Turtles All The Way Down (A John Green Classic)

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-Number 4? of my backlogs in book reviewing- John Green is back at it again! I honestly didn't plan on reading this as I am still poring over A Tale of Two Cities, but I just couldn't resist. I first fell in love with John Green's writing in TFIOS (I think most of you are with me on this). I am a sucker for cheesy teen romance (proud of it), but I couldn't get past mediocre conceptualization and most teen novels are oversimplified for me. There is just no depth to some of them. John Green has the perfect formula. As what I have just told a friend, it's almost like Green is being sarcastic by tackling deep philosophical life questions against a cheesy, teeny backdrop. I believe Mr. Green has eloquently explained in an interview as to why he does this. Putting aside the setting which the author chose to work on, this book also takes on the plight of the mentally ill. Now, I have such bad experiences of mainstream media misrepresenting them, so you can say I was overly critical of how he articulated Aza's illness. It wasn't perfect, I guess it is inherent for YA novels to sensationalize a topic a bit. But I was impressed, nevertheless. I am not aware of the extent of the research that he did, or if he had experienced it himself, but there certainly is an effort to be sensitive to the people who are going through it in actuality. One thing that stuck to me was when Aza's psychiatrist said something along the lines of a person's pain being tough to describe. Language indeed has its limits, and for someone whose thoughts constantly threaten to betray them, it's infinitely harder to grasp the right words for what they're feeling. It's then harder for them to achieve intimacy, to establish stable relationships, as these are founded in communication. Yet Aza's disorder is inextricably tied to her that she had to live with it somehow. Some days she'll be able to separate herself from her damaging alter and some days she'll have to carry her around. That's just the reality of it. And in the end of the story, we see that. I loved the ending. Davis and Aza are as cheesy as youngsters can get when it comes to discovering love, but I think that makes it so much more special. I loved how he somehow understood her even if her words are failing, and vice versa. I am bummed about not knowing if they'll see each other again, but the beauty of their story (hopefully only the first half of it) makes up for it.