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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
The Back of the Turtle is a beautifully woven story of five characters, each with distinctly different voices and motivations, but all connected by one tragic environmental catastrophe known as The Ruin. King slowly builds each character, expertly employing flashbacks to reveal depth and detail, succeeding at some better than others, but each compelling in their own way.
His prose and dialogue are tight, the latter especially with Mara. She's well drawn, bitingly funny, and her sadness leaps off the page. Her relationship with Gabriel is complex and refreshing.
I felt somewhat distant from Gabriel. At times I struggled to feel his regret and guilt, and maybe that's because what he did is just so horrific that it's hard to relate to. His family backstory is fascinating. Even though his sister is dead I really felt his relationship with her. However, I found a disconnect between his role in developing Greensweep and his guilt. I understand the guilt, but not how he got caught up in Domidion and Greensweep. I don't understand his motivation, and I don't know if I buy King's implication that Gabriel was caught up in the dark side of scientific inquiry. At one point Mara wonders “Who makes such a lethal concoction simply because they can?...What had he been thinking?” and while the answer to the first rhetorical question is Gabriel, there’s no answer to the second. He doesn't strike me as greedy or power-hungry, so I would have liked to see more (even if it meant a longer novel) as to what his motivation was.
I was most touched by Sonny. His story is heartbreaking, and King gives him a simple, fantastic voice.
King even humanizes the antagonist, Dorian, not in a sympathetic way, but I understand his mindset even while I abhor it, where he believes problems can be solved by PR and conspicuous consumption. Along the way I was wondering if we'd see some grey in Dorian's black, but there really isn't any. He's a subtle psychopath, and maybe that's the point, that there are Dorian's out there, especially in positions of power.
Though never coming into contact, Dorian’s counterpoint is Crisp. He gets the least backstory, but his words steal many of the scenes, through insight and humour. He orchestrates many of the plot developments, watching out for Sonny, Mara and Gabriel.
This is the first Thomas King book I’ve read, and I’ll definitely be going back to his well for more. This is it a great story, masterfully told, that ultimately left me with a feeling of resilience. After devastation, there is hope of revival and resurgence.
His prose and dialogue are tight, the latter especially with Mara. She's well drawn, bitingly funny, and her sadness leaps off the page. Her relationship with Gabriel is complex and refreshing.
I felt somewhat distant from Gabriel. At times I struggled to feel his regret and guilt, and maybe that's because what he did is just so horrific that it's hard to relate to. His family backstory is fascinating. Even though his sister is dead I really felt his relationship with her. However, I found a disconnect between his role in developing Greensweep and his guilt. I understand the guilt, but not how he got caught up in Domidion and Greensweep. I don't understand his motivation, and I don't know if I buy King's implication that Gabriel was caught up in the dark side of scientific inquiry. At one point Mara wonders “Who makes such a lethal concoction simply because they can?...What had he been thinking?” and while the answer to the first rhetorical question is Gabriel, there’s no answer to the second. He doesn't strike me as greedy or power-hungry, so I would have liked to see more (even if it meant a longer novel) as to what his motivation was.
I was most touched by Sonny. His story is heartbreaking, and King gives him a simple, fantastic voice.
King even humanizes the antagonist, Dorian, not in a sympathetic way, but I understand his mindset even while I abhor it, where he believes problems can be solved by PR and conspicuous consumption. Along the way I was wondering if we'd see some grey in Dorian's black, but there really isn't any. He's a subtle psychopath, and maybe that's the point, that there are Dorian's out there, especially in positions of power.
Though never coming into contact, Dorian’s counterpoint is Crisp. He gets the least backstory, but his words steal many of the scenes, through insight and humour. He orchestrates many of the plot developments, watching out for Sonny, Mara and Gabriel.
This is the first Thomas King book I’ve read, and I’ll definitely be going back to his well for more. This is it a great story, masterfully told, that ultimately left me with a feeling of resilience. After devastation, there is hope of revival and resurgence.
Thomas King's The Back of the Turtle is a rare gem that explores topical themes like environmental destruction, corporate corruption, and the legacy of colonialism without letting the reader lose hope. The book takes place after an environmental catastrophe has destroyed a small coastal town, driving away the turtles and the tourists, killing residents of the local reserve and leaving much of the area deserted.
