Jessica Grant

A very lovable book with an endearing protagonist. We join Audrey (Oddly) Flowers as she flies from Portland, Oregon, to her hometown of St. John's, Newfoundland, where her dear old dad is in a coma, and her life is about to change. The book is spent mostly with Audrey as she tries to come to grips with her new life and delves through her memories of the past. There are also interludes spoken by Winnifred, Audrey's tortoise, who has been left behind in Portland with friends of Audrey's.

Even show more though the voices are kind of similar, Winnifred's feels older, more mature, which is not surprising considering how long-lived tortoises can get. Audrey's voice, meanwhile, is filled with wordplay and wonderful observations. The stories she tells and the way she tells them are quite endearing, and I definitely laughed out loud in places. Audrey is the sort of person who can say what you're thinking but don't want to say because it would be impolite or not entirely appropriate. She just says what she has to say, and it's always fun to meet characters like that, especially when they really mean no harm, as is the case with Audrey. Childlike, that's the word I want. Audrey still has her sense of wonder and curiosity, which makes her a great protagonist.

One hang-up about this book is the fact that the author does not use quotation marks, and the story is told in present tense, but once you're into the story you hardly notice those things. So if you like first-person narration with wordplay and warm humour, and some interesting quirky touches, Come, Thou Tortoise will serve you well. show less

This is a funny, very clever, heart warming novel. I find it hard to describe without giving away plot spoilers or making it sound ridiculous. There are chapters narrated by a tortoise! And they are fabulous! This is not a heavy read, but the reader should pay attention as the book is full of puns and word play that enhance the story. This is a book with many fully drawn characters you will fall in love with, wish you had met, and some you think you already may have met!

Take your time and show more enjoy the wonderful writing! show less

Grant keeps the plot running with effortless efficiency, somehow rooting its absurdities in reality. There is very little in the way of overt wackiness, and Grant's writing never becomes irritatingly coy or overbearing. Oddly and Winnifred are winning characters (Winnifred is given far less to do, but that's for the best), and Grant populates her pages with all sorts of endearing characters. Especially Uncle Thoby, a relative from England, holder of the family secrets and saddled with one show more arm longer than the other.

Come, Thou Tortoise, with echoes of Vonnegut by way of the gentler humour of Miram Toews, is strange. So strange. And like Oddly, so very, very lovable.

Read the rest of the review here. show less

How to describe this book? It's charming, thought-provoking, heart-warming and utterly delightful.

Audrey Flowers is living in Portland Oregon with her tortoise, Winifred, waiting for her lover, Cliff, to return. Then she gets a call that her father has been in an accident in St. John's Newfoundland and is in what Audrey calls 'a comma'. So she leaves Winifred with friends and flies home to St. John's. You just know it's going to be a fun read when she disarms the air marshall in the airplane show more because she thinks he is a terrorist.

When Audrey (or Oddly as her uncle Thorby calls her) finally arrives home she is met by her uncle who tells her that her father did not make it. So is it maybe not going to be such a fun read after all?

Audrey is different. Her IQ is low but she is not stupid. Maybe she just doesn't give the answers to IQ questions that the people who made up the test expected. Her father and her uncle Thorby raised her and neither of them thought she was stupid.

With her father dead Audrey's world is about to change dramatically. I read this book with my heart in my throat at times because I really, really wanted Audrey to have someone or at least something to love and for a while it looked like everyone was leaving her. I don't think it is a spoiler if I say it all works out in the end. show less