Turtles All the Way Down Review

Turtles All the Way Down is the newest novel released by New York Times best-selling author John Green. This the 6th novel by Green, with the likes of The Fault in Our Stars, Looking For Alaska, and Paper Towns coming out previously. John Green is an accomplished author, who has won The Printz award twice, first in 2006 with his first novel Looking for Alaska, and secondly in 2010 with the release of The Fault in Our Stars.

Turtles All the Way Down offers a new look at young people struggling with mental illness. It follows the life of a high school girl, Aza, who has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, commonly known as OCD. OCD is a mental health problem that leads people to have constant unreasonable thoughts that lead to repetitive behaviors or compulsions. Aza has to deal with the struggles of OCD while also balancing school work, college admissions, and her love life. Nobody really understands what Aza is going through and her friends and family don’t give her the support she needs

In my opinion Turtles All the Way Down is not Green’s best work, but it is definitely not bad. It has elements of drama and adventure like An Abundance of Katherines and Looking For Alaska, and sadness from The Fault in Our Stars. I would compare this book to a previous book by John Green, Paper Towns. Both books offered a good amount of emotions and adventure that makes John Green novels a hit among young adult readers.

With lines like “Anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.” and “Your now is not your forever.” really keep you hooked. I finished Turtles All the Way Down in 2 days and have been constantly thinking about it ever since. This book gave me the ability to step into someone’s life who is battling with mental health problems. It really allowed me to see the struggles that other people are going through in there lives. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about mental health and are interested in young adult fiction.