kaylaphaneuf 's review for:

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

3.0

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I don't normally write reviews because it's way too much work, but felt like commenting on this one. For me, this story didn't pull me in very easily. I found the story was monotonous and the plot didn't catch my interest at all; I thought the majority of the characters were plain, dense, and annoying at best. That being said, I thought his depiction of mental illness was quite interesting and weirdly accurate. I think a lot of people credit what Aza feels to having clinical anxiety, because anxiety is often mentioned in the book... when really, I believe (although it's never stated) she's suffering from OCD with a focus on intrusive thoughts. I say this, because I have OCD with intrusive thoughts. It is often very difficult to explain to people how this kind of thought process invades the daily structure of life, especially coupled with anxiety. You can't simply stop thinking those thoughts and it is often hard to deny them what they ask. I thought John did a great job of describing this mental battle through Aza's thoughts; at times I almost felt like I was reading a biography of my own experiences. But her character didn't fit into the "billionaire dad gone missing" plotline and her relationship with Daisy, Davis, Noah, and even her mom, were broken and seemed to be missing parts. I guess the book as a whole was ultimately a mix of quality writing with poor story development.