Customer Reviews

The Turtle Catcher

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this book descriptive, absorbing and well written, despite it's jumpy narrative that became tiresome in places, hence the 3 star rating. I also felt that the author not only has a real grasp of the people of the Midwestern region where the book is set, but also an uncanny ability to transport the reader back in time.
I live in Minnesota, although I'm not a native of the state (or Midwest ) but I would imagine people who are, will get even more of a kick out of reading about familiar places and towns, and the heavy European influences that helped shaped where they now live.
Amazon, and even Publishers Weekly call this a "standout debut" from an author whose previous "memoir" novella was well received, and that sounds like a bit too much praise as far as I am concerned. The Turtle Catcher is to "standout" what Tolstoy is to "brevity", so a lesser adjective would probably have been more fitting. The story is well paced, often dark, but always grounded with believability, and talks candidly about family values, differences in opinion between cultures, and feuding that would not be out of place in the World of today, just move the locations accordingly. But it's not that great. I'll spare the synopsis, which is covered enough in the description above, but will say that this is worth reading. It won't be to everyone's taste, but anyone with an interest in history, or just likes good family based drama should enjoy it. 3 stars.

The Turtle Catcher follows the Richter family in New Germany, Minnesota, from the late 19th century to 1920. The novel begins with a terrible event--in 1920 the three Richter brothers drown their handicapped neighbor, Lester, after they believe he has violated their sister, Liesel. The rest of the novel is a flashback--from the mother of the boys, Magdalena, leaving Germany as a young unwed pregnant woman, to her eventual birthing and raising of five children, including the one who eventually kills her, the coming of age of those children in the early years of World War I, and the eventual tragedies of the Great War that rip the family, and the town of New Germany apart. Throughout the novel, Liesel conceals what she believes is a terrible secret--she's a hermaphrodite--and she convinces herself that Lester, handicapped from his father's relentless beatings--is the only man who could ever love her. As the events surrounding Lester's death come to the surface, the reader discovers the demons of the Richter family and their small town.

Although the story in The Turtle Catcher was rich--I enjoyed all of its detail, its complicated levels--the execution and writing style of the novel really killed the story for me. There were times where the language was so dense, and the story so convoluted, that I was ready to give up on this book--something that I almost never do. This book had a lot of potential, and I do think it did a good job of capturing farm life in rural Minnesota at the turn of the century, as well as the political conflict between the German immigrants in the town and the other residents.

If I could give half stars, this would really be a two and a half star review, because the book did have some good things going for it. But I don't know if I would recommend this unless someone was really interested in America before/during WWI or in turn of the century life in the Midwest.

I found this a very compelling tale, historically. None of us living in the United States, other than full blooded Native Americans, are all-American. We each of us have bits and pieces from other cultures, other places, hanging onto us, partially defining us. The main character in The Turtle Catcher takes this one step further, she is physically more than one thing.

The immigrant populations of Minnesota and their interactions and views of themselves are presented from inside the German-American cultural identity as the country enters WWI. The story is set on the farm belonging to a German family. Their mother recently dead, the children have to raise themselves and define themselves as a new type from their parents. We follow their lives through the eyes of the sister upon whom falls the entire housekeeping of this male household at a tender age. Her only companions are the young brother she raises and occasional visits from the slow Scottish American neighbor boy, the eponymous Turtle Catcher who brings her turtles and occasionally takes over the burden of the story's narration.

When the brothers decide to enlist in the Army the father despairs, as many of the fathers and mothers in the town do when their sons do the same. The older people see the matter in terms of their children fighting their own people - the Germans. The children see it differently. Through new American eyes, their German identity becomes part of their past rather than a present reality. A piece of their identity, not the whole. They break from the older generation. They, like their sister, are no longer wholly any one thing. Unlike her and their parents, they refuse to remain apart from the rest of society.

In the novel the Swedes, Norwegians, and other European immigrant groups circle 'round their more prosperous German neighbors like hungry wolves, yapping with glee when they are able to exploit the pacifism of the Germans Americans as the US enters WWI, into evidence of their traitorous nature. They then leverage their slander into a means of taking the German's farms and businesses even as the German's sons are leaving to serve in the war.

