The Turtle Warrior

by Mary Relindes Ellis

This title has been removed from sale by Penguin Group, USA.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, War, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Roman

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2004

About the author

Mary Relindes Ellis was born in Glidden, Wisconsin. After attending a business school to obtain certification as a legal secretary, Ellis then went on to get a B.A. in English Literature with an emphasis on minority and women’s literature. Throughout her life she has worked at a number of positions: cleaning cabins at an upscale resort; assisting her mother, who was a public health nurse; working as an administrative staff support member for entomologists, wildlife and fisheries biologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, engineers, architects, and eventually as the associate administrator in the English Department at the University of Minnesota. She formerly owned a 100-acre farm, co-operated a Christmas wreath business, and grew local genotype prairie seed for prairie restoration.

She began her writing career publishing short stories. Her first novel, The Turtle Warrior, won the Wisconsin Library’s Association’s 2005 Banta Award for Literary Achievement, was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Awards, was an Official Pulpwood Queens Book Club Selection, made Amazon.com’s 25 fiction picks of 2004, and was a BookSense Pick. Her fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train magazine, The Wisconsin Academy Review, The Bellingham Review, and in anthologies such as Uncommon Waters: Women Write About Fishing, Gifts from the Wild, and Bless Me Father: Stories of a Catholic Childhood. Her essay, “The Big Cow: Writing in Flyover Land,” was published on-line by Powells.com.

Ellis has given countless informal talks, speeches, and conference calls to libraries, radio stations, book clubs, weekend retreats, and bookstore audiences. Other credits include serving as the keynote speaker at the 2004 Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards and the Writer in Residence at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls in April of 2008. She has an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and was awarded a Truman Capote Fellowship. Her second nove, The Bohemian Flats, will be published April 2014 (January 2014 in France), and she is working on her third novel

Reviews

[Amina · Rating 4 out of 5]

✰ 4.25 stars ✰

“Surreal. I love that word. That feeling of being between what was real and what was unreal.

Maybe, I said to Miller, it’s not so much SUR-real, but SO-REAL.

He laughed. Nothing is as it seems.”



I didn't cry while reading The Turtle Warrior - it felt more as if something was squeezing my heart really tight - something that had me in it's fierce grip and wouldn't release me from it's clutches till I reached the end of this story. 😢 My heart felt so heavy with remorse and an overwhelming feeling of sadness at the loss of innocence that could be taken not only if you're in the Vietnamese trenches, but on the grounds of your own home, as well.

I really can't recall how I stumbled across Mary Relindes Ellis' debut novel - but, I am so very grateful that I did - it was hibernating on my tbr for too long. At the heart of it, this is the story of Bill Lucas and how his life and the lives of the people in his life were deeply affected when his older brother, James, enlisted to serve in the U.S. army during the Vietnam War.

Have you ever read a book that just makes you stop and sit? That makes you feel so bothered and upset and riled up that you want to reach into the pages and pull out the characters to keep them safe from the danger that is approaching? To shield them from the pain that cannot be escaped? 💔 This was one of those books - that broke my heart and hurt my heart and still healed my heart. All I wanted was for Bill to find happiness - he is nine years old, when his 18-year-old brother, James, leaves them to serve his country - for a greater cause.

“His brother talked to him like he never had before. He talked to him like a buddy and not his little brother. He picked up the letter and held it up against the moonlight. It was written in late December, but he didn’t know what day or time, and his brother was changing, and he couldn’t see or touch him.”

We don't get a very clear idea of their sibling relationship before he heads out - save for a very significantly harsh encounter with a snapping turtle that later serves as truly the most poignant of moments. But, as the story progresses in a non-linear fashion, we are presented so many little instances in their young lives - that catalogued in not only Billy's heart, but young James' too. 😣 That ache of separation that they both felt without each other - that their relationship was severed at the cusp of youth - it's a story as old as time - a story of grief shared by so many families torn apart by war. But, it was in the gentleness of the writing - the tenderness of their bond that just hit so hard -

“James released his arms from around their mother. He turned to Bill and abruptly swept him up into his arms, squeezing Bill’s chest so hard that he could barely breathe.

