[Books] John Green - Turtles All the Way Down

[Unbezahlte Werbung durch Markennennung]

About the book

Title: Turtles All The Way Down | Author: John Green | Publisher: Penguin | 

Price: 14,99£ | Genre: Young Adult | Type: Hardcover | Pages: 286 | 

ISBN: 978-0-241-33543-7 | Publication date: 2017 | 

Buy as Book, EBook, Audio book or German book

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 thightening spiral of her own thoughts.               

First sentence

"At the time I first realized I might be fictional, my weekdays were spent at a publicly funded institution on the north side of Indianapolis called White River High School, where I was required to eat lunch at a particular time - between 12:37 p.m. and 1:14 p.m. - by forces so much larger than myself that I couldn´t even begin to identify them."

Author

"John Green is the author of Looking for Alaska; An Abundance of Katherines; Paper Towns; Will Grayson, Will Grayson (with David Levithan); and The Fault in Our Stars. His books have received many avvolades, including a Printz Medal, a Printz Honor and an Edgar Award. John has twice been a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Peoplein the Wold. With his brother, Hank, John has co-created many online video projects, including Vlogbrothers and the educational channel Crash Course. He lives with his familiy in Indianapolis, Indiana."

Cover and title

First of all, I weren´t able to understand the title, but as I read the book, it made sense after all. So it´s defintely a great title which fits to the story. The cover is not as good as I hoped it to be, but it´s not bad at all. You can see an orange spiral on it, which is a metaphor for Azas thoughts. 

My Thoughts

Aza Homes is sixteen years old and could have a normal life, if there weren´t her mental problems: she´s suffering from the obsessive-compulsive disorder and her thoughts are spiraling self-destructive. Her mind is thinking about bacteria, diseases, death and microbes - and this affectes her personal environment as well. Her mother is always scared about her, her best friend Daisy is sometimes bugged out about her behaviour and Davis, the boy she really likes, might have his problem with her disorder as well... Her thoughts are like turtles all the way down and she tries so hard to be a good friend, daughter and student, but as Daisy decides to search after the missed billionaire Russel Pickett things might change - might it be in a good or a bad way. 

„But I was beginning to learn that your life is a story told about you, not one that you tell. Of course, you pretend to be the author. [...] You think you´re the painter, but you´re the canvas."
p. 1

Turtles All The Way Down focuses on the main charakter Aza and her inner fights against herself and her disease. So if you know how mental illnesses affects life or have any relatings to the struggles this book is challenging and as well so open hearted. I - as I´m suffering from depression, anxiety and a chronic disease - saw myself in so many scenes in the book and I could relate to Aza so many times. It´s disturbing, challenging and sometimes even unbearable, but especially because of that this book is so important and good. 

„I don´t mind worriers. Worrying is the correct worldview. Life is worrisome."
p. 52

John Greens writing is - as always - easy to read and just wonderful. The topic of the book is slightly different to his other books, because Turtles All The Way Down is not first of all a book about love, romantic, friendship or cominng of age. It´s about a girl struggling with a disease and struggling with her own thoughts. 

„One of the challenges with pain - physical or psychic - is that we can really only approach it through metaphor. It can´t be represented the way a table or a body can. In some ways, pain is the opposite of language."
p. 89

The story is really authentic, comprehensible and just wonderful - as well as scary, if you think about how your own mind can try to destroy you. It´s carefully and fragilely written, pretty worthy for that topic. After all this book left me speechless and touched me deeply. 

„Who cares if she can kiss? She can see through the clouds."
p. 189

John Green wrote a book about a pretty difficult topic - and left me speechless. It´s a book that is enjoyable to read, but touching and informing as well. It´s never boring, instead you are euphoric, scared, crying, laughing, sad and happy - all at the same time. You will feel every single emotional level by reading this book and it won´t let you go until the last page and even then it won´t stop making you think about the topic. I can only recommend it wholeheartedly and say: Please read this book.  

„I would always be like this, always have this within me. There was no beating it. I would never slay the dragon, because the dragon was also me. My self and the disease were knotted together for life."
p. 280

Result

Authentic and simply wonderful, although it´s a difficult topic. John Green manages to make us feel every emotion in this book and to read an enjoyable, but also touching book about a young girl struggling with a disease. An important book which is a Must-Read all along!