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A review by midici
The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King
4.0
Sonny is energetic, confused, and determined to watch the beach for salvage and guide the turtles back to Smoke River. Crisp is generous, larger than life, and works to keep what's left of the community from falling apart. Mara paints her pain, portraits of the dead to accompany her in the deserted reservation.
And finally there is Gabriel, who has destroyed everything: his career, the reservation, his family and the lives of all those who used to live in Smoke River Reserve (human, animal, and plants alike). Gabriel has come back home to kill himself. But he finds himself saving people from the sea, rediscovering the past through different eyes, and maybe finding a reason to keep living despite himself.
Thomas King is a fantastic novelist. It's easy to guess at his literary background; his work is full of references to other works, stated outright or hidden within sentences (I'm sure there were many more than the ones I spotted). The book does not have a neat resolution. There are a lot of things left hanging in the air: Domidion's responsibility for several catastophes that is never addressed, the ambiguousness of Mara and Gabriel's friendship, the hesitancy between Crisp and Sonny. But as Gabriel notes, life is rarely a neat circle. Some things can't be forgiven or forgotten - but life moves on regardless.
And finally there is Gabriel, who has destroyed everything: his career, the reservation, his family and the lives of all those who used to live in Smoke River Reserve (human, animal, and plants alike). Gabriel has come back home to kill himself. But he finds himself saving people from the sea, rediscovering the past through different eyes, and maybe finding a reason to keep living despite himself.
Thomas King is a fantastic novelist. It's easy to guess at his literary background; his work is full of references to other works, stated outright or hidden within sentences (I'm sure there were many more than the ones I spotted). The book does not have a neat resolution. There are a lot of things left hanging in the air: Domidion's responsibility for several catastophes that is never addressed, the ambiguousness of Mara and Gabriel's friendship, the hesitancy between Crisp and Sonny. But as Gabriel notes, life is rarely a neat circle. Some things can't be forgiven or forgotten - but life moves on regardless.