on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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This is my second time reading it; my first time must have been in 7th or 8th grade.
Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 286
Started: 10 July 2022
Finished: 11 July 2022
Summary:
Accompanied by her best friend Daisy, Aza tries to solve the mysterious disappearance of a local millionaire, and ends up befriending his son in the process, all the while struggling to manage her OCD and intrusive thoughts.
Thoughts:
I think I forgot how much damage this book did to me the first time I read it, and not necessarily in a good way. John Green’s writing is brilliant, but my understanding that his portrayal of mental illness was deeply person (thanks to The Anthopocene, Reviewed) made this even harder to read. My first time through Turtles, I think I must have been entertaining the idea that I had OCD, since the idea of a thought spiral felt familiar somehow. I now know that my particular peculiarities don’t tend in that direction, so what got me this time was the idea that sometimes nothing helps, and things are just bad for a long time. It’s a scary though. Something about Aza’s relationship with her mother, too, gave me a weird sense of inner ick and yuck that I can’t quite explain.
John Green, in his usual style, caused me both pains and joy. The relationship between Daisy and Aza was one of my favorite parts of the book, and the writing was so vivid it was glorious. This is a hard book, and definitely one to be wary of if mental health isn’t good, but it’s also just really, really good. I think John Green is the person I’d most like to meet if I could pick one person in the world. He’s brilliant.
Words:
Masticating (pres part) to grind or crush (food) with or as if with teeth
Pedantic (adj) unimaginative and dull
Purulent (adj) containing, consisting of, or being pus
Carrel (n) a table that is often partitioned or enclosed and is used for individual study, usually in a library