“I told Terry and the other guys that if they touched you at all, I’d beat their heads in,” he whispered. Bill could feel the hot breath from his brother in his ear.

“And listen,” he whispered again, “don’t be like me.”

The beauty of this novel is not only how special James was to his brother, but the bond he had with Claire, his mother - how she wanted only the best for him - how she envisioned a happiness and protection of light that he gave to her against her abusive husband - how he was a beacon of hope - how she could share the simple joys of life - laugh over their shared pains, but still find the joy in a life with her sons- a path to the life that she could have given her children - if only, she had not crumbled under the sadness of having to begin a life on a farm that she was not raised to do - not expected of her to have. 😔

“The one I hated most was the recruiting poster I found in his bedroom not long after he left. “The Marine Corps Builds Men.” The irony of it. As though my purpose in life was simply to give birth to him and they of course would build him into being a man. Made him believe that he was less of a man because he was not in the Marine Corps.”

James was a sweetheart - a true and pure American boy - buoyed by the youth of living, blessed with his Elvis-esque charms and looks, but haunted by the fate of what he wished to prove to his country and himself. 🥰 It's strange how war movies never sit well with me, but war books leave such a hole in my heart - a void in my soul - that I just cry at the heartache; perhaps, it's because at the core, I will always be a reader.

And here with how she described James' personality - so very vibrant and able to bring out the best in everyone he met - the youthful breath of fresh air that left a chasm in everyone upon his death - the unwillingness to think that such a light could be extinguished from this earth - living on in their hearts, no matter what. 😟 Mary Ellis did not hold back in depicting the Vietnam trenches - the brutality - the bloodshed - but the light-hearted levity and humor in which she portrayed the bonds between the soldiers - young boys thrown into a war that they had no part of - no say in - it was too achingly painful, but so tragically honest - that you would never forget that they were just regular boys whose lives were cut too short and too soon. 💔

“Shut up. Of course I have.”

“What about Beethoven?”

“Now you can really shut the fuck up there. My mother loves Beethoven. My mother used to be a teacher. She went to a private college in Milwaukee. Shit. I grew up listening to Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Debussy. You know. The classics.”

“The classics.” He smirked. “Where did you go wrong?”

When I was in the 8th grade, for English class we had to read Across Five Aprils as one of our reading assignments - since we had to align with our U.S History studies, as well. And while this story was very much different from Jethro's story during the Civil War - what resonated with me was the relationship he had shared with his older brother, Bill - how he never got the necessary closure he needed till the very end - to know if he was dead or alive - safe in enemy territory or fallen prey to an unfortunate tragic death.

In some aspects, this story shared some of those similar emotions - that irresistible pull to seek out the sibling that got away - to find some truth of reasoning that why life had to turn out this way - why war had to rip a loved one away and the ones who were left behind, how would they be able to move on from it. Maybe that's why it resonated so much with me...

“He had forgotten the interior pleasure of sitting quietly and absorbing a story that lifted him effortlessly away from his own life and at the same time strangely affirmed that his own life was real to him.

People shared his own feelings long ago. Books held those people whose lives were not so far from his own. Books said that life mattered in its beauty and its ugliness.”

I don't know if I can call this a coming-of-age story; when James left, Bill wasn't able to go on the way he could have if he had stayed - he suffered. He suffered emotionally and mentally and physically - he lost so much of his life, of his time and had to even endure so much pain at the mercies of his abusive father - at the loss of his beloved brother - at the hands of his forsaken mother. But to have that all catalogued within a time jump of nine years - it just didn't sit well with me, because how can it be a coming-of-age when the story is addressed beyond the time of what he had lost? 🥺

For what we learn at the end - years after since it happened - is so shockingly disturbing that I felt sick to my stomach that I wanted to scream that'what the hell, how could this happen, how did we miss it'? How did the ones who claimed to love him and care for him - how did they not see it? 😟 For in the course of feeling the loss of that one son who was not there, the one that stayed behind was forgotten. That hurt, that sudden realization for not only them, but for me, to see the extent of his anguish and how James leaving broke Billy in ways unimaginable - my heart wept. 😭

“He saw how love caved in their shoulders and threatened to collapse them at the knees. Ernie blew his nose. His mother absently wrung her hands. Rosemary shifted from foot to foot. They would do anything for him, so desperate were they to make things right and give him some happiness.

