Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Megan | Biotechnology High School, Grade 9

Rating: ***

“Turtles All The Way Down” by John Green follows Aza Holmes, a teenager who suffers from severe anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Aza and her best friend, Daisy, investigate the death of a missing billionaire, Russell Pickett, for a $300,000 reward. Through the investigation, Aza reunites with Pickett’s son, Davis, and their relationship evolves from an old friendship into a romance. The book documents Aza’s everyday life, from attending school to hanging out with her friends, and how her disorders have impacted it. Throughout the novel’s progression, Aza desperately attempts to balance her relationships, schoolwork, and the investigation, all while internally battling against her own mind.

Green’s beautiful and unique writing truly helped me, as someone who doesn’t personally experience severe anxiety, to better empathize with and understand people battling it. One of Green’s quotes, “True terror isn’t being scared; it’s not having a choice on the matter,” still resonates with me to this today. Throughout the novel, Aza’s incessant thoughts are compared to whirlwinds of thought spirals, constantly wrapping around her mind. Green tells an incredibly realistic story and portrays Aza as someone who, beneath her anxieties, is a flawed person. Because of this, many readers, especially those experiencing anxiety firsthand, can find themselves relating to Aza’s struggles. Additionally, I can really appreciate that even as the novel ends, Aza’s fight against her anxiety and OCD never truly ceases, illustrating that these disorders are an interminable battle. That being said, I personally found that the plot was generally uneventful and underdeveloped. Due to the novel’s detailed focus on Aza’s life with anxiety, the plotline involving the missing billionaire was often overshadowed. Therefore, “Turtles All The Way Down” is mainly targeted at people interested in learning more about anxiety, rather than those interested in a plot-focused tale.