Daisy jokes that perhaps Davis’s microbes will make her healthier, or even a superhero. She gets to Applebee's early and goes through her dad's old phone. FEATURED ON 60 MINUTES and FRESH AIR “So surprising and moving and true that I became completely unstrung.” – The New York Times Named a best book of the year by: The New York Times, NPR, TIME, Wall Street Journal, … Aza goes to the bathroom and Noah calls after her. Aza Holmes is a 16-year-old high school student living in Indianapolis who struggles with OCD, which often manifests as a fear of the human microbiome. A teenager tries to solve a mystery surrounding a fugitive billionaire. She is sick and exhausted. She tells Daisy that she feels like a river in which nothing can be done, but Daisy contends that people are able to find ways around obstacles such as rivers with dams or bridges. About Turtles All the Way Down. Davis tries to leave quickly but Aza asks him to wait so they can talk on the ground for a bit before he leaves town for Colorado with Noah where he will attend school for troubled kids. Turtles All the Way Down Overview In Turtles All the Way Down, a young adult novel by John Green, 16-year-old Aza Holmes battles a chronic and debilitating anxiety condition as she and her best friend Daisy attempt to find the whereabouts of missing billionaire Russell Pickett. Aza and Davis text later that night, and Aza enjoys it. They stop by the house and Aza sees Noah Pickett, Davis’s younger brother, and Rosa, the family house manager. Aza avoids her mom and accepts an invitation from Davis to watch a meteor shower on Thursday. Aza goes home and texts him; he replies that she cannot have an in-person relationship with him because it would be too difficult for her emotionally, but he needs someone close enough to like him. He drives them home and tells Daisy that everyone whispers about him all of the time for no reason at all. The two are walking through an underground tunnel that leads to Pogue’s Run. Aza thinks it perfectly describes her mental state. Aza wants to make it up to Daisy, so she reads her blog and writes a comment on one of her posts. And not only that, Aza used to be good friends with his son. She has anxiety problems and can barely concentrate on the conversation around her: her best friend Daisy is talking to her about Mr. Pickett, who mysteriously disappeared. Daisy talks about her family, including their dog named The Colonel. The conversation turns to the subject of Davis' father. Dutton Books, 2017. She is called by her father to watch her little sister Elena that evening, and so she calls her friend Aza who comes over with their bikes, the girls ride to a small island where Daisy had thrown an 11th birthday party for Aza. Themes. She’s so absorbed that she hasn’t paid attention to her friends, who are talking about Russell Pickett, a local billionaire who has been reported missing after an attempted escape from arrest for fraud and bribery. Dr. Singh says even positive changes can trigger anxiety, like when Aza kissed Davis earlier this week and it made her anxious instead of happy because of her intrusive thoughts about him being a serial killer or having herpes. Sixteen year old Aza and her best friend Daisy investigate the disappearance of a fugitive billionaire, Mr. Pickett, hopeful of receiving a reward. Her mother offers to go get some groceries while he visits. Turtles All the Way Down Epilogue “The problem with happy endings,” notes John Green through Aza at one place in “Turtles All the Way Down,” “is that they’re either not really happy, or not really endings, you know? She is wicked smart but struggles with mental health—specifically, anxiety. Davis thinks that the kissing made Aza uncomfortable. Davis admits that he writes poetry, and Aza kisses him. At a gallery showing, Mychal’s artwork causes a sensation among the hipsters and artists. Our, "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. Davis assures her that he won’t judge her and just wants to help by listening. Aza and Davis meet at his house. She has developed a callus on her middle finger, which she keeps opening to drain the wound. Summary Later, Aza successfully discovers Davis' secret blog. Aza thought about evolution as she listened to their singing of “You’re Everything” because it made her think about how the world is a product of human stories and not just evolution. Daisy wants Aza to contact the son of the missing man because she needs money for college but Aza rejects that idea. Aza has a panic attack at home, so she takes some medication. At Applebee's, Aza panics again about Davis' bacteria and tells him they can't be in a relationship because this is as "better" as she's going to get. She forces them to talk, and they agree to be friends again. He asks why his dad isn't contacting him, and Aza feels her spiral tightening. Her mom pauses for a moment, knowing that she will eventually lose Aza; in fact, she already has lost some of the time with her daughter since being diagnosed with cancer. Aza and Daisy drive to the bank. Davis says his mother had a similar problem after having aneurysms and being in the hospital for months; sometimes his father would tell him it was just reflexes, but he still felt real to him as well as his mom did too. Aza notices that she has cut her finger but does not want to interrupt the conversation to change it. You'll get access to all of the Turtles All the Way Down content, as well as access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. Daisy thinks that money should have brought them closer together, but instead it just made things worse because of the way that Aza judged her for spending Davis’ money on material things. They remember how stinky it was there when they were little so they decide to head back home instead of going inside for more art viewing. She refuses it at first, but this way he’ll know if she truly wants to be with him or just get his money. She says