They wedged themselves as much as they could against the past, acting as though they were killdeers, faking broken wings to trick the bad memories and bad spirits away from him so that he could run to safety.”

Time cannot go back - you can't turn back the clock, but you can start it up again. And Billy's mother, the neighbors - they all felt so responsible for what happened to him, to try and find a way to give him the better life. Billy just wanted to find a peace in his existence to the life that he could not give his brother - that he clung so hard to the guilt of hurting him of making him be the one to leave, that he carried for so long in his heart. 💔 There was such an overwhelming feeling of hurt that the path to forgiveness and redemption was imperative for them to achieve - to somehow redeem themselves for the fault of ignoring the boy that they still had - that they could have helped grow from a boy to a man. 😔

“He knows that they remain as they always have been. Just the two of them. They know each other’s histories and the wounds they still carry. Scars that can be torn open with a wrong word or a gesture meaningful only to them. They are aware, even when they hug each other, of that space between them that was once filled with someone else.”

There was a certain magical pull to Ms.Ellis' writing - something achingly poignant, something viscerally yearning, something raw and intimate that captured all the emotions - whether it was despair or longing, happiness and blissfulness, childish play and forgotten innocence. 🤍 And there was something genuinely palpable in how she described it, that there was this one scene that stood out for me so much - something that carved its way into me, that I had to re-read it again, because it was so vividly brought to life before my eyes.

It was this one part that portrayed one intense moment in their family - where John Lucas came home in his drunken state and stormed up the stairs in his rage, intent to inflict pain and harm to his wife and child, how she wrote this scene with the detail of Claire grabbing young Billy, as she dashed up, crying for her son, "James, he's going to kill me" and then, as she made her way to safety and James appeared at the top of the stairs with the gun in his and fierce protective gleam in his eye - warning his father to stay away - I had chills. Literal chills - the writing was too vividly raw and so very real in subtly capturing that wide range of emotions in this one scene alone.

This is just one powerful example of how the writing was even though, slow, it was sublime. It was in the masterful way of alternating between points of views between five different characters - seamlessly so. It is how she can transport you from the trenches of Vietnam - make you taste the shrapnel digging into your body - and then descend into the plains of idleness and yearning - the want of having someone to care for you - to be there for you. 😟

This truly was a stunning debut, one I will not likely forget for quite awhile. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Turtle Warrior affected me so much that as often is the case, I procrastinate on the review process and am not quite sure how to go about getting my words on to paper. I read this book a month ago!

This is not simply a story of a family fractured by the Vietnam War, the families left behind, or the senseless loss of lives in the carnage that is war. This is about two families intersecting in a remote, harsh yet beautiful wilderness of Wisconsin. The terrain which forms this part of the world contributes to the story in a way; the remoteness, the hunting, the dogged hard work required to make a successful living out of the unyielding ground, the snow, the trees, the beauty. There is a life force of its own inside the never-ending fields.

The Lucas siblings love each other very much, the younger Bill adores his teenage brother Jimmy, who is able to turn away from their father, learning that the father’s way does not need to be emulated by the offspring. The Lucas family are ruled by the most awful fictional father one could think of. John Lucas is a brute, an alcoholic liar, terrorising his innocent family. Young Bill withstands the most of this. It is life changing behaviour that his father imparts, this is unavoidable. My heart broke for him repeatedly. This forms a great deal of the heart of the novel.

The beautiful couple next door, Ernie and Rosemary, are unable to have children of their own. They open their home to Bill as often as they could, very aware of their neighbour’s perilous situation. As much as the brutal father squanders and uses his fists and is useless on his own farm, Ernie is capable, strong and humble. Through Ernie’s back story, his role in WWII and musings on the life lessons imparted by his father, we see the amazing strength of character and the wonderful father he would have been had circumstances been different. Ernie, over the years, becomes Bill’s role model, he loves this boy and I loved him for this.

But rather than let hatred eat him, Claude Morriseau stepped away from people who could not be helped, distancing harm so that it petered out on its own volition or turned back and bit its owner.

