John Green, author the book-to-screen The Fault in Our Stars, also turned his bestselling 2017 Turtles All the Way Down into a film.
Turtles All the Way Down: The Novel
From the publisher: “Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis.”
But the actual heart of this novel is Aza’s struggle with the terrifying thought spirals of her anxiety disorder, OCD, a condition shared by the author. Terry Gross, NPR: “As someone who lives with obsessive-compulsive disorder, novelist John Green sometimes feels like his mind is spiraling uncontrollably.” One insignificant enough thought becomes “an invasive weed that just spreads out of control.”
As is also common with OCD, there are fluctuations over time regarding its intensity. Green, notably, wrote Turtles following one of his own highly challenging episodes.
Turtles All the Way Down: The Movie (2024)
Isabela Merced plays Aza, and the film Turtles All the Way Down “is a mostly moving portrait of how one teenager navigates her mind’s unruly terrain. The film follows Aza as she grieves the death of her father, reconnects with an old friend (Ginny & Georgia’s Felix Mallard), and comes to terms with how her mental health struggles impact her relationship with her mother (Judy Reyes) and closest friend Daisy…” (Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter).
Although the love and caring between Aza and Daisy (Cree Cicchino) is generally strong and steady, Daisy eventually has to admit that Aza’s condition creates a type of self-centeredness that’s really hard to take at times.
One major example of Aza’s continual preoccupation: “a fear of bacteria and infection. She keeps reopening a wound in a finger to ‘drain it’ of infection” (Matt Haig, The Guardian).
Aza’s psychiatrist (Poorna Jagannathan) repeatedly encourages her to make more use of available therapies, notably Exposure and Response Prevention (EPR) and medication; Aza has had problems with both methods, however.
Sanjaya Saxena, MD, of the International OCD Foundation, says the movie gets it right, mainly for the following four reasons:
- It’s told by someone with lived experience.
- It creatively captures the true experience of having obsessional thoughts, fears, and images.
- It truly encapsulates the torturous nature of OCD.
- It’s geared toward young adults. We know that OCD typically appears between the ages of 8 and 12 or between late teens and early adulthood, making youth and young adults an essential group to share accurate portrayals of OCD with. Yet many media portrayals of OCD are geared more toward adults…
In the end, no promises are made about Aza having an easier life. It’s clear that OCD will always have to be something that’s managed with different types of treatment. She needs to make a bigger commitment to this and to her self-care.
Turtles All the Way Down: The Title’s Meaning
Here’s one place to go for a succinct explanation.
