This was so good. It was kind of really hard for me to get through this book, as it brought up a lot of feelings and my own mental health issues, so I guess let’s start with trigger warnings.
There is a lot of anxiety in this book, and depictions of forms of anxiety attacks and dissociation. OCD is also a big part of the book, specifically relating to personal health and cleanliness. For this reason the main character, Aza Holmes, is constantly thinking about her own health. I’m trying to avoid spoilers, so I won’t say anymore on that. There is also the past loss of a family member.
The writing is beautiful, and it was super easy to get lost in the book. It has a lovely depiction of friendships and relationships, including the downs of them, not just the ups. I love Aza’s relationship with her mother, because they definitely don’t hate each other but they’re not best friends either. I feel like in so many books that I read it’s one or the other when it comes to mother daughter relationships, but not Turtles All The Way Down. That’s how all the relationships are. Real. They are real and difficult and scary and awesome.
Aza deals with pretty serious OCD and anxiety. She struggles and triumphs and sometimes she loses but she never stops trying to get better and she never gives up on herself. Even when she feels awful about herself and hates herself, she never gives up. She just keeps going. She trudges a little slower and her shoulders hunch a little lower, but the journey still continues. Even if she had given up, I believe that she would have gotten through it, because Aza Holmes is a fighter. This is one of the best coming of age books I’ve ever read. I would definitely recommend it, and if you liked this book, I would also recommend The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.