Rating: 
Summary: Reminding Us of War's Domino Effect
Review: Although it moves slowly at times, overall, this is a good book. Ellis explores the devastating domino effect war has on those who fight, those who wait for their fighters to return, those who are on the periphery quietly observing lives torn apart by man's need to kill.There is a definite bleak element to the setting. Yet Ellis tempers much of the cold climate and the dark days by having her characters find various kinds of beauty in their surroundings. It is how they manage to survive on hard-scrabble farms and in nightmare marriages. Her people are thoroughly believable. This story will make you cry at times, but always it reminds how tough and adaptable is the human spirit. We await her next novel!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting depiction of rural Wisconsin
Review: Ellis writes an intensely emotional story, enhanced by the use of multiple first person narratives. Technically, that is usually difficult for any author, for it can make the plot line somewhat disjointed. To some extent, this has happened here. The reader does indeed have to focus carefully on the frequent shifts in narrative. The dustjacket quotes a reviewer who compares Ellis to the great American author of the early 20th century, Willa Catha. Indeed, there are similarities. Though whereas Catha tended to write about the windswept Great Plains, Ellis gives us a diorama spanning 40 years of the bleak hardscrabble ambience of rural Wisconsin. Personally, what I found most interesting was precisely that depiction of Wisconsin and its ethnic German communities. The book gives an insight, presumably accurate, into a milieu that few readers outside Wisconsin might be familiar with.
Rating: 
Summary: Raw, Flawed But Completely Absorbing.
Review: I was drawn to the title of this book on a recent visit to the States and, having read the synopsis on the inside cover, was intrigued. "The Turtle Warrior" is, indeed, a dark book; there is little joy, but it is compelling. It is, I understand, the author's debut novel, and as such is flawed in places - but that makes it all the more real. The author takes us on a journey with her writing, sometimes stumbling, but captivating us into wanting to read more. We are drawn into each and every character's lives, into their psyche and souls. We become them for a brief instant, and in doing so, feel their pain and despair. This book is hard reading, not gentle. So, if you want a read that uplifts you, "The Turtle Warrior" is not for you. However, if you want a read that takes you on a journey of harsh reality and one that absorbs until the last, buy it now! This is by far one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Raw, Flawed But Completely Absorbing.
Review: I was drawn to the title of this book on a recent visit to the States and, having read the synopsis on the inside cover, was intrigued. "The Turtle Warrior" is, indeed, a dark book; there is little joy, but it is compelling. It is, I understand, the author's debut novel, and as such is flawed in places - but that makes it all the more real. The author takes us on a journey with her writing, sometimes stumbling, but captivating us into wanting to read more. We are drawn into each and every character's lives, into their psyche and souls. We become them for a brief instant, and in doing so, feel their pain and despair. This book is hard reading, not gentle. So, if you want a read that uplifts you, "The Turtle Warrior" is not for you. However, if you want a read that takes you on a journey of harsh reality and one that absorbs until the last, buy it now! This is by far one of the best books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Reminding Us of War's Domino Effect
Review: Mary Relindes Ellis has written a powerful story that?s filled with a heart-wrenching and unforgettable way of life for a Midwestern family and their neighbors. But it was the first person narrative used by the different characters, along with multiple changes in the POV, that floored me. This writer?s talent shines through with the ability to capture and constantly hold the reader?s attention with this style of writing. It?s a difficult task for the most seasoned of writers, but Ellis does this like it?s old hat in her debut novel. I never once lost my train of thought with the frequent switching of narrative identity.
My favorite character in this book was not necessarily the main character. I enjoyed the neighbor, Ernie Marriseau. He was the epitome of a perfect husband and a wonderful person. Yet, like all of us, Ernie had his flaws too.
Ellis brings about the paranormal just when it fit perfectly into the story. I must admit that I greatly admire this author?s talent. I couldn?t put the book down because I didn?t want to stop reading. I?m looking forward to her future novels. I feel that Ellis has created a new style of writing that will soon become like a trademark for her, immediately recognized by avid readers and fans alike.