It was quite a chilling tale, very dark, even brutal, but not without some sweetness.

I was excited to have a chance to review this novel, after reading the author's Summer of Ordinary Ways, a memoir of a grim Minnesota childhood. In my review of that book, I qualified my positive comments because I questioned the missing landscape and the absence of any bit of humor, fun, loving behavior or happiness. But it was so well written that I forgave it, and looked forward to her next work.

In this novel, which follows the lives of the Richter clan in New Germany, Minnesota, I was dismayed to find the same problems that the memoir showed, with very little of the good writing. Helget struggles and fails to offer a meaningful portrait of a community torn by its historical ties to Germany as WWI brews. It could have been a good story, but it isn't. The plotting is awful, the characters are almost to a one revolting, the central image of hermaphroditism feels like a contrivance to explain an extremely unlikely "romance" that mostly consists of mutual handling. The writer keeps backtracking about what's bringing Lester and Liesl together, expressing the same information over and over again, as if somehow this will make it more believable. It doesn't.

As in the memoir, nothing good happens to any of the characters. I don't actually like Pollyanna, feel-good reads. I love a challenging book, a harsh book, a grim book. But to ask me to read a badly written book in which no one is likable and nothing good happens and no one ever laughs and everything is macabre and disgusting is a little much. I happen to know that, despite the harsh winters and narrow immigrant mindset that still prevails today, life will offer SOME pleasure in Minnesota farm country. Why is this absent from both Helget's works?

The best word I can give the book is "grotesque." This doesn't doom a book at all. Perfume by Suskind is a great example of grotesquerie elevated to beauty, and most of Flannery O'Connor, as well. But this book isn't GOOD, so the grotesquerie is something the reader has to suffer through for no reason at all.

Skip it.

From 1897 Germany to 1920 New Germany, Minnesota, THE TURTLE CATCHER tells a story of outcasts, friendships, and retribution. In the first chapters, set in 1920 New Germany, Minnesota, the three Richter brothers take justice into their own hands when their sister Liesl cries out against Lester but remains silent, protecting the secret she carries in her body from being discovered. An outcast due to her hidden deformity, Liesl and the brain-damaged Lester Sutter had formed a friendship that has transcended their individual isolation. From this one brutal moment, Nicole Helget looks backward in time to all the events that led to this heinous crime. Alongside the main thread of the Richter-Sutter feud, Nicole Helget creates haunting broader resonances of once friendships that end in historic retribution from the relationship of the Sioux and the Minnesota residents to the German and Scandinavian immigrants. Within this context, THE TURTLE CATCHER tells the love story of Magdalena Schultz, or Maggie, and her daughter Liesl. Pregnant and in love with a Jewish man, Maggie immigrates to America rather than tell her father who blames the Jews for his fall in status. Likewise, Liesl falls for Lester, the son of Harald Sutter, the man Richter blames for his downfall. Sutter equally blames Richter for his misfortune. The parallels between Maggie and her daughter's stories are not slavish copies of one another but rather haunt with the similarities and differences, creating a broader picture of the movement of a family and indeed women within a family through generations.

THE TURTLE CATCHER clearly is not a novel that will appeal to all readers. Several brutal scenes from a vicious murder and horrific scene of childbirth to self-mutilation make the reader recoil in a revulsion that is often visceral. THE TURTLE CATCHER does not present a linear easy-to-follow plot but rather builds through a careful layering of sometimes seemingly disparate vignettes joined together by their thematic resonances rather than by a strict chronology. Throughout most of the novel, Nicole Helget presents readers with a grim portrait of a cast of severely flawed characters. Historic events only exaggerate some of the more unsettling aspects of her characters. Just when a reader thinks things can't possibly get worse, they do. THE TURTLE CATCHER, however, will appeal to other readers precisely for those literary qualities and the way in which the author combines history and personal history to examine the outcast and the dynamics of unthinkable retribution.