that no one can imagine being stuck in their own head with no way out. She thinks she's never going to get better. Aza feels her sense of self slipping away. At the time of this memory, Aza didn’t know that Daisy would remain one of her best friends or that Davis’s painting would become an important part of her life. In Turtles All the Way Down we meet Aza, a sixteen year old. His mom shows him flowers that Davis sent over. She’s constantly changing her band-aid and it makes Daisy upset. In real life, some things get better and some things get worse. Aza is surprised that Davis remembers something about her, but she feels awkward because they’re not really friends anymore (not since their parents got divorced). Aza, a 16-year-old high school student, is eating lunch in the school cafeteria with Daisy and Mychal. However, Davis understands Aza’s condition and is willing to wait for them to be together in a romantic way. One night, Aza decides to look at Daisy’s Star Wars fan fiction stories online again. Davis doesn't text Aza again. Davis, a psychiatrist, is talking to Aza. Daisy comments that Aza has barely spoken all day and offers to come over to watch a Star Wars movie. After swimming, they run back into Davis’s house where they hug goodbye before leaving each other’s company for the weekend. Daisy cannot understand how Aza can feel calm in such an unpleasant place, but worrying about her finger being infected gives her a panic attack. Aza cannot stop thinking about getting C-Diff again, but Dr. Singh replies that drinking hand sanitizer will not help with a C-Diff infection; only time, treatment, and medication will help with the disease. Aza says that it is strange that schools have a schedule decided by people they do not know, just like prisons. In the form "rocks all the wa… Aza invites Davis and he agrees to come. They are going to row down the river because Daisy wants to be rich, but Aza is hesitant because she thinks that the river is full of sewage. She refuses to let Daisy or Davis visit her, and she leaves her phone off. Aza studies the book, imagining herself in various settings at different schools. Throughout the book, Aza is accompanied by two close friends: Mychal Turner, an a… In Turtles All the Way Down, Aza's obsessive-compulsive disorder affects every area of her life, and is constantly on her mind. Aza confronts Daisy about how Ayala has all of Aza’s traits and personality quirks. Daisy tells Aza that she knows Davis Pickett, because he went to camp with them when their parents died. Important Quotes . Want to get the main points of Turtles All the Way Down in 20 minutes or less? She thinks she will never get better. Aza drives Daisy home and Daisy talks about how she’s interested in Aza and how Aza likes Davis. Aza’s medication is effective and she survives. Aza’s mother asks how Davis is doing without his father, and Aza thinks he is okay. Aza thinks of Davis putting bacteria in her through kissing, but she tries to push that thought away. She wonders why there is no security footage of the house. They discuss Pickett’s disappearance, with Aza apologizing for not telling Davis about his father’s disappearance sooner; she was afraid he would run away too if he found out. She can’t be in a relationship or do normal couple things because of this irrational fear that kissing him will kill her. One character, Ayala, is horrible: she's anxious and ruins everything. Aza Holmes suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety which greatly impact her life. Aza brushes off the warning and tells herself that she knows better than to fall for a guy like him. She tries to get Aza to think of herself as courageous instead, because she struggles every day with her fear and worry. Aza replies that it is hard for anyone to know what they are really like, but Davis isn’t just his money; she says this because she thinks Davis has more depth than others realize. Aza’s mother thinks this money is what made Aza sicker, but she doesn’t want to lose Aza. Davis replies that Rosa cares about them, but she gets paid to do so. Not only that, there’s a huge reward for anyone who can help locate him. When they reach the end of it, they can see sunlight coming from above them. Aza tells Davis about her spirals, and then the two swim in the heated pool. There’s a $100K reward for information on his whereabouts. After they deposit the money, Aza drops off Daisy at home. Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. The main character then starts thinking about how “it” is taking over inside of him and killing him slowly, which causes him to tell his mother that he’s in big trouble. She has an obsession with the thought of bacteria invading her body and killing her, so she cuts open a small callus on her finger and cleans it with hand sanitizer. She is wearing her Chuck E. Cheese uniform as she and Aza haul a canoe out of the garage. It takes some convincing, but eventually Aza reveals how much of herself feels unreal when she can’t control what happens in her body or mind because then the thoughts seem like they’re not even hers–like someone else wrote them for her life. In order to help her relax, Davis suggests she read Daisy’s fan fiction about them. He gives her a gift—it’s the spiral painting by Pettibon—and tells her that he's moving to Colorado. He hugs her and tells her how much he missed her. Anyway, Mom takes us aside into another room & lays down the law: don’t bring your boyfriends back here unless you want me talking to him first! They agree on a time for another meeting. At home, Aza’s mother asks about her appointment. Mychal comments on how popular Daisy is as an author of fan fiction stories based on Star Wars characters from The Force Awakens. At Applebee's, Aza floats in and out of the conversation, which is mostly about Star Wars and the fanfiction stories that Daisy writes. Meanwhile, Aza thinks about how mental disorders are often glamorized in movies