Turtles All The Way Down- Review
Authors and publishers are not able to post replies in the review topics.
-
- Posts: 232
- Joined: 18 Feb 2017, 05:48
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 49
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-kishor-rao.html
- Latest Review: Burn Zones by Jorge P. Newbery
Turtles All The Way Down- Review
-KISHOR RAO
Even though there are no situations where you have to eulogize your dearest one, or suffering from a deadly disease, desperation to get out of the labyrinth, or crave to get a nod of acceptance from the society, TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN is darker and heart breaking in its own ways. After five long years since his last release, ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, John Green returns without losing his talent of narrating a fantastic story in his very own style with this book.
Aza Holmes, ‘Holmes’ probably because she is somewhat forced to become a detective, is a teenager living in Indianapolis, Indiana with her mother has severe anxiety problems. She goes to school with her best friend Daisy who is a diehard Star wars fan and a popular author of Star wars fanfic. The duo stumble upon the news that the billionaire Russell Pickett is missing and there’s a hundred thousand dollar reward to those who reveal his whereabouts. Daisy is eager to investigate. Aza went to a summer camp with the billionaire’s son Davis and Daisy convinces her to pursue the case of ‘The Fugitive Billionaire’ as Aza calls it to get the reward.
Aza suffering from anxiety problems and with her obsessive compulsiveness is almost always stuck in her ‘Thought Spirals’. She constantly thinks about micro biome, reading articles about it on internet, worrying that she might get ‘C.diff’ a microbial disease from which she might die. Whether she manages to get out of her ever tightening spiral of thoughts and will she be able to solve the mystery of ‘The Fugitive Billionaire’ is the story of Turtles All The Way Down.
Aza doesn’t have to put much effort to make you love her. She’s lovable, quirky, intelligent and pessimistic. She’s so pessimistic that she almost always uses double negation in her dialogues. Once you start noticing it, it’s highly impossible to not observe it. You get so engrossed in her that whenever she tries to do something stupid which is terribly dangerous for her life but she has to do it anyways to calm herself down from her thoughts, you desperately want to make her stop. You literally start searching other options to make her calm down. Her struggles to become a good daughter, a good friend, a good girlfriend (she can’t even kiss a boy because she fears that his microbes will transfer into her body) is heart rendering.
You will be glad to have her friend Daisy. She lights up every scene in which she’s there with fun and laughter. There’s also a very subtle romance between Aza and the billionaire’s son Davis. Because of the kind of book it is, the therapy scenes must have been great but the clichéd Indian psychiatrist doesn’t have as much good advice to give Aza as much we expect her to.
I wouldn’t say the book is unputdownable but it sure is an amazing read. John Green, as always touches the broader aspects of life. Life goes on whether you like it or not. Either things will get better with time or you will at least find a way to live with your flaws and sorrows. The beautiful never ending references to the metaphorical spirals of thoughts give both bright and dark implications. It’s up to you whether you follow it inwards where it tightens infinitely or outwards where it widens infinitely. Either ways you have no option to get rid of your thoughts and neither do you have a say in what thought would ‘you’ like to reflect upon.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 because of its excellent narrative style and characters. Readers both young and old would find it an amusing read. There are some mind blowing quotes which you won’t forget for a long time.
Happy Reading.
- Vscholz
- Posts: 455
- Joined: 09 Jul 2018, 00:59
- Currently Reading: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Bookshelf Size: 816
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-vscholz.html
- Latest Review: Primrose’s Curse by Kiara Shankar, Vinay Shankar
- Reading Device: B00JG8GOWU
- HollandBlue
- Posts: 1539
- Joined: 04 Aug 2018, 16:37
- Favorite Book: The Reel Sisters
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 107
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-hollandblue.html
- Latest Review: It's Hard to Be a Vampire by Viktoria Faust
- 2024 Reading Goal: 24
- 2024 Goal Completion: 0%
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamas
(1466-1536)
- Eaduddell
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 29 Oct 2018, 19:09
- Bookshelf Size: 0
I also enjoyed how Aza you almost felt like Aza was there, like she was real, right in front of you. I too wanted to be able to grab her and say don't drink it or let your finger scab, it'll be okay. I also really wanted to hug her. I love how Green goes so deep into the writing to help the reader really see what it's like living in the head of someone with mental illness. It was so incredibly heartbreaking but at the same time it wasn't completely tragic because she was okay, and she knew she would be okay.
- Fatima_Palacios
- Posts: 171
- Joined: 08 Jul 2018, 20:59
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 197
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-fatima-palacios.html
- Latest Review: We are Voulhire: The Knights of Chalethire by Matthew Tysz
-Eiichiro Oda (Luffy)
- MagicInBooks
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 03 Jan 2019, 08:10
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Duvina Grace
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 15 Jan 2019, 03:32
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- meghankelly009
- Posts: 4
- Joined: 24 Jan 2019, 15:24
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-meghankelly009.html
- Latest Review: Chrome Mountain by Ben Schneider
It's a great example of how YA can spur discussion and educate while also entertaining the reader.
-
- Posts: 17
- Joined: 28 Mar 2019, 14:03
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 44
- Trouvaille11812
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 26 Apr 2019, 06:23
- Currently Reading: An Abundance of Katherines
- Bookshelf Size: 0
- Barbie_sidhu
- Posts: 412
- Joined: 07 May 2020, 06:46
- Currently Reading: Strong heart
- Bookshelf Size: 84
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-barbie-sidhu.html
- Latest Review: Kalayla by Jeannie Nicholas
- yapashley
- Posts: 196
- Joined: 11 Jun 2020, 02:47
- Currently Reading: Crown of Crimson (The Afterlight Chronicles Book 1)
- Bookshelf Size: 15
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-yapashley.html
- Latest Review: Oblivion Threshold by J.R. Mabry and B.J. West
-
- Posts: 27
- Joined: 29 May 2020, 09:26
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 20
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-carolyn1854.html
- Latest Review: Underdog Thinking by Atul Vir
- VISHWA129
- Posts: 54
- Joined: 22 Jun 2020, 12:39
- Currently Reading: Opaque
- Bookshelf Size: 18
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-vishwa129.html
- Latest Review: We are Voulhire: A New Arrival under Great Skies by Matthew Tysz
- mmandy38
- Posts: 480
- Joined: 30 May 2014, 00:04
- Currently Reading: The Zookeeper's Wife
- Bookshelf Size: 132
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-mmandy38.html
- Latest Review: Natural Relief for Anxiety and Stress by Gustavo Kinrys, MD
- Reading Device: B00HCNHDN0