THE TURTLE CATCHER takes an unflinching look into the small town of New Germany, Minnesota around World War I and inside a family whose secrets are hidden from plain sight. One sees the sins of the parents passed down, not only to sons and daughters but also the ramifications of personal histories and a broader historic movement combining to create within individuals the worst parts of themselves. Juxtaposed to these characters and the horrific events, the doctor's daughter stands as an outsider, but an outsider whose compassion and understanding contrasts with the spiraling, overwhelming darkness. In the end, Nicole Helget paints a complex multi-layered portrait of all those moments that lead up to the initial scene at Spider Lake. Just when the reader feels the weight of hopelessness for outcasts and for alliances turned into enemies, Nicole Helget offers a glimmer of hope, unveiling a hope that, like the horrific personal history of the Richters and Sutters, might remain hidden to outsiders except through the eyes of myth, history expanded through time and through the vision of literature. THE TURTLE CATCHER is not a novel to be read lightly but rather one that challenges the reader with its themes and literary vision. THE TURTLE CATCHER is a novel of rich beauty, a literary beauty that haunts the soul with its look into history and family.

Nicole Helget's "The Turtle Catcher" is a fascinating debut novel. I was hooked after the first few pages and could not put this book down until I finished it later the same night. The novel reads like a piece of true-to-life historical fiction. The story quickly enfolded me in a strange new world: in the immigrant German-American farming community of New Germany, Minnesota in the years around World War I. I learned that ethnic mistrust, intolerance, and hatred was something that German-American families had to deal with during this period--that the European battlefield saw its counterpart played out in violent ethnic strife in America's heartland.

The story is a compelling mystery. The book opens with the brief telling of a bizarre and horrendous series of events occurring over the course of a few hours in New Germany, Minnesota in 1920. There is a forced drowning of a mentally retarded man at the hands of three brothers. This causes the sister of the murderers to commit a bizarre act of self-mutilation. Finally, the tale of this horrendous day ends with the drowned man realizing that he is still alive. How can a reader not be hooked after an opening like that?

Naturally, most of the book is back-story. The book's main character is the sister, but a great deal of time is spent telling the life stories of her brothers, mother, father, and other significant people who populate this town and have a major role to play in the events of that fateful day on the banks of Spider Lake.

I assume that most readers will love this book for its unconventional and compelling story. But I am the type of reader who also needs a book to be exquisitely well-written, and this one was not. Helget's prose is clear and easy to read. There were some moments of intense beauty that heighten the reading experience, but for me, unfortunately, I found more passages that stood out awkwardly, distracting me from the content and focusing my attention on what I found objectionable in the prose. This doesn't happen often for me in the books that I read, so either my expectations are growing more pronounced or this author truly lacked something that I cannot distinctly point my finger toward.

In any case, I do heartily recommend this book for its brilliant story and fascinating characters. Reading this book widened my perspective concerning the treatment of German-Americans during World War I, provided me with hours of enjoyment, and left me with lingering thoughts about many of the characters portrayed in the book.

I'm hard to please with literature, but The Turtle Catcher is well-written with well-drawn characters in situations spanning a generation. The prose is sparse and straightforward, and the story engages with "flawed" but believable--not high-pitched or outrageous--characters who quietly get under your skin.

THE TURTLE CATCHER

For some reason, I could not wait to read this book! I was so excited. Ended up I was disappointed, having wanted to like this book so much.

We meet the main characters, the Richter family, Maggie and Wilhelm. They are Germans who have moved to Minnesota in the late 1800's where they raise their family and propser as farmers. They have four sons and one daughter, Liesel. Liesel is born a hermaphrodite and Maggie totally blames herself therefore making her life miserable. She never thinks to seek medical advice. Remember, this is the early 1900's.

The family has neighbors close by, the Sutter family. They are white trash and their father is a cruel man. He beats his son Lester so brutally and often that Lester suffers brain damage. He moves through life in a slow, dazed like condition. Liesel takes pity upon him and the two become involved. Liesel feels as if she is a freak and knows things are not quite right with Lester. She loves him, yet he embarrasses her and she finds him odd. She thinks they belong together.

Things happen between Liesel and Lester and finally the Richter brothers take matters into their own hands. This is how the book starts out, with the brothers involved in a vicious act towards Lester.

WW1 plays an active part in this book. I found the history of the war interesting and learned many things I hadn't realized before. Since the world was at war with Germany, these new settler families in Minnesota didn't want their sons fighting in Germany -- fighting against their own relations in the old country. What a dilemma -- you are American, you are German, you are sent to Germany to fight your own? Many of the towns people in New Germany, Minnesota refused to send their sons and others shipped them off to fight. This created many problems in the town and pitted family against family.