The story is told in alternating and very distinct voices, the character development and the love poured into them to nurture each other was astounding. The story was beautiful.

Jimmy heads to Vietnam, chooses to go, to escape in this fashion. Bill mourns his brother, the devastating outcome almost killing his mother, Claire. Bill is not yet ten years of age and takes on the caregiver role, feeding, cleaning and making sure she stays alive. Protecting her somehow from the miserable patriarch. Also relentlessly bullied by children at school given his mother’s transportation to another world after losing Jimmy, talking to herself vividly, wildly gesticulating as soon as Bill hops onto the school bus. Yet another cross to bear for this innocent man-child.

Claire is a mother who loves her children dearly, but the cards dealt made this impossible. I was hoping she would come through the other end. "Small towns are often like chicken coops. They don’t like or accept difference or change. If one hen is molting or is hurt and the rest of them aren’t, they will peck at that bird until she is bloody. I’ve seen hens that were molting,” his mother said, “get pecked to death.”

Bill is caught up in such tremendous grief which will almost claim his life, if not for the wonderful neighbours who become family. Ernie and Rosemary wrap what is left of Bill’s family in extreme love, wisdom and kindness I was almost undone by this story.

Rosemary had been a nurse in the war, she also was capable, strong and spirited. Her and Ernie made a wonderful pair, and through them we see life is not easy, marriage even harder, but if we work together most things can be overcome. Then Jimmy lost the lottery. In her grief, Claire Lucas woke up and, realizing that she had another son, kept little Bill close to home after that. And Ernie and I lost both of them. I don’t know who I cried more for, Ernie and me or Jimmy and Bill.

This well written, remarkable book will stay with me always. Bill is the character which shines, but I loved them all, the ones that were left living. They were kin, maybe not all bound by blood, but this does not matter one single bit. Lovingly descripted providing beautiful imagery, I was there with these beautiful people. He will also tell them of the kindness of people. They are alive because biology does not always determine destiny and goodness can arise from the most hellish of conditions.

Again, another long review, I tend not to be able to be succinct these days. I highly recommend this book, there is so much to ponder, it is very special. My book of the year.

I read the physical copy of this book, furnished to me via my local library by an inter library loan, all the way from Orange Council Library. With the old fashioned loans slip filled in on the front cover. So cute!

[Lynn H · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m at a loss to understand how this wonderful book published 15 years ago has less than 800 ratings on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble combined. How did word not get out about this book? It has great characters all struggling with their own issues, a beautiful setting in Wisconsin, and a story line that will have you feeling all the emotions. It should have thousands of ratings and reviews. The author needs a better marketing team.

This is the story of 2 families that live in neighboring farms with nothing in common. In one farmhouse you have the Morriseau family - a sweet, childless couple and their dog that they rescued from a ditch. In the other, you have the Lucas family - an alcoholic and abusive husband, a very timid and soft spoken wife, and their 2 sons that are about 10 years apart. After enduring as much as he could, the oldest enlists and is sent to Vietnam, leaving his younger brother to try to survive their father’s drunken episodes while their mother loses herself in worry over her son off at war. During the 33 years this story spans, there are lots of ups and downs that the characters go through. Mainly downs, but yet it’s not a depressing story. The overall feel is one of struggling to survive, with the hope of a better life, and leaning on others to help you get there.

[NicoleR.M.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary, one of a kind story about family, found and by blood, about spirits and trying to keep going when life throws so many curveballs that you can hardly keep standing straight. It’s about survival, about almost giving in, but finding the strength to get yourself back up, to find reasons to stay. The writing is beautiful and lyrical, and though I found myself fully invested in the story’s of the main characters, it sometimes dragged a bit and I skipped some. But overall this was a beautiful, at times heartbreaking book. And of course I loved the historical parts of it. There were such detailed descriptions of being a soldier in the war in Vietnam, it was impressive. Made me feel like I was there, the anger, the fears, the craziness of it all. The unnecessary violence and degrading of the soldiers fighting. Offering them for whatever reason or purpose.
Not an easy read, there is a lot going on that might make readers uncomfortable and emotional, so be sure to look into triggers before reading.

