The Turtle Warrior

July 13, 2007 · Posted in Book Reviews 

The Turtle Warrior I would recommend this to anyone who wants a quick summer read. Take it on your beach vacation – it’s perfect for the airplane. It received quite a lot of hype and was on the NY bestsellers list for a while. Unfortunately, I usually don’t care for most books that everyone else gushes over. It moves along quickly, however, I kept having that, “I’ve read this before feeling”, even though I know that I haven’t.

Excerpt from the back of the book:

In this stunning debut, Mary Relindes Ellis takes readers from the heartland of America to the battle-fields of Vietnam, weaving a haunting novel in which the physical and the spiritual, the past and the present, merge.
The Lucases live in the beautiful, isolated country of northern Wisconsin, inhabited by working-class European immigrants and the Ojibwe. By 1967, their 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 the spirit of his brother to guide him. Protected by a turtle shell shield that he believes will keep him from harm. Bill embarks upon his journey into manhood – and his dream of creating a family very different from his parents.

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