(I usually buy the hard bound, and almost always pass it on to several others, which helps me justify the cost. and, unlike you, I BOUGHT the book and am trying to decide if I want to throw away the $$ and the book. Am at yet another point of tossing it and see a glimmer of hope. So, I have quit the book four times so far. Why didn’t I heed my inner voice after that one!!! (In hindsight, I should have thought twice after reading a review in either Time or my local Minneapolis paper that quoted Steven King as saying something to the effect of “it is by far, my favorite read of the year!” Good God. I am about half way through the book, having purchased for exactly the same reasons that you did – lofty reviews by highly regarded publications. I cannot tell you how very much I appreciated reading this post. You can tell he knows the area of Mendocino and the coast. He has been writing this novel for over eight years. Novels about abuse can be done without horrific content. I just read a wonderful novel that comes out in February about abuse. I guess you could rename this book Survival because it sure is about that. And so, she begins to prepare for her escape. Turtle finally sees what the real world is like. Didn’t expect to find this in this story. I am fearful for these two normal boys who are truly good people. When Turtle becomes friends with two boys from her school I can feel the tide turning. Some of the descriptions are not what a girl would think or say. Okay, I have a problem with a man writing in the voice of a 14- year-old girl who is being abused by her father. I could see potential here, but it was mostly over the top. The descriptions of the flora and fauna went on and on.
Then I began paying close attention to the prose. But I decided that I must be the only person who could not see the redeeming quality of the story. I could easily have put the book down after the first chapter. And we find that she’s learned this manner of speaking and thought from dear old dad.
The names she calls herself are degrading and filthy.
He walks her to the school bus every day even though she reminds him he does not have to. Each morning Turtle makes her way to the fridge and throws down raw eggs straight from the carton. But her dad mostly refers to her as Kibble. Her mom drowned and disappeared mysteriously some years ago. She’s living alone with her father in Mendacino, California on a large stretch of land near the luscious coast. The lush prose that is being lauded from coast to coast is too much. But so much is included in this novel that simply did not need to be. And that is the only reason I got to the last page. So we decided I would finish the book and we would get together to talk about it. And then I discovered a respected friend was reading it. Respected newspapers from England to San Francisco have written glowing reviews. And the reviews have been raving of this new author.
But the cover has graced a lot of publications that are well-respected. So, why on God’s earth would I choose to read this book?To tell the truth, I did not want to. Did I mention the anguish of dying animals? Don’t want to miss that. You’ll experience mental, physical and sexual abuse. You are in for violence like you may never have encountered before. If you choose to read it, you need to know what you’re in for. There should be a blurb saying o pen with caution. The cover of this new and very talked about novel does nothing to reveal the horrific content.