Recommend: No
A man (William G.) and a woman (Neaera H.), strangers to each other, form an obsession with some large turtles in a small tank at the London Zoo. In their private lives they are both stuck in middle age and feel like they cannot move to where they need to be in life, much like the captive turtles. As the weeks progress, William G. and Neaera H. run into each other outside of the zoo and confess these thoughts to each other. A plan is hatched to rescue the turtles and set them free into the wild.
Told in alternating perspectives between William G. and Neaera H. the novel moves slowly around and after the turtle heist. Each chapter ranges around 1-6 pages in length, sometimes covering the same event from the point of view of each. The alternating perspectives structure is important. These two people feel a strong kinship, are bonded by a common wish that solidifies into a common goal, but they are by no measure emotionally open with each other. They remain more strangers to each other than friends. We rarely learn about the characters from them conversing with each other. Instead we get an insight into their stage of life through the first person narration of each chapter.
I really liked this novel. It was sweet in a serious way. Turtle Diary closely tracks two people navigating their way through the disillusionment of the stagnating part of adulthood. The turtle plot is important. Hoban paints pictures of these characters before and after the event distinctly. The main narrative tension has impacted both Neaera H. and William G. and not in the way they (or I) expected.
I will remember Turtle Diary for some time, I imagine. That in itself makes the book a very close Recommend Yes. However the writing was just a little bit hard to read. Hoban is so obviously a British writer of literature. There are sentences with too many commas, lists that trail on too long and too frequent references to classical texts/movies. Even though I enjoyed the idea of this novel and the development of the two characters I found these three aspects took me out of the feeling of it too often. A bit of a ‘look at how smart and conversational I am in intellectual matters’ from the author. Julian Barnes can be accused of this too but he, usually, better manages the balance.
It’s nice thinking of those turtles still swimming home, even now.
[Brevity of review due to holiday in SEA]
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