Turtles All the Way Down

Book Title: Turtles All the Way Down

Author: John Green

Date Started: November 2nd 2020

Date Completed: November 3rd 2020

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Mystery

Quality Rating: Three Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Star

Final Rating: Three Stars

Review:

The quirks! The angst! The profound quotes! It must be a John Green novel! In all seriousness, while I'm not personally a fan of quoting every author in history to reinforce your thematic points, Turtles All the Way Down has the charms all of Green's other books have too. They weren't quite enough to totally win me over, but it wasn't an unpleasant experience to read.

One thing I will commend Green on, which I know is sometimes controversial, is how mental health representation. I can't really remember enough of the books I read as a teenager, but I was impressed by how Aza wasn't just a 'tortured teen', she had genuine OCD and there was an understanding of what that means to all aspects of her life - and also that that doesn't condemn her forever. It explored things a past the glorified teen angst we're more used to from YA literature.

That being said, I know there's joking cynicism about Green's tortured teens and while I hate to put things in a blanket category, there were moments where I really needed some of the characters to get over themselves and engage their brains.

My biggest critique is that I'm not totally sure what the plot was. I didn't follow the mystery at all - in fact, I couldn't explain what happened in that respect other than someone went missing, then at the end they guessed where they were. Admittedly, the mystery is a side note, but it was a shame that nothing a bit more solid came of it because it's actually a pretty engaging concept.

John Green is a good writer, he's just got a niche audience in the grand scheme of things - which isn't a bad thing at all. I'm not here to diss a good writer, just to give it a try and say it isn't really my thing.