Turtles All The Way Down
Written by John Green
Originally published in 2017
About 286 pages
Rate 10/10
How I came about getting this book
I don't normally add this section into my blogs, but I wanted to do it this time for no reason other than the fact that I had a hard time picking this book up and I wanted to share why. I bought this book a while ago, probably around the time that it was originally published, but it stayed in my To Be Read bookshelf all this time. Until a little under two years ago, I fell in love with a boy across the continent.
I decided to give him the copy of Turtles All The Way Down that had been sitting on my book shelf all this time so he could read it because he gave me a book of his. I was going to read Turtles All The Way Down with him once I was done with the book he gave me. I thought about how we could facetime and read it out loud to each other. But we never did. In fact, I never read it at all until now. I'm not even sure if he still has my copy or if he has read the book, or if he is still alive today.
I was afraid of picking this book up and being reminded of him and spiraling. Ironically, I didn't spiral. In fact, I liked the book more because of the fact it was connected to the boy I once loved.
My summary of Turtles All The Way Down
After a billionaire runs away from being arrested there's a hefty reward for who ever has information on his whereabouts. Aza realizes she knows the son of the billionaire and simply goes to check on her old friend, Davis. There are no clues as to where Davis' father went, but Aza and her friend Daisy are desperate to solve the case.
My thoughts on Turtles All The Way Down
This is the first one of John Green's books where I understood way it had to end that way. Usually I felt like he ends his work on a cliff hanger, but this time, the ending resonated with me. The whole idea of the book was about how metaphors are the easiest way to understand pain. I think that this was one of the best books I have read about OCD and anxiety (and I have read a handful).
As someone who experiences anxiety, the thought spirals felt all too real. I don't have OCD, and even though seeing that different perspective felt heavy, I'm glad I got to read about Aza and understand how different people experience the world around them.
I also liked how the story emphasized the importance of first loves. Even if a person doesn't end up with the first person they love, the fact that we loved someone and they loved us means a whole lot more than we were built to understand. I liked they way it ended, even if it seems like it's the end, it's not.
Quotes
"Love is not a tragedy or a failure, but a gift. You remember your first love because they show you, prove to you, that you can love and be loved, that nothing in this world is deserved except for love, that love is both how you become a person, and why." (285)
"Your now is not your forever." (93)
"You give your thoughts too much power. Thoughts are only thoughts. They are not you. You do belong to yourself, even when your thoughts don't. 'I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am.' Descartes wanted to know if you could really know that anything was real, but he believed his ability to doubt reality probed that, while it might not be real, he was. You are as real as anyone, and you doubts make you more real, not less." (167)