Turtles All the Way Down

by Gaye Shortland

Book by Shortland, Gaye

Genres: Fiction

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 1997

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed Gaye Shortland's first novel 'Mind that 'tis My Brother' (see my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...) but I did not enjoy this sequel. It is unfair of me to shelve it as 'bad-disappointing' because really it is only disappointing. I csan best explain why this novel is failure by a reference to the film 'Grease' at the end of which John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John drive off into the future in a car which literally flies away. I have seen a number of very amusing parodies of the 'what-happened-next' with John and Olivia trapped in their 'magical' car flying through the sky forever. They were all very funny parodies/piss-takes but made a serious point - romantic fantasies are like soap bubbles the slightest contact with reality bursts them. So it is with 'Turtles All the Way Down' - it is trapped in the format established by the original novel which was marvellous fun and heart warming in the original but the more I read of this sequel came to feel like a restrictive corset. I'll be honest and say I stopped reading after a hundred plus pages. I didn't want to think of the author capitalising on her earlier success in either a cynical or desperate way and this sequel was beginning to taint my fond memories of her first novel.

Many people will and probably have enjoyed this novel - I didn't and while I unreservedly recommend 'Mind That 'tis My Brother' I also recommend giving this sequel a wide berth.

[Eamon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic sequel to "Mind That 'Tis Me Brother", and continues the tales of Tony, Liam and the wonderfully bonkers cast of characters based in Cork city.