[Book Concierge · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 1967, the Lucas family, living in a remote corner of northern Wisconsin, is brutalized by their alcoholic father. Their neighbors, Rosemary and Ernie Morriseau, watch and offer a safe haven for the two boys: James and Bill. When James enlists at age seventeen and goes to Vietnam, nine-year-old Billy has only the protection of a turtle-shell shield and a wooden sword to keep him from harm. It will be a long and fraught journey to manhood for the sensitive Billy.

What a marvelous debut! Ellis writes with grace and style. She alternates point of view between Ernie, Rosemary, Claire, James and Billy, featuring a different narrator from chapter to chapter. In this way we learn dribs and drabs of the whole story, exploring the ways that personalities are formed or twisted, how a character can be broken and heal, how a marriage can survive or dissolve.

I loved Ernie and Rosemary; their quiet strength and willingness to continue offering support and refuge despite the many times they were turned down showed their sterling character.

And Billy … poor, innocent, damaged Billy. Trying to make sense of the senseless. Yearning for love and attention from people incapable of giving it. Many a time I worried he would be as lost as his brother and father, would succumb to the rage and fear. Powerless to lash out at those who hurt him, he follows his father’s path towards alcoholism. And yet …

Some wounds leave scars, and even faded scars are reminders of the pain. If we are lucky those reminders keep us focused on the positive and help us work to ensure we don’t cause wounds on ourselves or others. There are some horrific scenes in this book, and it is an emotionally difficult read. But the reader who can get through the horror will be rewarded with a hopeful ending.

[Phyllis Runyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written debut novel about a family living on a farm in northern Wisconsin, starting in the 1960's. If you don't mind your heart being ripped out then read it. Excellent.

[Barbara Stoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

If breaking my leg last May accomplished nothing else, it has left me with a summer's worth of reading to report on in the Bookhouse. One of these is The Turtle Warrior, by Mary Relindes Ellis, sent to me by my friend Bonnie.

It's set in northern Wisconsin, familiar territory for me. I know those poor farms, that stony land, old barns with outdated, broken down machinery. I know the lure of the woods, the quiet depth of snow. Settling into The Turtle Warrior was, in some ways, like going home.

I'm lucky. I don't know first hand the pain of abusive marriage or gross parental cruelty. But I have known a few victims. One of the characters in my first novel, The Year of the Crow, was such a one.

The Turtle Warrior was a slow read for me. I read a chapter a night, taking only as much beauty and pain as I could swallow at one sitting. But isn't that one of the reasons we read? To remember beauty or discover beauty we never knew? To live for a moment in pain we can't otherwise know? Or to revisit the pain we do know, searching for footprints in the snow that lead to redemption?

[Kelley Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book lingered with me for awhile after I finished it. It deals with difficult subjects for sure, but is well written and thought provoking.

[Catherine Krabath · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love when I find a book that I simply cannot put down. A book that I can’t stop thinking about long after I’ve read the last sentences. This book is amazing!! Written with real emotion that sometimes I forgot It was a work of fiction. The depth and character develop is a talent few authors possess. A must read!

[Patricia Kush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow... a real life feeling book written by the characters & how they each felt in the book. Never have I read a book written this way. It’s a haunting tale which will stick with you. Abuse, alcoholism, death: not pretty subjects but oh how this works. Cudos to this author.

[Cheryl S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very close to 5 stars for me. Hurts your heart, but makes you cheer, couldn't put it down.

[Amy Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbreaking but beautifully written. A little boy who survives awful abuse.

[sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

[Kim Miller-Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not an easy book to read and yet I loved it. When I say that it is a difficult reading experience, I do not mean that Ellis’s writing style is dense or obscured by artistry. In fact, the narrative is marked by its clarity, so visceral in its depictions that the reader is transported to rural, Vietnam-era northern Wisconsin where the characters are so authentically drawn that they become lodged in the chest, their trials creating such emotional havoc that one’s throat begins to ache with the pain of holding back sobs. This is what makes the novel difficult...reading it is a gut-wrenching experience. Yet, it is a beautifully told story, one that resonates with healing and redemption.

