Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
Recognize the author? I would think so…because yes, this is the famous John Green who wrote The Fault in Our Stars, which I will probably be reviewing as well in the near future :). To be brutally honest I didn’t really like Turtles All The Way Down…I don’t really like most of John Green’s books which I know is an unpopular opinion but I can’t change what I like. I feel like all of his books focus more on what the characters are feeling than the overall plot and what should be actually steering the story. I know that there are people who would love this type of story but for me, it’s just plain boring. For that reason, I would give this book, sadly, a 2.5/5 stars. I have nothing against the author, I just do not like his writing style because it takes too much focus away from the plot that a few times I found myself forgetting why they were actually doing this, then remembering that there was a mystery involved. Another thing I disliked about the book was not even part of the story, I didn’t really like the cover. Let me explain before you go ham on the comments but I don’t like it when authors broadcast their names on the cover, yes, make sure we know you are the author but in this case, making the font of the author’s name bigger than the font of the actual title? Instant disapproval from me. The cover was also just too random and so was the title, turtles all the way down was mentioned exactly ONCE in the book. I basically only read this book because I received it as a Christmas present and wanted to give it a go to see if Mr. John Green had changed. I will summarize the book down below in case you want to try it but I would not recommend it.
Summary:
This is the story of 16 year old Aza Holmes, who gets dragged into investigating the murder of her childhood best friend, Davis’ dad: Billionaire Russell Pickett. There is not much else to tell about the actual story but I am going to give you a better feel of the protagonist because this is what John Green focuses on as well. Aza has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). She is constantly worrying about all the possible diseases, viruses and sicknesses she could get and it is always on her mind. She can’t do anything without immediately using hand sanitizer right after to ensure absolute bacteria-free-ness. This book is a lot more about how the characters grow and not the actual murder mystery.
So…Real Life isn’t usually a genre I read but this book made it onto my exceptions list.