TATWD, a novel by John Green, focuses on a teenage girl named Aza Holmes, who struggles with both OCD, and anxiety. The story follows how Aza overcomes these challenges, while still providing an entertaining story filled with emotion, humor, and a dash of teen romance.
I think the plot of this book is really well thought out, as I did not expect what I thought to be a run of the mill realistic fiction novel to have such an action packed, poignant storyline.
“When I started reading, I expected it to be just like a day in the life sort of scenario, where it just talked about day in, and day out, but it was actually really great, I didn’t expect it,” said Lux Barnett (7).
At the beginning of the story, it is established that there has been a billionaire in the city that Aza lives in that has gone missing. This is where the plot really begins to flesh out, as it is revealed that Aza was friends with the son of said missing billionaire, Davis Pickett.
Later on, there is a reward released for any information on Russel Pickett, the billionaire mentioned beforehand. Daisy realizes that this could be an opportunity to make money, and ends up convincing Aza to speak to Davis again, to gain information the two could use to receive the bounty. This backfires, and Aza and Davis begin talking again. as they continue talking, and becoming closer, Aza discovers what could be a clue to the whereabouts of Russel, though she can’t decode it enough to alert the police.
at the finale of the book, Davis texts Aza to let her know that the police have found the alleged place where his father is. He says that they used the clue that Aza found. Aza immediately reassures him that she, nor Daisy told the police anything. Police end up finding Russel Pickett dead in the location Aza’s clue led them to.
“I like Aza because she acknowledges all her flaws and asks questions. She also sees the world in a different way.” commented Charis Wong, (7)
The characters that accompany Aza include Daisy, Aza’s best friend and resident Star Wars fanatic, Davis Pickett, the son of Russel Pickett, and Mychal, Daisy’s boyfriend.
In my opinion, these characters, especially Daisy, bring much needed comic relief to TATWD. This is because of the fact that we as the reader are taking in the world from Aza’s rather stressful, serious perspective, and a break every few pages from that kind of narration is a welcome change.
All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in realistic fiction. It details a deeper understanding of what may be going on within the thoughts of someone who’s mind works a little bit differently than the people around them.