and books when this isn’t really fair because being mentally ill doesn’t make you special or insightful. Aza notices that many staff members work there and wonders if they could help her find Pickett. She sees Davis occasionally, and communicates with him via text and FaceTime most nights. Let's talk about our feelings! Then, she wakes up in an ambulance and then again at the hospital as her mother cries over her bedside (her mom was there all along). In one version, it is a giant … Chapters 1-5. The phone is broken. Although it is fictional, the author revealed that its aspect of mental illness appealed to him personally. Aza thinks it perfectly describes her mental state. She gives Aza a hug before they leave to meet Daisy and Davis at Applebee’s. Aza and her mother talk about Davis, a boy Aza is interested in. Aza finds Davis’ social media channels, but he stopped posting after his dad disappeared. Turtles All the Way Down is entrepreneur and author John Green 's 2017 followup to his 2012 smash-hit The Fault in Our Stars. Aza is in bed, but she can’t sleep because of her thoughts about Davis. As they drive to Aza’s house, they hear a news report about Russell Pickett and the reward for information on him. However, they rarely saw each other after camp ended since they live far away from each other now. Meanwhile, Daisy apologizes to Aza for her outburst and Aza apologizes for being selfish. They walk through the sewer system, which gives Aza an idea. He explains that he set up an appointment for her to deposit her money, and explains that Mr. Pickett won't be legally dead for another seven years if they don't find his body. On Tuesday night, Noah calls Aza asking why his dad hasn’t contacted him yet; this causes another spiral into anorexia for Aza due to all the stress caused by being trapped between two warring brothers. Daisy starts to respond, but Aza tells her not to say anything because she knows how it feels. Davis and Aza pick at dinner and then go outside to look at the sky, even though it's cloudy and they can't see the meteor shower. But we say we are beneath them, which is nice. She learned through writing that she would always go on as a singular being. Her mom senses something is wrong with Aza and wishes that there was something more she could do for her daughter; however, all Aza can think about is how helpless it makes her mother feel when things are hard for Aza. What's special about Shortform: Sound like what you've been looking for? They eat lunch outside together, and Daisy tells Aza a story about a woman who insisted that the world rests on the back of a turtle, which rests on the back of another turtle: turtles all the way down. Aza wakes up in the morning thinking about how she is perceived by Daisy. She shows how famous Daisy has become by seeing that thousands of people have read it already. They sit by the pool as Aza pulls out an Iron Man from his pocket and comments on how it hasn’t been a good week for him lately either because of this toy being lost in his pocket for days now. Then Aza washes her hands, opens up the wound again, squeezes out more blood, then reapplies the bandage. They leave them alone outside where Davis takes hold of her hand as they look up at stars together before moving on to talk about family life as well as how much money both families have spent over time trying to keep themselves happy by buying things rather than investing in each other or helping others less fortunate than themselves through charity work or volunteerism which would make them feel more fulfilled even though they might not get any material benefit from doing those good deeds but just knowing that they helped someone makes them feel better about themselves anyway despite what people might think when word gets out about what you did so if anyone asks you why you went ahead and did something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return don’t try telling lies or making excuses for your actions instead simply say “I wanted my life story told right”. She imagines all the germs that could get into her body and make her sick. The author compares them because they both would have understood each other in ways that neither of their mothers can understand them, even though one of those fathers worried too much for his own good (the author doesn’t know which deceased parent). Aza and Davis decide to unofficially date. This is also what Aza feels like when she compares herself to nesting dolls. Aza thinks that maybe her medication is finally working because she seems calmer than usual, although it’s hard to tell if this is true or just wishful thinking on her part. One day, Aza finds out that Russell is found dead in the sewer system. Aza apologizes for freaking out. Aza texts Daisy in the morning and they agree to meet at Applebee's. Davis drives Aza and Daisy home. Aza tells her mom that she can tell when something is wrong with her mentally and doesn’t want her worrying about it constantly. Now Aza feels relieved for a bit until she starts worrying again that maybe there’s still bacteria in the wound. The next morning, Aza texts with Davis and asks if she can talk to him before going to the police so that they know what happened without revealing themselves as snoops or witnesses; however, he doesn’t reply until later in the evening when he agrees to meet her at school during their lunch break because it will be safer there than anywhere else given how much trouble people are having with technology lately (iPhones exploding due to battery issues). Daisy seems embarrassed by all this talk about what sounds like boring adult stuff going on around here while we were enjoying our fun afternoon off doing whatever kids do these days! On Thursday, Aza finds Daisy in the school parking lot with a new, orange VW Beetle. They rear-end the car in front of them, and two cars behind them collide into Aza’s car. 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