Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara.
Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett’s son, Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
I like to tuck in stand-alone books in between series, or when I'm waiting for the next book to come in, so I have something to read but not a whole nother endeavor. I'd heard of John Green (who hasn't?), and have seen The Fault in Our Stars, so when I saw this was available to borrow, I thought, why not? I didn't read the blurb, didn't know anything going in, and boy did I get more than I bargained for.
Aza Holmes is our narrator, and her brain will not shut up. But rather than your typical ADD or ADHD, it chooses to focus obsessively on the what-ifs of bacteria (specifically C. diff), infections, and if her story, and in fact, her self is actually her own. But while this inner battle rages, she's also trying to keep up with school, friends, and new feelings toward an old friend facing his own struggles.
I'll admit I had some difficulty reading this at times. Aza's most common manifestation of her mental issues is in constantly opening a callus/scab on her finger, pouring anti-bacterial lotion into it, and then re-applying a bandaid. Even thinking of it now makes my stomach go queasy. And she does this, and describes doing it A LOT. The frequency of her doing this made me think more of OCD than anxiety, which is what her therapist is treating her for.
I related a lot to Aza at first. Her self deprecation, her reluctance towards intimacy, her wishing her mom didn't care so much because she would inevitably fail her. But the worse the symptoms got, the more I felt myself pulling away. Obviously everyone is unique, especially in regards to brain makeup, but her insistence that pills would do more more harm than good started grating on me (and reminding me of my sibling).
But what gave me the most pause in tackling a mental health focused YA book, was that school didn't play a factor in anything. Sure, grades and college plans were mentioned a little, but there was absolutely no mention of classmates or any other students than her couple friends ever in the entire book. Supposedly it's because she has enough to deal with internally that she doesn't care what others think, but I don't find that realistic at all. I don't know if it was left out to show the normalcy of mental health issues, or just omitted for convenience, but if I know anything about high school it's that there's no escape from peer judgement.
All that being said, I really did enjoy this book (save for the queasy bits). I especially enjoyed the ending, which eluded to mental heath not having a miracle cure and being something one continues to battle (and have ups and downs with) throughout their lives. Not a fairytale ending, but still hopeful. I don't know that I'll ever feel called to read Turtles All the Way Down again, but I'm glad to have given it a chance.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
No comments :
Post a Comment
Let me hear you howl!