Nicole Helget's debut novel raised some excitement, coming on the heels of her controversial memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways. The anticipation for the novel was even higher when it was known that the opening chapter was a winner of Minnesota Monthly's Tamarack Award, a $10,000 short fiction contest.
So when The Turtle Catcher arrived, I was eager to explore this new fictional voice, especially since the author is a Minnesotan too. The first chapters didn't disappoint--the book opens with the premeditated, frightening killing of a not-quite-normal boy by three brothers, who are avenging the exploitation of their sister. In fact, the opening paragraph is nearly perfect:
"In the time just after the big war, when banks weren't to be trusted and when snapper turtle stew, a cheap meal for the big families common in those days, bubbled on stovetops in farm kitchens, the three Richter brothers led Lester Sutter to the edge of Spider Lake to watch him drown through the sights of their rifles."
I was hooked--until I kept reading beyond the opening, award-winning section. The writing and the story both decline in quality, with the writing at times crossing over well into overwritten. At other times, the author goes out of her way to explain things that the average reader could figure out on their own, which is not only distracting, but insulting, such as when she describes a small-town baseball game during World War I that pits German immigrants against Scandinavians, and the reader is told in great detail how this game mirrored the actual war. We can figure that out on our own.
Another problem is the occasional use of overly contemporary language for a book set 90 years ago. At one point, a character responds to his child asking about the situation of a troubled family by saying "It's complicated." At another point, one of the characters considers talking through an issue with another person: "Maybe she'd feel better. Maybe they'd both feel better. No. To name these fears and troubles would give them power."
That is distinctly 21st-century language, and it's a jarring break from the narrative.
Helget is, at times, a talented writer, and she's not afraid of difficult plot points and unlikable characters. If an editor would take her by the hand and work on her writing style, and some of the more histrionic plot points, she could be an outstanding writer. But as this book stands, only the award-winning opening is worth reading.
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