To this the little old lady crowed triumphantly. “It’s no use, Mr. James – it’s turtles all the way down.”

Well, who doesn’t love John Green. The man has some special ability to tap into other peoples’ minds, and it’s hard not to find yourself in at least some small way in each of his novels. As a person who suffers from anxiety and OCD, I found myself in a big way in Turtles All the Way Down.

“We never really talked much or even looked at each other, but it didn’t matter because we were looking at the same sky together, which is maybe even more intimate than eye contact anyway. I mean, anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.”

Aza Holmes, our sixteen year old heroine, is just trying to keep her shit together. She has some pretty severe anxiety issues, which mostly manifest as a spiral of bad thoughts. Her best friend has found a distraction though — they’re going to hunt down a missing billionaire and collect the reward money.

Like all John Green novels, we have some silly situations and a lot of quirkiness. But it’s balanced out with realistic characters experiencing real emotions and troubles. Definitely an excellent addition to his works.