“Sir, you don’t understand. It’s turtles all the way down.”
I have just finished reading this fantastic book by John
Green, and I did not want it to end! I was desperate for this book to keep
going, I enjoyed it so much.
"Sixteen-year-old Aza never intended to pursue the mystery of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there's a hundred-thousand dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Russell Pickett's son, Davis.
Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts."
This was my first John Green novel- yes I know I’m slow to
the party- and I thought it was written brilliantly. I cannot wait to read his
other works!
A couple of things that leapt out at me were that firstly I
didn’t realise that Aza, the protagonist, was female until at least chapter
three, maybe later. I recognise this is a massive oversight on my part but when
I realised it kind of flipped the whole story and how I read her from then on
changed.
The other odd thing I noticed all of a sudden was the word ‘frigid’
being used to mean cold three or four times in the last few chapters. It may
well have been used throughout the whole book but it only started jumping out
at me at the end. I appreciate that this is just my personal reaction to the
word and there isn’t an issue with using it, it just seemed so hard and
uncomfortable every time I read it.
However, on the plus side, I felt like I could really relate
to Aza. She’s about 17 or 18 in the book and suffering with her mental health,
and whilst I am now 24 I often still feel like 18 year old me which was also
when I struggled the most with my mental health. I’m definitely not saying I
had as tough a struggle as Aza has, but I can still relate to her not wanting
to be stuck in her own head and trying to find a better version of herself. I
strived for that for years, and even now when I’m feeling low I wish I could just
be someone else for a while, so I feel very close to the character throughout
this book.
One of my favourite things about the book is the title. I
had no idea what “turtles all the way down” had to do with the plot until right
near the end, where it’s brought into a conversation in a subtle yet poignant way
that I deeply love. It’s the main message I took away from this book and it
will definitely be sticking with me for a long time to come.
And now on my 2018 wish list: all other books by John Green.
What have you all been reading and loving recently?
Comments
Post a Comment