Reviews with content warning for Classism - Turtles All the Way Down

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

15 reviews

violetmysteries723's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

It feels like this book is trying to be a story about mental health and a missing person mystery at the same time, and I unfortunately don't think it works here. I wasn't interested in the mystery plot line at all until the very end because the reveal was interesting to me, but then wasn't explored at all by any of the characters and left me disappointed. I was interested in learning more about Aza's struggles with her mental health, especially with the OCD part since that's something I've never experienced, but I feel there wasn't enough space in the book to dive deeper.

Aza is a very passive main character, things seem to happen to and around her instead of because of her. Part of this seems to be because of her struggles with mental health, but she also doesn't actively move the plot forward when she has good mental health days. I empathize with her because it's clear that she doesn't choose to think and behave the way that she does, but she also struggles so much with basic things

like taking her meds as directed

that it doesn't feel like she actually wants to get better or relieve any of her symptoms.

Daisy is annoying and unlikable at best, and a two-faced jerk at worst. The friendship arc between Aza and Daisy throughout the book is more of a line than an arc.

Daisy's redemption after the car accident doesn't feel earned at all. All the weight is put onto Aza for "being a bad friend" when in reality Daisy is the toxic one and the friendship should have ended immediately after Aza found out what Daisy was writing about her in all the fanfic.

Daisy doesn't seem to care about anything but herself, and I have no idea what her motivation is the entire book.

Emotionally, none of these main characters felt like real people to me. Aza says she's upset about her mental health struggles, but her actions don't reflect that feeling. Daisy is one-note in every single scene, which is perhaps just her personality, but it would have been nice to see a little emotion from her at some point

- for example, when she and Michael break up

. Davis is very deadpan as well and it doesn't feel like he is ever as vulnerable with Aza as Aza is with him.

Overall, I don't regret reading this book, but I do regret buying a physical copy. I pre-ordered a signed copy of the book back in the day which I still think is cool, I just wish it was a signed copy of a book I will actually want to read more than once.

Content Warnings

phoebe_erh's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Such an incredibly beautiful and poignant book that managed to handle intense topics without creating too depressing of a mood. Green portrayed OCD in this book in a way that is understandable for the reader but still conveys the level of discomfort that comes with the condition and manages to make a main character whose flaws are frustrating from an outsider perspective but do not make you root for her any less. Would have been 5 stars but the poems and love of stars from Davis felt a little bit too cliche but that is very much a trope of Green's books so it sort of adds to the signature romantic styling of his books.

Content Warnings