John Green follows up pop culture phenomenon, The Fault in Our Stars, with a story focusing on a girl with OCD.
By Jamari Saint Cyr
While many may know him from his fame on the YouTube channel VlogBrothers which he runs with his brother Hank, John Green is a best-selling author, particularly in the young adult demographic. He has put out New York Times Bestselling hits like Paper Towns, Looking For Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars, two of which have been translated to the big screen.
Coming off of the massively popular success of The Fault In Our Stars (commonly referred acronym TFIOS) back in 2013, fans have eagerly been waiting for his next follow up, and it does not disappoint. Turtles All The Way Down follows a 16-year old girl named Aza who deals with lots of anxiety and OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is a disorder that for a person who has it deals with excessive thoughts and obsessions that then lead to repetitive compulsions.
Turtles All The Way Down follows Aza along with her best friend Daisy as they set out to investigate the disappearance of a fugitive billionaire to seeking of the found reward. Aza was friends with his teenage son, Davis who she later begins to grow closer to as he later follows her along in the story. The overarching aspect that becomes of key importance to the story and to the character of Aza is her anxiety and the spiral of this combined with her OCD that consumes every part of her life.
“Well, everyone’s crazy these days, Dr. Singh. Adolescent sanity is so twentieth century.”
– Aza, Chapter 20, Turtles All The Way Down
On a personal level, I found this book very relatable, maybe a little more so than the previous books of his that I read which were Paper Towns and TFIOS. Anxiety is something that I deal with often times on a daily basis and a lot of the lines and passages of the ‘tightening spiral’ that Aza goes through is something that I was able to connect back to myself. Green continues the tradition by keeping up with the humor that he portrays in his books as well as creating complex and intriguing side characters that accompany Aza on her journey.
Turtles All The Way Down is a surprisingly fast and enjoyable read that will have you expressing emotions of laughter, sadness, and joy while reading about Aza’s adventures and daily struggles. If you’re a fan of coming of age contemporary reads, and most importantly if you’re a fan of John Green’s previous entries, Turtles All the Way Down is a highly recommended read for teens and adults of all ages to enjoy. A-
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