It does the heart good to give a 5-star rating to a debut novel. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of THE TURTLE WARRIOR. It?s a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: "The despair that destroys the conscious act of love"
Review: My feelings about The Turtle Warrior are quite ambiguous. On the one hand Mary Relindes Ellis has provided us with a startlingly beautiful and devastatingly emotional piece of work. But, on the other hand, the novel suffers from a rather languid plot, and an almost funereal tone, which at times can make it a frustrating read. Ellis's writing style and her themes of family loyalty are very reminiscent of Michael Cunningham as she brings the tortured sufferings and dysfunctions of a small town family to life. Told from several different perspectives and also traversing almost forty years, The Turtle Warrior is essentially a devastating, but ultimately redemptive story of two brothers, their parents, and their loyal neighbours who farm in the beautiful, isolated country of Northern Wisconsin. The elder brother James Lucas, a dead ringer for Elvis Presley with his "tight Levi's jeans and rockabilly boots" is packed off to the Vietnam War, by his hard drinking and abusive father. While the younger brother Bill is left with his father, John Lucas whose ugly, drunken acts of bullying and cruelty drive Billy to the edge. Bill, the warrior of the title fashions a shield from a giant turtle shell that he believes will keep him from harm. Billy's nine-year-old life revolves around a daily struggle to survive at school; the strained wait for his brother's letters, the fragile web of his mother's world, and Ernie and Rosemary, his two kind neighbours who adopt him in a time of need. Ellis astonishingly evokes the horror and the waste of war not just with Jimmy's blood soaked and violent account of life on the frontlines in Vietnam, but back at home where the emotional casualties of mothers, brothers, friends and fathers are laid waste. When her son is reported as missing in action, Claire Lucas, distraught and hysterical, imagines "flying to the highlands in Vietnam, a frozen Wisconsin mother looking for her disappeared son." As the novel progresses all the characters gradually exercise their demons and lay their souls on the table. But the real strength of the novel is in Ellis's effortless description of nature's natural beauty. Whether it is the "the sun's rays filtering through the canopy of leaves and needles," "the smell of soil thawing," "the yolk colored light in the kitchen," or the "fields, woods, swamps, and sky of the Lucas farm." One can appreciate this book just for Ellis's remarkable lyricism alone. Michael
Rating:
Summary: The Turtle Warrior
Review: The Turtle Warrior, Mary Ellis's first novel, is a master piece. Sensitive and haunting the tale takes the reader from a poor farm in Wisconsin to the battle fields of World War II and Vietnam. It is a sensitive tale of an unforgettable world where the physical and spiritual, the past and present merge. I liked the Native American aspects. It is an insightful and disturbing story, not an easy read, but one that is sure to raise emotions and well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing account of a family's disintegration.
Review: The Turtle Warrior, Mary Ellis?s first novel, is a master piece. Sensitive and haunting the tale takes the reader from a poor farm in Wisconsin to the battle fields of World War II and Vietnam. It is a sensitive tale of an unforgettable world where the physical and spiritual, the past and present merge. I liked the Native American aspects. It is an insightful and disturbing story, not an easy read, but one that is sure to raise emotions and well worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Engrossing, A Masterpiece
Review: Think the words in the title above are a bit much? Well, you won't after reading this amazing and surprising debut novel that knocked me off my feet. This is that rare gut-wrenching novel that will leave your yearning for more. I cannot believe that this is Mary Relindes Ellis's first novel because The Turtle Warrior displays the maturity and skill that only a veteran could hold. The story begins when Bill is an eight year old boy who wants only one thing; to please his big brother Jimmy (the novel opens with a beautiful passage that tells us right off the bat what these two characters really are about). But when Jimmy leaves for Nam to fight in the war, Bill is left alone with his abusive father and his sadness-torn mother. He has very little recourse to escape all the abuse and the tears. The only thing he has are his brother's letters. But when his brother goes MIA, Bill is no longer able to escape the harsh reality of his life. He can't even find solace in his next-door neighbours, a couple who could never have children and who have adopted the two boys as their own. These two are more like parents to Bill and Jimmy than their real parents ever were. The novel then jumps forward in time to present Jimmy as a teenager. And then as an adult. But the novel never loses its focus, nor does it deviates from its main purpose; to describe, in details, the power of human emotions. Told from various point of views, the novel meanders through the lives of these numerous characters, until we get to know them all too well. When Bill starts drinking heavily - the only way he knows to escape his life - and threatens to become his father's spit image, the reader never hates the boy. We can only care for him because of all the tragedy he has been able to survive. And I have to say that I loved the fact that the only character who does not speak in the first person in this novel is Bill. He is presented through the eyes of others, a sad boy who is misunderstood by most. The Turtle Warrior was such a great read that, right after finishing the novel, I went back and re-read some passages. Its lyrical and powerful prose and its realistic and flawed characters only add another layer of greatness to the narrative. I bought this book because of its beautiful cover, and now I hope everyone will run out and give this one a chance.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK CLUB BOOK
Review: This debut novel, which takes place in northern Wisconsin, is a very good one!! I had my doubts at the beginning as Ellis did some stereotyping of "blue collar Germans in Milwaukee" and some of the people in northern Wisconsin, which I felt, were overdone and not entirely true. However once over that I settled into the story.
It is a story of abuse, but also one of relationships and beliefs. Jimmy and Bill, brothers, have such a close relationship that even after Jimmy has been killed, Bill feels his presence and seems to be guided by his "advice". His mother Claire has a wretched life indeed. Having come to Olin as a schoolteacher, her husband never allowed her to teach but cast her in the roll of scapegoat an servant. Jimmy enlists to get away from his father.
I love the multi-person narration, particularly the person of Jimmy after death. The neighbors Ernie and Rosemary Morriseau are amazing people. Even though they have their own personal losses (being childless), they reach out to the Lucas family again and again. First forming somewhat of a family for Bill and later saving him from certain death by his own hand. Claire also finally reaches for help and is also embraced.
The writing is very descriptive and almost "elegant". The plot is easily followed and understood and is very linear. I think this will be a good book club book.
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