‘Turtles All the Way Down’ is a novel that tells a unique story. It shows the struggles of sixteen-year-old Aza Holmes with obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD. Aza’s obsession with dying from bacterial infection inhibits her interaction with her peers. She suffers in her mind but fails to express her thoughts, and that leads to severe consequences. As Aza toils with the demons within, she tries to maintain relationships and friendships. However, she finds herself sinking into oblivion. The tone employed throughout the plot gives a brooding feeling of doom and makes the reader curious about what happens next.
Story
There are multiple aspects to ‘Turtles All The Way Down.’ Though its primary plot focuses on Aza and her struggle with OCD, other parts of the story give the novel depth and uniqueness.
Aza and Mental Illness
The primary plot of ‘Turtles All the Way Down‘ focuses on Aza and her fight with OCD. In the story, the teenager combats dark thoughts of bacteria and death. The novel perfectly portrays the processes that make anxiety and OCD worse.
From the plot, Aza struggles with irrationality. Though most of her thoughts were not rooted in facts, her mind still tricked her into believing that an insignificant thing could lead to her demise. John Green’s focus on Aza’s mind made his story more remarkable; this made many people call it a modern classic.
Aza’s Relationship With Friends and Family
Mental illness does not only affect its victim. It changes those around them; this was another part of ‘Turtles All the Way Down’s’ plot. The novel shows how Aza’s mental illness affected her best friend, Daisy, mother, Ms. Holmes, and romantic interest, Davis Pickett. The story’s incredible portrayal of how much the anxiety disorders of a person affect their family and friends gives it a whole new level of realism.
Russell Mystery
After the disappearance of local billionaire Rusell Pickett, there was a hundred-thousand-dollar reward for any valuable information about his whereabouts. Though one may expect Aza to become an incredible detective, like most books that make their characters who have a mental disorder, she does not.
Aza embarks on a mystery hunt with her most fearless friend, and there is not one time when OCD gives her special powers. John Green’s decision to make her unremarkable because of her illness gave more authenticity to his story.
He demonstrated that mental illness is not a beautiful condition that makes people magically better than others by showing that disorders are debilitating and inhibit the efficiency of victims.
Romance
Though ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ did not fully explore Aza’s romantic plot, it gave a glimpse into her mind concerning love. She thought to herself that love and relationships were not something she could take on, as her anxiety would never let her enjoy them. However, she gradually opened up to Davis and felt emotions for him.
Characters
John Green used a limited number of people in his story to make a compact plot. Each character had a predefined life and felt human. They interacted differently and had separate motivations. However, one aspect of their life not fully explored was their teenage hood.
‘Turtles All the Way Down’ felt lacking in characterizing the quirkiness of being a teenager. It made Aza and Daisy seem a bit too mature for their age, and characters like Mychal, Davis, and Noah felt too grown for teenage boys.
Dialogues
Where ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ shines the most is its dialoguing, specifically the conversations in Aza’s mind. John Green’s innovative dialoguing makes Aza feel like two different people. Most times, she was always fighting an invincible person, and though the being was in her mind, it felt like a separate entity. The novel’s incredible portrayal of the protagonist’s invasive thoughts and how she spirals into emptiness makes it a remarkable piece of literature.
Writing Style and Conclusion
‘Turtles All the Way Down’ was narrated from Aza Holmes’s perspective. With her mental illnesses, it is hard to rely on her as a narrator as she struggles with defining reality from fiction. John Green’s portrayal of Aza is incredible because he portrayed a flawed character and showed her anxiety worsens her insecurities.
Though it was a beautiful story, ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ had a sad ending, and everything felt weird and out of place as the story reached its conclusion. Aza and Davis’s relationship story may have contributed to this, as John Green opting for an open ending to their love made their departure awkward. At the end of the book, Aza reveals she wrote everything to fight the thoughts that still tortured her even as an adult. Her confession comes like a blow to the reader, who expects she somehow won.
Turtles All the Way Down: A Real Life in A Fake World
Book Title: Turtles all the Way Down
Book Description: 'Turtles All the Way Down' is a novel that follows the life of Aza Holmes, a sixteen-year-old girl with OCD. Aza struggles to maintain friendships as her anxiety tries taking over her mind.
Book Author: John Green
Book Edition: Signed Edition
Book Format: Hardcover
Publisher - Organization: Dutton Books
Date published: October 10, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-525-55538-4
Number Of Pages: 286
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Story
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Characters
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Dialogue
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Setting
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Conclusion
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Lasting Effect on Reader
Turtles All the Way Down Review
‘Turtles All the Way Down’ is a novel that follows the life of Aza Holmes, a sixteen-year-old girl with severe anxiety and OCD. As Aza battles mental illness, which brings negative thoughts, she embarks on a quest to find information on the disappearance of the CEO of Pickette Engineering, Russell Pickett; this leads to a budding romance between her and Davis Pickett, Russell’s son.
Pros
- The story is captivating
- The characters are well-designed
- The novel is short and easy to read
Cons
- Some parts of the story were not fully explored
- The ending is a bit lacking
- The setting was never fully explored