With wit and tenderness, and copious references to both Shakespeare and Indigenous myth, King weaves together the stories of a CEO who finds fulfillment in conspicuous consumption; an Indigenous scientist fleeing the horrors he's created; a woman who returns to the reserve where she grew up; a young man who hasn't been the same since the town's ecology and economy collapsed, and a Puck-like older man who seems to know just what all the other characters need to know. Oh, and a mysterious and important dog.
I was even more excited that the book had a Star Trek reference here and there - great overlap of my interests. Highly recommend this novel for thoughtful summer reading.
With wit and tenderness, and copious references to both Shakespeare and Indigenous myth, King weaves together the stories of a CEO who finds fulfillment in conspicuous consumption; an Indigenous scientist fleeing the horrors he's created; a woman who returns to the reserve where she grew up; a young man who hasn't been the same since the town's ecology and economy collapsed, and a Puck-like older man who seems to know just what all the other characters need to know. Oh, and a mysterious and important dog.
I was even more excited that the book had a Star Trek reference here and there - great overlap of my interests. Highly recommend this novel for thoughtful summer reading.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Found it difficult to get going and really had to struggle to get familiar with the characters and the different subjects that were being brought up, jumping from one to the other.
Once this was settled, it was classic Thomas King all the way!
Once this was settled, it was classic Thomas King all the way!
I think it's safe to say Thomas King is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I read The Inconvenient Indian, a non-fiction work, a few months ago and was pleased to also love this fiction work from King. This dystopian tale is centered around the relatively deserted community of Samaritan's Bay and the company and scientists that were responsible for the environmental catastrophe that led to the downfall of the community. I love the characters in this book (Gabriel, Darian and Mara were well developed, Sonny and Crisp not so much) and King's storytelling style which reminds me of listening to talented storytellers recollecting complex intertwined stories that have been handed down for centuries! I also LOVE his author photo on the back - I have never met Mr. King, but that photo with his hand on his chest makes him seem so genuine and authentic! I did think the story dragged on a bit in parts, especially the middle, hence my 4 and not 5 star rating.
Thomas King at his height of storytelling. He is a wonderful writer, and this story is no exception. Set in the time after The Ruin, in which two tailings ponds of the Alberta tar sands failed and dumped their toxic loads into the Athabasca River, it is a clear depiction of the reckless results in a small community along the coastline and a number of key persons in that community, as well as the CEO of the company responsible for the disaster. Containing wisdom, fantasy, and reality intermingled in a delightful way, this book is practically a narration of the ancestors and their help to restore the land. I finished it then picked it back up to read it through again. Love it!
What a great story! Thomas King's writing seems effortless (I am sure it is not), and he weaves his stories together with deft humour, deep emotion, an awareness of the villainy of the world, but also hope and possibility. This book is a re-telling, of sorts, of various Creation myths, most notably The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, and Genesis. A coastal town and reserve in BC have been devastated by The Ruin, an environmental destruction wreaked by a Canadian company called Domidion. It was formerly something of an imperfect Eden, and home to a number of turtles who laid their eggs on the beach. But since The Ruin most people have died or moved away, and the flora and fauna are also gone. We follow Dorian Asher, Domidion's CEO, as he wrestles with existential crisis, marital failings, and his corporate villainy; Gabriel Quinn, Domidion's former top scientist and the man responsible for the destruction, who travels to Samaritan Bay to commit suicide; Mara, the last remaining member of the reserve; and three unforgettable characters - Sonny, a boy who collects salvage and tries to follow his absent Father's many rules (and likely represents The Son); Crisp, a red bearded man who speaks in poetry and myth and is probably meant to represent The Holy Spirit; and Soldier, a very intelligent dog. The story is a stinging indictment of environmental corporate malfeasance and science for profit, but also manages to allow us to see all the characters as flawed humans. And hope sits right in the middle.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This novel was so satisfying to read it was like a mystery I was solving with each chapter. I found the characters were very specific and almost had an NPC quality to them. Characters like Crisp felt like they would have been a character in Stardew Valley. Although that could have been a turn off for some people I enjoyed it. Either way and interesting read!
Having loved the Incovenient Indian, my expectations were high. The deadpan humour was there, the ability to make a morose topic, environmental disaster, accessible was also there but it fell a little short of what I had hoped for. It wrapped up too neatly. Can we really expect to recover from such ecological and societal disaster so easily? I hope so but the happy tidy ending felt out of place and too easy.