"Turtles All the Way Down" by John Green
(I tried to not include any spoilers in my blog)
There are many stereotypes which exist regarding OCD, but many fail to emphasize how severely mentally and physically damaging the disorder can be to someone who otherwise experiences the same emotions and life milestones as anyone else. "Turtles All the Way Down" narrates the high school experiences of a girl named Ava, as she constantly combats invasive thoughts.
Ava is introduced in the novel as someone who constantly has incontrollable thoughts about the bacteria entering her body. Her best friend, Daisy, however is very adventurous and constantly puts Ava in situations where she's exposed to bacteria entering her microbiome. The prime example of this in the story is when Daisy tries to act as a wingman for Ava and a rich boy named Davis, the son of a businessman who disappeared right after being charged with fraud and embezzlement. Throughout the development of Davis and Ava's romantic relationship, John Green describes how Ava struggles to even touch Davis sometimes. One day, Ava and Davis kiss which leads Ava to a habit of drinking hand sanitizer and other alcohol solutions to cleanse her mouth, damaging her health.
By the end of the book, Ava's pent up frustration because she can't control her thoughts and actions causes her to get into an argument with Daisy while driving. Daisy voices how hard it is to be Ava's friend when she constantly acts upon her intrusive thoughts and never really seems to pay much attention to Daisy's life. When Ava tries to respond, she gets so heated up that she loses control of her car and crashes. Whilst in the hospital from her injuries, Ava talks to her psychiatrist who throughout the book she's been lying to about taking her medication. Ava knew the pills she was taking didn't work and that's why she wasn't taking them, and communicates this to Dr. Singh. This leads to Dr. Singh prescribing some new medication and keeping a better eye on Ava. Throughout the conclusion of the book Ava's condition seems to get slightly better as she realizes that her thoughts aren't her actions. The final scene of the story describes Davis moving out from his mansion to live with his brother, Noah, in Colorado--kind of reminiscent of If I Ever Get Out of Here, Ava notes that all good relationships and things must come to an end.
More important than the plot line of the book, is the message this novel portrays. Ava is caught in a situation where her condition is either thought of as weird, or normalized. Davis tries to convince Ava that the thoughts she has are normal without realizing that Ava, unlike him, can't control whether or not she acts on them. Contrarily, Dr. Singh and hospital staff who witnessed or knew about her ingesting hand sanitizer alcohol make her feel invalidated. It's important to learn from this book how to treat someone who may suffer from OCD based on the perspective John Green brings to the table.
Dan Rosu
There's an entire plotline where Daisy and Aza try to figure out where Davis's dad went, which I thought was very interesting, but not relevant to the point I was trying to make. They eventually find him in a very interesting way if anyone wants to read the book to find out how.
ReplyDeleteI liked this review! I liked how you highlighted the stigma around OCD and talked about the truth behind the disorder. OCD does harm a lot of people and I think it's important to get rid of the stigma and talk about how it feels for someone who is experiencing it. Great review!
ReplyDeleteI like your summary! I really enjoyed this book when I read it, I felt like Green did a good job portraying OCD in Ava and I really like how he wrote her as a very real person; she wasn't made to be un-perfect in the oddly perfect way most overly-humanized characters are. Nice review!
ReplyDeleteThis was an amazing book review, wow! You added a lot of emotion into your writing, which made me feel like I'm reading the actual book. I like how you added your own opinions about the stigma of OCD, it really made this book review yours. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI always like books that talk about things that are not well known. I feel like most people really don't understand what actually goes through the head when somebody suffers from a mental disorder like OCD. This book does a great job explaining to readers what experiencing OCD looks and feels like. I also really enjoyed how you summarized the story. You made it very detailed while trying not to spoil too much of the plot. Good work.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really good review Dan! I like how you summarized the book. I have heard about this book and I have been wanting to read it for a while, but I haven't checked it out yet. Your review was written very well and I look forward to reading this book sometime!
ReplyDeleteI tried to read this book in 5th grade, and it went way over my head. The constant cursing, the confusing topics, and the generally difficult vocabulary made it difficult for me to read. I think you did a great job of summarizing and explaining the book. Maybe I'll have to pick it back up again.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of turtles all the way down before, but never ended up reading it when it was mentioned before. This post makes me more intrigued in it though, now that I know a little bit of what the book is about. It sounds like it touches on some pretty serious topics, so not a lighthearted book, but seems very interesting. I might have to try and find this book next time I go to the library
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