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rosiefpb's review against another edition
4.0
Not an easy read. A difficult, but in my experience at least (although less severely), pretty accurate portrayal of the crippling effects that anxiety and ocd can have. There were points where I was screaming at her not to do it, but she's right there screaming at herself too.
210's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
emilydelks's review against another edition
5.0
I'm an Indianapolis-native who's been living abroad for the last six years. I didn't even know that this story was set in Indianapolis until I began reading it, and I have to say that the book was possibly more compelling because of the setting. It kills me that I'm on the other side of the world reading about the Applebees on 86th and Ditch Road. I grew up in that exact area, and I have specific memories from that exact Applebees.
This is the third John Green novel I've read, I think, despite being outside the age range of the target audience. Every time I read a John Green novel, I find it hard to put down.
This is the third John Green novel I've read, I think, despite being outside the age range of the target audience. Every time I read a John Green novel, I find it hard to put down.
ipsitachats's review against another edition
hopeful
sad
slow-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
4.0
jjulietaa's review against another edition
4.0
i liked the way that john green went about portraying how azas thoughts came to her and how it wasn’t a choice, but rather forced upon her.
he used great detail to get us to really feel how she was feeling and understand what she went through.
i loved the addition of the snippets of literature that davis would analyze or write something about.
the book felt kind of relatable in a sense? idk that dreadful feeling and daisy expressing her lowkey hatred for aza felt familiar.
he used great detail to get us to really feel how she was feeling and understand what she went through.
i loved the addition of the snippets of literature that davis would analyze or write something about.
the book felt kind of relatable in a sense? idk that dreadful feeling and daisy expressing her lowkey hatred for aza felt familiar.
lostinfrance's review against another edition
4.0
I am not a John Green fan--- I can groan about him for a couple of minutes about his past books and I feared that once again this book would play off of the "sick lit--- kids LOVE death and depression...etc". I expected someone to die and the rest of the high school to mourn the character's death...And if you wonder why I still insist on reading his books--- he is popular and I want to understand why...and my students love him (the ones who read). So, all that to say, I grabbed this book with low expectations and was COMPLETELY unprepared when I got the text from the library saying I was next on the list (I expected it to take 3-4 months to get to my spot #30).
I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised....no shock, of course the main character has a mental disorder (why else would a teen want to dive into a book!...sarcasm)...but, there is no death and there is no sobbing. Just a young girl with OCD trying to lead a normal life--- and ignore the thoughts in her head that have her not taking her meds. I applaud John for having a character who has therapy, and meds (that she refuses to take--- which, sadly, is often the case), a support system and real world issues. I found this book authentic and something I could relate to (minus the billionaire friend). Aza is a character I could actually imagine having in my class and I really appreciate that.
I will have to say, thanks to this book, I will continue to read John Green...which is a shock since I did not appreciate the last two books I got my hands on that he wrote.
Read-- if you enjoy YA, like reading about high school drama with authentic characters.
2017 Reading Challenge: a book published in 2017
I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised....no shock, of course the main character has a mental disorder (why else would a teen want to dive into a book!...sarcasm)...but, there is no death and there is no sobbing. Just a young girl with OCD trying to lead a normal life--- and ignore the thoughts in her head that have her not taking her meds. I applaud John for having a character who has therapy, and meds (that she refuses to take--- which, sadly, is often the case), a support system and real world issues. I found this book authentic and something I could relate to (minus the billionaire friend). Aza is a character I could actually imagine having in my class and I really appreciate that.
I will have to say, thanks to this book, I will continue to read John Green...which is a shock since I did not appreciate the last two books I got my hands on that he wrote.
Read-- if you enjoy YA, like reading about high school drama with authentic characters.
2017 Reading Challenge: a book published in 2017
jonezeemcgee's review against another edition
4.0
4.25
I have been a fan of John Green’s since I picked up a copy of his book “Looking for Alaska” when it first came out. What I fell in love with is John’s honest style of prose. He does not condescend towards teenagers, or only scratch the shallow surface. Teenagers in Green’s books mirror the intelligence and introspectiveness that they often do not portray in other works of YA fiction. Green’s books, much like Hemingway, are also quite quotable. I have found that if you pick up a book of Hemingway’s literary works you can go to almost every page and find something quotable and profound as you can in Green’s fiction.
**There may be Spoilers**
What I Loved: Turtle’s All the Way Down seemed to double down on the aspects of Green that I adore. My copy is covered in highlights of quotable moments, and the way the character of Aza is treated is with the respect and heartbreaking honesty a character of her nature deserves. Here is where I get a bit personal. I hold a Master’s Degree and post Masters Certification in the field of Psychology. I also suffer from anxiety that sometimes leads to compulsive thought patterns. John Green handled Aza’s similar (though her OCD compulsions seem to be her main prognosis) issue’s masterful, respectfully, and with knowledge on both the Clinical and personal levels. So much so that this book had me in tears more often than not. When you are dealing with someone that presents these symptoms it is a much different animal than when you are dealing with them yourself. All reason goes out the window when battling with the “tightening gyre”. John Green did a magnificent job showing this as Aza tries to use the reasoning techniques that she has learned from her therapist and often loses her battle to the compulsion.
Green also touched on what is seen as the selfishness of the disorder (the disorder itself making you obsessed with your own thinking patterns to the point that others are often shut out), how it affects those around you, and how it affects your ability to relate to and deal with others in the outside world. What Green did well showed how this affected her mom, her friends and even being able to have a normal relationship with a potential love interest.
