Turtles All the Way Down
Turtles All the Way Down, a piece by John
Green is a young adult novel that I found really interesting to read.
In summary, it tells the story of a teenage
girl called Aza, her parents said
that it was the beginning and the ending of the alphabet, and then again. Sadly
her father died when she was just 8 years old so she was left with her mom who
is a math teacher at her high school. The story begins with her talking a bit about
her fears, which are unusual but as the book goes by you realize aren't nearly
as crazy as you thought. She has some anxiety issues and she goes to a
psychiatrist in order to get help. She has a friend called Daisy who is really
extroverted, quite the opposite to her. That day when the school day ended
Daisy asked Aza if she could drive her to her job, Chuck e Cheese, on the way there she told her about this man who
was part of illegal stuff and the day before the police raid his home he
escaped, there was a 100,000 dollars as a reward for those who could provide
information of where he might be located.
Turns out the fugitive -- Davis Rusell Picket
-- is the father of Aza’s childhood friend with the same name. However, they
had stopped talking, they had become friends because they went to the same camp
but eventually they both stopped going.
Somehow, Daisy and Aza ended up going to a
little piece of land in the middle of the Indiana River which belongs to Davis’
property to check if a camera Aza remembered was there had taken a picture of
Rusell Picket the day of his escape.
But when you think the book is going to be
about them researching about this fugitive person’s disappearance, but you
couldn’t be more far off. This story talks more about getting over various
things, like your first love gone wrong or in Aza’s case, her anxiety and other
various things.
But you may be wondering, what is the relation
between the title and this book?
Well, when you are about to finish the book
Daisy tells Aza that her situation reminded her of a story her mother used to
tell her, where a scientist tells how the Earth appeared and how it began
getting filled up with living organisms, but then this woman asked him if the Earth was just something laying on a turtle's back, to which he asked where was
that turtle standing. She answered it was standing on another turtle, he asked
her the same once again and she answered equally, irritated he asked once more
and she just said “You don’t understand, it’s Turtles All The Way Down”.
After Daisy told this story she explained that
it reminded her of Aza because she was like the scientist, she kept looking for
the first turtle but it just keeps going all the way.
My opinion about this book is quite positive,
none of its
Clearly we can see that the main conflict is
man vs self, because we appreciate closely the anxiety issues the main character is dealing with since the beginning of the book and she questions herself with
every movement she makes, she has fear of every action and that all happens
within her own self, when she overcomes it she has finally defeated her “demons”, to say it in some way.
John Michael Green was born on August 24th, 1977, to Mike
and Sydney Green in Indianapolis, USA. He received his early education from Lake
Highland Preparatory School and Indian Springs School. His experience of school
was similar to other social outcasts who get bullied by arrogant people. He has
written many other really good books like The
Fault In Our Stars, or Paper Towns
which are also young adult novels.
By Juliana Restrepo Sibaja, Step 9.
