A Young Adult novel that speaks to adults

Turtles All the Way Down

John Green

 

 Dutton Books for Young Reader

October 10, 2017

Five Stars

John Green"s first novel that is explicitly labeled "Young Adult" starts with an interesting but ultimately deceptive premise. At least it does, if you read and believe promo and dust jacket descriptions. Teenager Asa and her best friend Daisy decides to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the shady billionaire Russell Pickett. The catalyst for this investigation is the reward of one hundred thousand dollars for any information that leads to finding the man. That starting premise is not deceptive in itself for it is indeed the motivation for what eventually transpires in this fascinating introvert of a novel. But it really isn't what the book is about. To use an old Hitchcockian term, the billionaire's disappearance is a McGuffin. it could well have been missing goldfish, or a tuatara which actually is something that is related to the story. But it doesn't really matter that much because the author has bigger fish to fry and...Boy! Does he elevate the entree!

Turtles All the Way Down is primarily about Asa. It is Asa who is our first person narrator and it is her complex thought processes and insecurities that the story is really about. Asa has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She sees a psychiatristt and is prescribed medication that she doesn't take. She has only one real friend, Daisy, who has her own issues and writes fan fiction that in some ways seems to mirror how she feels about Asa. When they decide to go for the reward Daisy convinces Asa to contact Pickett's son Davis who she had a past acquaintance with. The relationship that develop challenges Daisy in ways that adds on to what she describe as her "spirals."

And this is where Turtles All the Way Down becomes so uniquely satisfying. Asa is real and she is flawed. But despite the gimmick of the investigation as a motive for her involvement, she is as typical as any teenager dealing with the runaway thought and emotions that comes with the territories of a mental illness. What we discover is that this territory is not much different from the problems of most teens. All of the teens in John Greene's novel, has crises and they all must deal with them for better or worse. Davis finds himself having to take on the role of big brother/father to his sibling and not being prepared for it. Daisy has her own lack of brakes and uses her fan fiction to deal with what she should be addressing in real life. This is a YA novel that eschews the usual trappings of fantasy, Sci-Fi, and suspense It gets right down to the reality and emotional conflict of modern adolescent life. In fact, I would say the only thing really YA about this book is the fact that the main characters are teenagers. The book will speak to adults just as eloquently.

The plot in Turtles All the Way Downis a thin one but it makes everything else work. It gives us a bait when the actual hook is the emotions we have in our own life. Maybe the reader cannot identify personally with OCD or Asa's imaginary but real illness . Yet the conflict, the fears, and the insecurities still speaks to us. John Green's little book may be for teenagers but it will resonate far beyond that.