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cstein's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Alcohol
balfies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This one (which is the only John Green I hadn't read), is about a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder, and the intrusive invasive way the disorder disrupts and redirects and infects her sense of self and her ability to navigate relationships.
Really brilliantly written, I consumed it in one sitting.
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Car accident, and Death of parent
laurbubbles's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death and Sexual content
elysiianbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Medical content, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
bisexualwentworth's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Star Wars fanfiction thing really threw me for a loop. I was not expecting Daisy to be a Rey x Chewbacca shipper, but she is. Bizarre.
This book contains mystery and teen romance (that blissfully isn’t the main focus) and a prehistoric reptile called a tuatara and also what I think is the first proper strong female friendship in a John Green novel. There’s a lot going on for such a short book, and I thought that most of it was executed really well.
The main focus of the book, though, is Aza’s mental illness. The symptoms of her OCD are described in poetic but extremely graphic ways throughout the book, and it was occasionally difficult to read. I never felt like it was sensationalizing mental illness, though. The focus is on how much Aza longs for recovery but also fears it while knowing that she will never be fully “well.” She has a lot of intrusive thoughts, which she calls “invasives,” and she spends a lot of time lost in the spiral of those thoughts. She also, ironically for a fictional character, spends a lot of time questioning reality and thinking that she might not be real. That almost feels like a cruel joke on the part of the author, but it worked for this particular character.
This book is also full of John Green’s signature philosophical teen dialogue that I thought was the smartest thing ever when I was thirteen. I still don’t mind it, but wow does Davis come off as pretentious.
CW for discussions of dead parents, including some vague spoilers, in the rest of this review.
The only thing that really bugged me about this book was the way it handled the topic of dead parents. Dead parents are often a plot device in contemporary literary fiction, including in lit fic aimed at teens, and Turtles All the Way Down definitely fell prey to that to an extent. In the past, Aza and Davis were brought together because they both had a dead parent, and in the present, they spend a lot of time talking about the subject.
Some things felt incredibly realistic: The way that Aza almost weaponizes her dead parent when talking to Daisy. The way that Daisy had failed to consider how much having a dead parent would have impacted Aza’s life in the same way that Aza’s privilege and self-centeredness had blinded her to the realities of Daisy’s life (that whole conversation and the ensuing disaster was actually the most impactful part of the book for me). The way that Aza keeps her father’s old phone just to still have a piece of him.
But then we get those classic John Green ruminations on life and death that are often so poignant, but in this case, Aza’s meditations on how having a dead parent changes you fell completely flat for me. They also never came up again. It was very apparent in that moment that the author had never lost a parent and didn’t actually understand what it would be like and was just making things up based on other loss he’d experienced in his life. And that’s okay! I don’t think that authors need to experience everything they’re going to write about, especially not something as horrible and life-altering as this. But I do think that sometimes it’s wise to avoid having your fictional characters philosophize about a subject that you don’t understand.
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Car accident
Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
There’s also a Harry Potter reference in this book. It’s brief, and the book is old enough for it to be excusable, but I still didn’t like it at all.kashby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Addiction, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
nfarrell24's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent
charfiona's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm
Moderate: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent
kaitlynbowron's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
martereadsbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Grief and Abandonment
Minor: Death and Suicide
ocd rep,