“Dude, with your voice you are like, ‘Look at all these books I’ve read,’ but with your eyes you are like, ‘Help me.”
Suffice to say that I never usually read books like this. I wasn’t drawn in by the hype, it was more a case of picking up a book in a bookshop and regretting it later.
The use of language by Tallent is creative at the very least, as he seems able to write a life which is blighted by the claustrophobia of constant violence.
The character of Turtle herself was nuanced while also being quite problematic. I felt like the obsession with guns was a bit repetitive but if anything it certainly did a good job of making me feel even more suffocated by the existence of Turtle and her father and the life they led. This is especially problematic due to Turtle’s adoration of her father despite his abuse of her.
The characters of Turtle’s eventual friends, Jacob and Brett, were a good dose of comic relief amongst the mire and their witticisms were novel and a nice opposition to the constant brutish behaviour of Turtle’s father Martin. In this way it almost becomes a “friendship trumps all” narrative.
While this book was good for a debut from Tallent, it was a bit graphic in places. However at its deepest core it could most likely be defined as a coming of age story for Turtle. I don’t think I’ll reread this again any time soon though. Sometimes too much is too much.
MY RATING: **** / *****
Every Book Is Beautiful 