt to find clues to his disappearance, as there is a 100,000 dollar bounty for whoever has any information. While searching for clues, Aza meets Davis Picket, Russell’s son, whom she met at Sad Camp.
Aza and Davis start meeting frequently and develop a bond. However, things go dark as Aza is involved in her accident. While at the hospital, she tries drinking Hand Sanitizer to kill bacteria.
Some weeks go by, and Aza returns to school. She and her friends attend the art exhibition of Mychal in an unfinished underground tunnel; this leads to her discovery that Russel might be dead.
Daisy Ramirez
Daizy is Aza’s most fearless friend. She is a die-hard fan of everything Star Wars, including the books. Daisy wrote Star Wars fan fiction, including a story about Chewbacca’s love life.
When she learns of Russell’s disappearance and the bounty on his head, Dasiy convinces her friend, Aza, to accompany her on a mystery hunt. She wears Aza’s mom’s clothes and rows a boat to Ruseel’s mansion. However, one of the employees catches her and her friend. To save herself, Daisy makes Aza lie about wanting to meet Davis, whom she went to Sad Camp.
Russell’s employee, Lyle, takes Daisy and her friend to meet Davis. She is awestruck when she sees the mansion of the lost CEO. She meets Malik, an employee Russell hired to study his pet Tuatara. Daisy learns that Russell gave everything he owned to his pet, hoping it would help unlock the secrets to immortality.
The next day, Daisy meets Aza, who tells her that Mychal wants to ask her out. Though she tries avoiding him, she later arranges a double date between her, Mychal, Aza, and Davis. Aza tells Daisy that Davis gave her 100,000 to stop investigating his father’s disappearance. She splits the money equally.
After setting up her account, Daisy buys a new car and laptop. She and Aza fight over her spending, and she tells her best friend she does not know what life is like for her. Daisy completes one of her stories and sends it to Aza.
The next day, they fight over one of the characters, Ayala. Aza felt she was the character, but Daisy said she had been writing the book for a long time. As they argue, Aza fails to notice an oncoming car, and she crashes into it. She passes out and stays in the hospital for a while. Daisy eventually makes up with her friend.
Davis Pickett
Davis Pickett is the son of Russell Pickett, the CEO of Pickett Engineering and Aza’s love interest. He manages an anonymous blog he uses to talk about his life. While at home, Lyle appears before him with two girls.
Davis recognizes one of them, Aza, a girl he met at Sad Camp after his mother’s death. When her friend proclaims she came to check up on him as she had a crush, Davis lets her into his home and shows her around. He collects Aza’s number and agrees to a second date. While on a date, Aza confesses she came to his house looking for clues to his father’s disappearance.
Davis gives Aza the 100,000 reward for her silence. He starts coming to her house frequently and hangs out with her.
After Aza’s accident, Davis gets a message from her stating she may have located where his father’s body might be. He eventually gives the information to the police, and they discover a dead body in the unfinished tunnels constructed by Pickett Engineering.
With no wealth in his name, Davis and his brother, Noah, leave Indianapolis for Colorado.
Ms. Holmes
Ms. Holmes, also known as mom by her daughter Aza, is a ninth-grade math teacher. She worries about her daughter’s mental health and college entry. When Aza has an accident, Ms. Holmes stays by her daughter’s side and watches her drink hand sanitizer. Though she eventually stops her, she is unable to stop Aza from taking the first gulps; this makes the hospital keep Aza longer, as they fear she is facing withdrawal symptoms from excessive alcoholism.
Mychal Turner
Mychal is an aspiring artist and a friend of Aza and Daisy. He develops feelings for Daisy and tries telling Aza, who initially mistook it for him having feelings for her. After professing his love, he becomes Daisy’s boyfriend. However, they eventually break up and remain friends. Some of Mychal’s works gained notoriety as an underground art exhibition displayed them. After the event, he and his friends wander off deeper and perceive a stench they believe to be Russell Pickette’s dead body.
Noah Pickett
Noah is the youngest son of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett. After his father disappears following his fraud charges, Noah becomes distraught. When he learns Aza is investigating his father’s disappearance, he gives her some information he had. Russell is later found dead, and Noah moves to Colorado with his brother.
Other characters from the novel include Dr. Karen Singh, Malik, Russell Pickett, Simon Morris, Lyle, and Harold.
