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

emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I find Green’s stuff to be meh. Like it’s not the worst stuff I’ve read but not the best y’know. He’s definitely has his niche. Last one of his books I read was Paper Towns when the movie was coming out and I didn’t really like that one either. Then again I had only read it at the request of my friends. Main reason I was reading this one was mostly just to give it another try and unlike Paper Towns, I thought I’d actually like this one. Was somewhat surprised to find out I enjoyed reading Paper Towns more.

But with this one, the plot just carried on towards nowhere. It had a mystery aspect to it that was interesting but it was barely touched on in comparison to lackluster romance. One pro of it was the mental health aspect. The main character has OCD and the way her inner dialogue is written really showcases her struggles with it well. I do think that does have to do with John having OCD himself, not that his experience is the exactly the same as the character’s. Overall it was somewhat disappointing as the characters are likable even with their flaws. Granted, while I don’t think teenagers about to go to college are quoting academia as directly to the source as the ones in his book are, the dialogue is still realistic despite it. Like I can see people having the conversations they have.
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