Reviews - The Turtle House

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

237 reviews for:

The Turtle House

Amanda Churchill

4.1 AVERAGE

fugu_chick's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense slow-paced

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Content Warnings

k_wilk's review

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

oysterkatcher's review

3.5

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Turtle House follows an unlikely pair: 25-year-old Lia, home after soft-quitting her architect career for reasons she won't tell anyone and her grandmother Mineko, living with them after her house burns down. Told in alternating perspectives from Mineko's youth in WWII Japan and the events leading up to Lia's return home in Texas in the 90s alongside their growing relationship in the present day. Mineko's storyline was gripping and so emotionally strong, I truly felt for her in everything she endured and when I realized

that Akio's death is the reason they never married

it was heartbreaking. On the flipside, Lia's was very flat and I never really resonated with her, I got

bad/creeper vibes from her teacher and mentor from the beginning

but the fact that she waffled in every chapter (and even somewhat afterwards) was a little off-putting and it made it feel like she was just circling endlessly without any progress.

I felt that the "big reveal" of Darren's actions happened too late in the novel, I think it would have been easier to connect with Lia if she was honest with the reader earlier on about what she was struggling with instead of it being a fight to get information out of her until it was (in my opinion) too late to care.

Overall it was a good read, but I do feel that it could have been better if the focus was more on Mineko and her story, as well as her relationship with Lia in the present day without the added B-plot of Lia's story.