I remember the time the movie based on a John Green book got really popular. The movie was called, “The Fault in Our Stars” and I was in high school when it came out. I wasn’t really interested in it. It seemed like a sad movie…I didn’t like sad movies. And so, I decided this guy named John Green was weird and moved on with my life.
Few years later I found a really cool educational YouTube channel and started watching it’s philosophy course. It was by some guy named Hank Green and turns out, John Green is his brother and also hosts such courses. So come pandemic, I started watching Crash Course’s World History Course for the same reason I began the Philosophy Course…It’s fun! After a while, I thought to myself, "What the heck, I'll even give his book a try."
So, I began reading "Turtles all the way down" by John Green.
It started off slow, like usual novels. But along the way to completion, I could really see his personality come out in the characters he wrote in that book. It was really easy to recognize his thoughts in this book. I know it might be a weird thing to say when reading someone's book.
But that's the cool thing about writing a piece of your original work, you put a little of yourself in the story...whether it's the character, location or perspectives, you put a piece of your soul in what you create.
The blabbering of random facts and history was something I saw in John Green even in his World History Course videos, was seen in the writings of that book. I appreciate the realistic and good light with which he described the main character, Aza Holmes' anxiety. I liked how he talked about the need for therapy and psychiatric medicines in a positive way...thereby reducing the stigma against these evidence-based treatments. So many writers and creators choose to perpetuate false ideas about what mental health is and demonizes its victims rather than help and empathize with their struggles. This book made a good attempt in removing that stigma and I am better having read it. It also didn’t have magical or spontaneous cures of mental illness. (It might be possible, but it’s rare.)
Mental health is so important and I can't stress that enough. We all think we know what it is but distance ourselves from genuine empathy and acceptance of it. Mental illness is always thought of to be something incurable and un-treatable and shameful and wrong...that we forget that this rationale further worsens mental illness outcomes in our society.
Another amazing characteristic of this book is its love for astronomy. It’s a big expansive and beautiful universe that we're part of. I remember being so interested in planets and space as a child. Everyone knows of the planets in our solar system, it's nothing short of a miracle to be alive and to be conscious to experience it all. This book highlights the awesomeness of astronomy as seen in the interests of the character, Davis Pickett Jr. I enjoyed reading his commentaries on space-y stuff.
The story felt real. It had good and bad things happening throughout the story, just like real life. It really proves the maturity and skill of the writer to pull off such an intricate storyline. Books like these make learning and scientific thinking so interesting to teenagers and young adults like myself. I'm glad that such authors get the press. The world is really changing in its views of good authorship and I am glad to be part of it.
In the future, I hope to finish reading the book, “The fault in our stars” by the same author. When I’m done, I’ll try to get my hands on the movie as well.
There are so many great experiences and works of art that we miss out on because of our mortality and biases. Mortality can’t be cured, but our biases can be…to a great extent.