At the center of the novel are Jimmy and Bill, two brothers living on a secluded farm desperately trying to thrive despite the terroristic attacks of their alcoholic father whose contempt for the world is regularly unleashed on the boys and their mother. The brothers seek solace from the inhabitants of a neighboring farm, Ernie and Rosemary, a childless couple who willingly accept their role as surrogate parents. Ernie, who battles the grief of childlessness by silently replaying the sage advice given by his Ojibwe father, heartily embraces the parental role. For years, the couple provides a haven for the boys, a place where their physical and emotional needs are both anticipated and fulfilled without cost. Unfortunately, despite the refuge offered by Ernie and Rosemary, when Jimmy, the older of the two brothers, comes of age, he escapes by enlisting in the marines. For Bill, Jimmy’s flight to Vietnam initially feels like a personal rejection--an abandonment that leaves him openly and thoroughly vulnerable to their father’s abuse. For their mother, Jimmy’s enlistment is a heralding of sorts, one that awakens a long-dormant desire to start living—to relinquish the hate spewed by her husband and turn instead to the unconditional love given by her sons. She vows to change their lives once Jimmy returns from combat. As she and Bill await Jimmy’s return, they find comfort in his letters. Jimmy’s expressions of homesickness help strengthen their bonds to him and to each other, and the money he stashes in the envelopes helps them imagine a future without the father’s drunken rages. At the same time, both Bill and his mother are filled with yearning for Jimmy and the fear that something might happen to him. Therein lies the sadness that permeates the novel: the unbearable presence of absence.

As the novel progresses from 1967 to 2000, the characters navigate the emotional twists and turns of love and loss. Ultimately, their emotional pain is an indictment of societal values—that to fight is masculine, that guns are items of beauty deserving of our worship and canonization, that the American way is the best way, and that to kill for one’s country is honorable. Although there are times when their sadness is excruciating for the reader, the author mitigates our discomfort by imbuing the narrative with an abiding sense that the Lucas family, along with Ernie & Rosemary, will eventually reach some type of peace. Without these threads of hope, this novel would be unreadable. Fortunately, just as the characters’ pain functions as an indictment, their eventual peace functions as redemption—a reminder that even though none of us is immune to the evils that exist in the world, we can save ourselves through our own human decency—by honoring our commitments to ourselves, to each other, and to the earth.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 1967 in the small rural town of Oline, Northern Wisconsin. The Lucas family's small farm is in disrepair. Lucas, a mean alcoholic father of two sons, James and Billy hovers over his family with brutish anger and promised violence.

James escapes by signing up with the marines and goes to Vietnam. Bill is left to protect himself and his mother Clare against the drunken rages of his father. A neighbouring family, Rosemary and Ernie Morriseau try to help as best they can, but their offers are poorly received and seldom accepted.

The story evolves over several decades and ends in the year 2000. It unravels from multiple viewpoints as each character tells his version of the events. We hear from all of the characters except for the patriarch John Lucas. It would have been interesting to know and try to understand his behavior.

Sensitively written.
This is a wonderful debut novel, but it is also grim, heartbreaking and difficult to read at times.
I really enjoyed it from the very first page.

[Jim Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good and very readable novel from 2004. It is about two families who reside on neighboring farms in northern Wisconsin. The period covered by the narrative is from 1967 to 2000. One family has two sons whereas the other is childless. The family with sons is headed by a ne'er-do-well father who abuses both his wife & children and is a confirmed alcoholic. The other family has a loving husband of the same age who seeks to act as a surrogate good father to these troubled boys. The action includes one son's involvement in the Vietnam War with a tragic outcome. His younger brother is troubled by this loss and has problems of his own with his abusive father. The novel explores the problematic history of abuse within a multi-generational family as well as the vagaries of fate to which all of us are subject. Despite these serious emphases the novel is overall heart-warming and positive for the reader.

[Laurel Deloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, The book is embedded in my mind. Can't stop thinking of this poor kid, or his Mother. The characters were almost too real, the father could have been slightly less damaged. But I won't ruin the ending for you.

