A review by gzaborski
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

While I commend John Green for highlighting the often-neglected point of view a character with OCD might experience, I feel like the overly-philosophic and reflective nature of this novel contributes to characters that seem almost flat and underwhelming. While this may be in part due to the main characters self-centered pov
(addressed in the conflict with Daisy), it also keeps me from being truly invested in anything other than Aza’s self-image, which doesn’t really change much throughout the book (not that it has to in order to be good, but it would be nice to have some change in either internal or external dynamics).
  I really found the depiction of OCD via writing style effective though.

Aza, the main character, is compelling, but the book either feels too short or just incomplete in drawing a full picture of Aza,
and the use of the weird over-used framing method in the final chapter of “writing down and learning from your past” frustrated me.


Strong ideas and pov, interesting relationships, but overall just slightly off.
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