This book does have that almost typical hallmark in any YA piece of fiction where there is a love interest. The romance in YA books about mental illness seem to follow the same recipe of a boy/girl is troubled and he finds a partner equally troubled and together they heal each other. Green’s book seemed to start out with the element of that with the characters of Aza and her potential love interest Davis. However, what Green did well was he did not make either character a savior. He did not break the mentally ill girl from her shell, she was not healed by the power of love and the boy did not find his lost home in Aza. The characters did what often people that are hurting do. They try and connect, and often that connections fail because what books don’t tell you is that relationships are hard if you don’t have a good handle on your own baggage before you try the cumbersome struggle of grabbing on to someone else’s. The relationship crumbled because there was so much personal work that needed to be done.
Where it lacked (or did it):
If I have one criticism of the book it is that it was a bit busy. Often there was a bit too much going on at once between Aza’s struggles, maintaining a friendship, solving a mystery, liking a boy and then you throw in the tuatara. But then again, was this a purposeful choice by the author to show the clutter of trying to get through the plot while all the while being interrupted by Aza’s thought disturbances? I can’t say for sure, but if it was purposeful it was still executed poorly. All the elements together lacked cohesion and made the story seem a bit disjointed. Hence why I ultimately decided to reduce it by almost an entire star.
Overall, I am not walking away from this book without living with these characters for a long while to come.
I have been a fan of John Green’s since I picked up a copy of his book “Looking for Alaska” when it first came out. What I fell in love with is John’s honest style of prose. He does not condescend towards teenagers, or only scratch the shallow surface. Teenagers in Green’s books mirror the intelligence and introspectiveness that they often do not portray in other works of YA fiction. Green’s books, much like Hemingway, are also quite quotable. I have found that if you pick up a book of Hemingway’s literary works you can go to almost every page and find something quotable and profound as you can in Green’s fiction.
**There may be Spoilers**
What I Loved: Turtle’s All the Way Down seemed to double down on the aspects of Green that I adore. My copy is covered in highlights of quotable moments, and the way the character of Aza is treated is with the respect and heartbreaking honesty a character of her nature deserves. Here is where I get a bit personal. I hold a Master’s Degree and post Masters Certification in the field of Psychology. I also suffer from anxiety that sometimes leads to compulsive thought patterns. John Green handled Aza’s similar (though her OCD compulsions seem to be her main prognosis) issue’s masterful, respectfully, and with knowledge on both the Clinical and personal levels. So much so that this book had me in tears more often than not. When you are dealing with someone that presents these symptoms it is a much different animal than when you are dealing with them yourself. All reason goes out the window when battling with the “tightening gyre”. John Green did a magnificent job showing this as Aza tries to use the reasoning techniques that she has learned from her therapist and often loses her battle to the compulsion.
Green also touched on what is seen as the selfishness of the disorder (the disorder itself making you obsessed with your own thinking patterns to the point that others are often shut out), how it affects those around you, and how it affects your ability to relate to and deal with others in the outside world. What Green did well showed how this affected her mom, her friends and even being able to have a normal relationship with a potential love interest.
This book does have that almost typical hallmark in any YA piece of fiction where there is a love interest. The romance in YA books about mental illness seem to follow the same recipe of a boy/girl is troubled and he finds a partner equally troubled and together they heal each other. Green’s book seemed to start out with the element of that with the characters of Aza and her potential love interest Davis. However, what Green did well was he did not make either character a savior. He did not break the mentally ill girl from her shell, she was not healed by the power of love and the boy did not find his lost home in Aza. The characters did what often people that are hurting do. They try and connect, and often that connections fail because what books don’t tell you is that relationships are hard if you don’t have a good handle on your own baggage before you try the cumbersome struggle of grabbing on to someone else’s. The relationship crumbled because there was so much personal work that needed to be done.
Where it lacked (or did it):
If I have one criticism of the book it is that it was a bit busy. Often there was a bit too much going on at once between Aza’s struggles, maintaining a friendship, solving a mystery, liking a boy and then you throw in the tuatara. But then again, was this a purposeful choice by the author to show the clutter of trying to get through the plot while all the while being interrupted by Aza’s thought disturbances? I can’t say for sure, but if it was purposeful it was still executed poorly. All the elements together lacked cohesion and made the story seem a bit disjointed. Hence why I ultimately decided to reduce it by almost an entire star.
Overall, I am not walking away from this book without living with these characters for a long while to come.
tee207's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book, well enough, but the whole time I felt it was lacking something. The ending of the book fell really flat for me, maybe because I was searching for something that I never found, then it ended. Overall alright, I suppose, and easy to follow.
charlietuna92's review against another edition
5.0
It’s funny to read a book about mental illness which, to some, is jarring and eye-opening, when, to you, it speaks to an experience you know all too well. Aza’s internal monologue in this book so perfectly encapsulates the mental health issues that many people, myself included, face in this life. And I have the utmost respect for John Green, as you can tell by the dialogue, he is writing from experience.
A great story. Simple. Quick to read. Impactful.
A great story. Simple. Quick to read. Impactful.
taylor_broek's review against another edition
2.0
This book made me feel like shit! Made me not want to have kids that’s for sure! If you struggle with any kind of rumination, anxiety, depression, obsessiveness, addiction, compulsions, mental illness, fear of germs, are under the age of 25, emotional sensitive or fragile, or have ever felt like a show/movie/character has infiltrated your personality (I.e. watching euphoria and wanting to go on a bender or listening to midnights and wanting to leave your perfectly good relationship) don’t read this book!!!!! Green is very very talented at making the readers emotions and feelings integrate with the mc’s & while that can give you a really good reader experience it can also be too much!! This book was too much! Aza is unlike anyone I have ever met ever and her thinking and philosophizing is so grandeur it’s out of this world it reads quite strange; like she’s a reincarnated 100 year old guru. She’s in high school, the Chewbacca sex fanfic had more of a place! The missing person mystery should have been focused on more or just cut out of the book. Good writing but like too good in a not good way if that makes sense.