theycallmerash's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Mental illness
Moderate: Death, Toxic friendship, Medical content, Death of parent, Car accident, Abandonment, Suicide, and Grief
smolone13's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This story was a heart-warming piece on a young girl struggling with relationships and having to find a way around her crippling mental illness that leaves her feeling hopeless and miserable throughout the book along with trying to solve a local mystery.
I would recommend this book to anyone of any age so they can enter the mind of someone who has a mental illness. This truly brought me back to those times that I was struggling myself in high school with anxiety.
I would recommend this book to anyone of any age so they can enter the mind of someone who has a mental illness. This truly brought me back to those times that I was struggling myself in high school with anxiety.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Car accident, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, and Cursing
Spoiler
When I picked up this book I thought it was going to be a story full of mystery, however, in good John Green fashion it was way deeper. I have read a number of John Green’s novels, and this is one that I haven’t read. Just like all of John Green’s books, it was a depiction of real emotion and real life. The main character, Aza, is a young girl in high school who quickly shows that she has a severe mental illness that haunts her. Her friend, Daisy, is the complete opposite of her. Daisy loves adventure and trying out new things and can’t completely understand why Aza is the way that she is. They discover that the billionaire in their city was missing and Aza admits that she knows the billionaire’s son. In response, Daisy decides for them that they were going to go over to his house and find the hidden camera that would have detected the billionaire running away from the house. They decide to take a canoe and go to the house and connect to the camera which they managed to find the video and save it. However, they were caught and Daisy decided to smash the boat so that they could have an excuse to see Davis. After seeing Davis, Aza and Davis decided to rekindle their friendship. While trying to rekindle their friendship, Aza and Daisy start looking into researching the disappearance of the billionaire. However, Davis doesn’t want any information found and gives Aza $100k just so she can leave the case be. She splits the money with Daisy but decides that she doesn’t want to stop working on the case. While Daisy is spending her money, Aza is still trying to figure out the case for Davis’s brother. They continue on with life but Aza starts reading Daisy’s fanfiction and quickly discovers that Daisy had created a character that represented Aza that hurt her feelings. She stays quiet for a long while until she and Daisy are going to Applebee’s and Aza starts yelling at Daisy because she is hurt by the accusations which leads to Aza getting into a car accident. After the car accident, Aza has a mental breakdown and ends up on house arrest for a few weeks before going back to school where her relationship with Daisy is healed and they move on with life. Even though Aza wants a relationship with Davis, she also wants to get better so she decides that she doesn’t want to have a relationship. Aza and Daisy go to an art show for their friend and discover that they made it to the last clue Davis’s father had left. After telling Davis, Davis and his brother decide to tell the police and the body is quickly found. This story had a deep connection to me. When I was in high school I had a debilitating anxiety that constantly plagued my mind so to see that written in a book made me feel seen. I could understand every single emotion that was written and I would honestly say that everyone needs to read this book to gain some insight on what it is like to have anxiety.gzaborski's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
While I commend John Green for highlighting the often-neglected point of view a character with OCD might experience, I feel like the overly-philosophic and reflective nature of this novel contributes to characters that seem almost flat and underwhelming. While this may be in part due to the main characters self-centered pov I really found the depiction of OCD via writing style effective though.
Aza, the main character, is compelling, but the book either feels too short or just incomplete in drawing a full picture of Aza,
Strong ideas and pov, interesting relationships, but overall just slightly off.
Spoiler
(addressed in the conflict with Daisy), it also keeps me from being truly invested in anything other than Aza’s self-image, which doesn’t really change much throughout the book (not that it has to in order to be good, but it would be nice to have some change in either internal or external dynamics).Aza, the main character, is compelling, but the book either feels too short or just incomplete in drawing a full picture of Aza,
Spoiler
and the use of the weird over-used framing method in the final chapter of “writing down and learning from your past” frustrated me.Strong ideas and pov, interesting relationships, but overall just slightly off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Suicide
hexa's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I'm glad that it was. It was a sweet, sad, and hopeful look on life and loss and so much more, and I loved it.
Let's talk about what I loved:
The characters: John Green has a real talent for creating developed, real characters that you can't help but love.
The dialogue: the dialogue and conversations are great, what more can I say?
The feels: this book made me cry and even laugh (not really a laugh, more of an exhale). It was great.
The writing style: the writing is consumable and accessible and makes great use of metaphors and similes.
The fanfiction: does John Green actually write Star Wars fanfiction in his spare time? How does he know so much?? He literally used the term 'kudos', like, what?? If he does then someone tell me what his A03 account is because I gotta know.
Now my criticisms:
The plot: the plot was by no way boring, I just didn't find myself as invested in it as I was the characters, which could be a fault on my part.
The abbreviations: it was a minor pet peeve, but the characters kept using abbreviations like TBH and BTW in actual, real life conversations. It just made me cringe inwardly a bit.
Ultimately, not my favourite John Green book, but still a really good read.
Let's talk about what I loved:
The characters: John Green has a real talent for creating developed, real characters that you can't help but love.
The dialogue: the dialogue and conversations are great, what more can I say?
The feels: this book made me cry and even laugh (not really a laugh, more of an exhale). It was great.
The writing style: the writing is consumable and accessible and makes great use of metaphors and similes.
The fanfiction: does John Green actually write Star Wars fanfiction in his spare time? How does he know so much?? He literally used the term 'kudos', like, what?? If he does then someone tell me what his A03 account is because I gotta know.
Now my criticisms:
The plot: the plot was by no way boring, I just didn't find myself as invested in it as I was the characters, which could be a fault on my part.
The abbreviations: it was a minor pet peeve, but the characters kept using abbreviations like TBH and BTW in actual, real life conversations. It just made me cringe inwardly a bit.
Ultimately, not my favourite John Green book, but still a really good read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Medical content, Car accident, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, and Vomit
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Toxic friendship
Minor: Drug use
briana513's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, and Medical trauma
Minor: Suicide and Toxic friendship
hannah_mariee's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders
madelinedalton's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
This was cute. I didn’t feel super emotionally invested in the characters or what was happening, but I had a decent time reading this and will probably watch the movie when it comes out. Maybe at 23 I just can’t appreciate YA anymore. The depictions of OCD thought spirals and mental health struggles were really brilliant, and the rest was fine. 🤷🏼♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Car accident, Medical content, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts
mgdsmile's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
Green's portrayal of mental illness in this novel is extremely believable and commendable. While the plot didn't necessarily captivate me, the author's characterization of Aza did. Throughout Turtles All the Way Down, I felt as though I was fully able to empathize with Aza and her anxiety, and also with many of her obsessions and compulsions. This aspect of reading this book was truly impactful to me and made me more emotional than I expected.
I was reminded recently that while Green's characters are often overdramatic (c.f. manic pixie dream girl & others), teenagers often just ARE- they romanticize and philosophize and dramatize as they figure out the world. The interaction between Aza and Davis didn't bother me and in fact maybe felt more realistic than I expected. Grateful for this story, and for the author's wisdom in refraining from tying a neat little bow but still providing concrete hope and perspective.
I was reminded recently that while Green's characters are often overdramatic (c.f. manic pixie dream girl & others), teenagers often just ARE- they romanticize and philosophize and dramatize as they figure out the world. The interaction between Aza and Davis didn't bother me and in fact maybe felt more realistic than I expected. Grateful for this story, and for the author's wisdom in refraining from tying a neat little bow but still providing concrete hope and perspective.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Self harm, and Grief
Minor: Suicide, Drug use, and Alcohol
mysticlucy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Minor: Car accident and Suicide
rettasbookshelf's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Mental illness, Abandonment, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Cursing