Turtles All the Way Down

Book, 2017

Premise - Teenager Aza Holmes has severe anxiety and OCD, particularly regarding her physical health, susceptibility to microbes, and what that means about her sense of control and "realness" in the world. All of these hidden struggles overwhelm her as she and her best friend Daisy attempt to solve the mystery of a missing billionaire.

Review - Not having written another novel since his The Fault in Our Stars success back in 2012, this was John Green's most anticipated novel yet. His teen romance writing had already peaked in The Fault in Our Stars, and his philosophical cleverness peaked in An Abundance of Katherines, so John Green was understandably stuck. But what he offers in this novel is incomparable to everything else he's written, purely in the sense that the novel is intensely personal and somewhat autobiographical. No, he's never been a teenage girl with a crush on a missing billionaire's son, but he has severe OCD surrounding the state of his physical health. What Aza is able to do is rationalize the irrational, bring awareness to the untamed and uncontrollable, and question the entirety of her existence. It's terrifying, and it's accurate. The most frightening part of Aza's condition is that you cannot tell her she's wrong. It is possible to catch C. diff. We do not have control. We are not necessarily real in the way that she hopes. It's not about changing your cognitions, but rather tolerating them. Aza learns to keep living, moving forward, and minimize her suffering. But she will always have these thoughts. The key to her happiness is to stop them from spiraling out of control. It's an invaluable lesson for individuals with any mental health-related problems, or even without them, because it helps people understand the chronic nature of these conditions. It's not something that you can cure, nor necessarily should cure. You deal. (93/100)

Quote: "What I love about science is that as you learn, you don't really get answers. You just get better questions."

If you liked this book, I'd recommend An Abundance of Katherines!

Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton Books