Turtles all the Way Down
by John Green
Published 2017
Genres: Fiction / Young Adult
‘Okay, so there’s this scientist, and he’s giving a lecture to a huge audience about the history of the earth, and he explains that the earth formed billions of years ago from a cloud of cosmic dust…’
An old woman in the back raises her hand, and says, ‘That’s all fine and good, Mr Scientist, but the truth is the earth is a flat plane resting on the back of a giant turtle.’
‘The scientist decides to have a bit of fun with the woman and responds, ‘Well, but if that’s so, what is the giant turtle standing upon?’
And the woman says, ‘It is standing upon a shell of another giant turtle.’
And now the scientist is frustrated, and he says, ‘Well, then what is THAT turtle standing upon?’
And the old woman says, ‘Sir, you don’t understand. It’s turtles all the way down.’
“It’s turtles all the way fucking down, Holmesy. You’re trying to find the turtle at the bottom of the pile, but that’s not how it works.”
Mel says…
To be honest, before I requested this book from the library I didn’t actually read the synopsis. I purely wanted to read it based on my past experience reading John Green’s novels.
I love a good Young Adult fiction and this was no different. Such a cruisey and easy read that I managed to knock over within a couple of days.
Green creates such a loveable and quirky protagonist in Aza Holmes. At so many times I wanted to give her a big hug and try to help her get out of her head. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to suffer from OCD, but Green paints a damn realistic and horrifying picture.
Although at times I felt this novel was veering off course and going off on odd tangents, I still couldn’t help but enjoy the story of Aza.
3.5/5 stars – I am in a generous mood so have rounded this up to 4 stars!