While this book was good, it was also hard for me to really enjoy. The author tried to mix magic with realism and while many authors can pull it off, this particular time it just didn't jive. The story line jumped from past to present and this didn't quite mesh. The dialogue between characters seemed wooden and heavy and often dull.

What could have been a great reading experience just wasn't for me. Many people enjoyed this book and while it is a good plot, it never took off. Some of the sexual content and vivid war scenes may offend; therefore, this would not be the book for you.

While wanting to enjoy this book I found it somewhat perplexing and just not my cup of tea.

Thank you.

Pam

There are myriad forms a novel can take, its style, its tone...its personality. This is one of the wonders of the written word and its medium. I won't be so presumptuous (or risk condescension) by listing them here. But I will declare that 'The Turtle Catcher' is about as muddled a novel in terms of its signature as I've come across in a very long time.

Ms Helget has, at various turns, written a spare tale, a lyrical one, a broad one, a concise one...one founded in austerity, one in fancy... In the hands of someone with a true gift, this variance, this spectrum would not be a problem. In fact, this is where greatness is found, when many tacks are taken, ending up at the desired destination. But in the case of 'The Turtle Catcher', the overall impression is one of a paucity of editorial oversight. In a nutshell, I was left feeling that the story was told capably, but not masterfully. And in that distinction lies one of the books major shortfalls: I never felt enthralled, I never felt captivated, I never felt transported.

Another disappointment was the narrative voice. Ms Helget decided to not only present authenticity in dialogue (that is, true to the time-frame in which the story is set), but also the exposition. Maybe this could have worked, maybe in the hands of the aforementioned gifted writer (or perhaps just one with more experience under their belt) it might have been possible to do, and add to the tale in this way. But what's on the page in her effort is, almost always, stilted and...well...unauthentic; it doesn't make for a better reading experience.

Finally, it's not often I come across bad dialogue...but here, it is. Almost consistently throughout the novel, bad. Bad, bad, bad. How bad? It made me scratch my head at times, because... Well, because it's the easiest element to remedy. Except if you don't have a strong editor working with the author. Which, I can only assume, Ms Helget didn't. The only thing I can chalk it up to is her attempting to create exchanges that (sounded, anyway) true to the times. But they don't. They're just examples of bad dialogue.

I do have to say that there are some very nice bits in 'The Turtle Catcher'. The premise is solid, the dramatis personae equally so...and Lord knows the arena is unique. But the story just isn't satisfying, and its execution even less so. I hate to flog a dead horse, but in the hands of a much, much better equipped writer, 'The Turtle Catcher' could have been delivered in its present slim form in a far more pleasing way (a la Michael Ondaatje), or could have been more epic (and more wieldy, a la Ann-Marie MacDonald). But I really don't agree with many of the glowing reviews the novel has garnered; it's simply not *that* good.

The first chapter draws you in with it's horrendous act of three brothers drowning a neighbor...a neighbor with the mind of a child who they are led to believe has violated their sister. After that, it only gets drearier. Death, madness, depression, family secrets, abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-mutilation (or amputation?)....it's all in there, as the story continues with flashbacks of what led up to the moment of the murder.

The story centers around Leisel, the fourth child of Magdalena and Wilhelm Richter. They are German, living in New Germany, Minnesota at a time when the United States is preparing to go to war with Germany. When Leisel is born, her mother notices that part of her female anatamy has over-developed, leading her to believe her baby is a hermaprodite. She believes this baby is a punishment for her past sins in Germany, so she hides her away from society and raises poor Leisel to believe that she'll never have a relationship, marriage or children. Leisel realizes she is different, that most men would not accept her the way she was, and so she decides that maybe the neighbor, with his child-like mind, wouldn't notice. Things don't go the way she planned. The story then starts at the beginning, with Magdalena and her sister in Germany and continues on through their immigration, marriages, births of their children (including Leisel), and the first World War.

The Richter family has to be one of the most unfortunate, dysfunctional families ever imagined (besides their neighbors, the Sutters). It's a sad, depressing story to read and it stays with you for a long time afterward.