Come, Thou Tortoise

This is a very cleverly written book. The book focuses on the relationship between a girl, her father, and her tortoise. Witty and engaging, it is a great read. My only complaint is that the novel reads a little like a Jerry Seinfeld monologue.

A bit of personal disclosure up front: I'm a whimsy-sort-of-guy. I have to be; I write tales starring a fully animated stuffed rabbit named Brogan She features in a screenplay I wrote, 'I Married Alanis Morissette'. If you Google it, you'll find it. Eventually.), who's been an enormous part of my life for the better part of two decades. So the notions on which this novel is predicated...especially by way of one of the narrators in particular...sat with me perfectly. (The fact that I'm a Canuck helped, I'm sure.) Unquestionably, I was the perfect audience for 'Come, Thou Tortoise'. Conversely, I can fully appreciate someone not being as charmed as I was; being on the right wavelength as a piece of entertainment is probably the most important factor where resonance is concerned. Or, whether or not you recommend the thing to anyone. 'Charmed' is the descriptive I would use were I only allowed one. I was caught totally off-guard by Ms Grant's style, the gentle power of her storytelling...the whimsy that she weaves her tale with, never overdoing it, always getting the balance right. 'Tortoise' is a strange tale with some strange characters and some strange bits and pieces making up its body. Charmingly strange. Delightfully strange. And entertainingly strange. Even the way she arbitrarily exludes almost all punctuation save for the simple period, the pedestrian full-stop is strange...in a consistently endearing way. There's a lot in this book, but it's delivered in a sitting-in-a-neighbourhood-diner-with-booths, rat-a-tat conversation sort of way; it's a four-hundred page novel that, written conventionally, would have topped-out at over six-hundred, easy. Because there is so much 'space between the words', and because of the way they're presented to us, it's the swiftest, easiest-going four-hundred page journey I've ever been on. If you're looking to have your spirits raised, read this book. If you're interested in a glimpse of another world -or several other worlds- read this book. If you want to know what being in the hands of a caring storyteller is like, one whom has such a wonderful career ahead of her (and her readers, some wonderful experiences), read this book. After all; how can you go wrong with a tortoise named Winnifred? Personal rating: 8.5/10