Synopsis: The Turtle Warrior is the story of the Lucas family, who live in a beautiful and remote part of Wisconsin inhabited by working-class European immigrants and the Ojibwe. By 1967 the Lucas farm has fallen into disrepair, thanks to the hard drinking of John Lucas, who brutalizes his wife and two sons. When the eldest, James, escapes by enlisting to fight in Vietnam, he leaves young Bill alone to protect his mother with only his own will and the spirit of his brother to guide him. Beautifully written and deeply felt, The Turtle Warrior takes readers from the heartland of America to the battlefields of World War II and Vietnam weaving a haunting tale of an unforgettable world where the physical and spiritual, the past and the present, merge.

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about a family dealing with an abusive, drunk father. This book's timeline starts at the Vietnam war and flashforwards many years as we see how the characters deal with their hardships. At different times in this book, we have different points of view from all the characters so the reader gets a first hand account of their situation. I enjoyed this way of telling a story and my rating is more 3.5 stars. This is not my typical kind of book as it is a very emotional book and dramatic. That being said, I did enjoy it and I would recommend this book.

[Carolyn Russett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An EXCELLENT book. The Lucas farm is in disrepair thanks to the hard drinking of John Lucas , who abuses his wife and children. The older son , James, escapes by enlisting and going to Vietnam. That leave 8 year old Billy to take care of his mother. The time spans from WWII until the year 2000 and is told from the perspective of Billy, James, their mother and another couple who have always longed for children, so in their way, become surrogate parents to the boys. It can be a sad story but is told very very well.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't express how much I loved this book. I found it randomly at Powell's and after reading the reviews on the back, decided to give it a try. This book is so beautifully written and I couldn't put it down. She created such memorable characters that I will not soon forget. I loved every minute of it, even though it was heart-wrenchingly difficult to read at times, it was also endearing and tender as well. It's a wonderfully crafted story. Loved it, loved it.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a heart-wrenching survival story about two young boys growing up with an abusive father and a troubled mother. The story takes place in Northern Wisconsin but also takes the reader to the battlefields of Vietnam and World War II. You really get involved with each person as the story is told from the view points of all the main characters. I found The Turtle Warrior to be sad but hopeful at the same time.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mesmerizing

A story of hauntingly beautiful characters; each given their voice intermittently throughout the novel. Eerie, lonely, lovely, remote northern Wisconsin before, during and after the Vietnam War. Each character experiences change: heartache and growth in painful, sometimes sweet, heart wrenching ways. A wonderfully written story which ultimately leaves the reader with hope and wonder at the strength and vulnerability of the human spirit.

[Kathryne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisitely painful, sweet and harmonious. It is rare that a author can write in both a male and female voice with credibility. Wisconsin and Michigan near Lake Superior are gorgeous. We live in a country of great beauty that masks primitive horrors that those that are witness to never fully but in parts recover. A beautiful novel, the Turtle Warrior.

[Kimberley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Completely worthy. This is a novel with many layers,...and I don't quite know how to describe it. The writing is excellent, the storyline is of a serious and harsh nature, but also speaks to the triumph of the human spirit and the kindness of other people.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punch in the gut. Tears. Hope. And shot through with authentic emotions that run the gamut. The Turtle Warrior is almost completely divorced from my personal experience on every level, but for all that it still felt achingly true.

[Mara]

The best book I've read in a long time! The way the author told the story from each character's point of view worked so well with this type of work.

[Noémie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un depaysement, une famille déchirée , une belle écriture. Une surprise inattendue que cette lecture!

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreakingly beautiful

[Janelle Saville-O'Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

[Mary Wallan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully rendered story about the damage caused by domestic violence and the redemption possible outside a troubled family.

The story is set in rural northern Wisconsin from 1967 - 2000, with narration shifting among the major characters, including one deceased. We witness the disappointment of the Lucas family, with a father who spends his paycheck on alcohol and abuses his wife and sons. The author integrates nature beautifully, usings bird imagery to illustrate the characters' feelings of elation, protection and threat. The sons are drawn to their childless neighbors' the Morriseau's, who step up to give them the guidance and companionship their own parents are unable to offer.

When tragedy occurs early in the book, all the characters are left with unanswered questions and long-lasting self-recriminations. The author gives us a very sobering look at what happens when abuse is piled on young children. But also, with hard work how much can be overcome. As one character concludes, "Biology does not always determine destiny."