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The Turtle Catcher
A standout fiction debut by a prize-winning young writer whose memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways, was a favorite of critics and booksellers Nicole Helget’s fierce and lyrical memoir of growing up on a Minnesota dairy farm received widespread acclaim.
People magazine hailed the young author’s ability to “take the messiest of lives and fashion something beautiful.”Here, in her first novel,Helget turns her extraordinary sensibility to a haunting love story with a heinous crime at its core.
In a rural Minnesota town of German immigrants in the tumultuous days ofWorldWar I, The Turtle Catcher brings together two misfits from warring clans. Liesel, the one girl in the upstanding family of Richter boys, harbors a secret about her body that thwarts all hope for a normal life.Her closest friend is Lester, the “slow� boy in the raffish Sutter family, a gentle, kind soul who spends his days trapping turtles in the lake. Yearning for human touch in the wake of her parents� deaths, Liesel turns to her only friend—leading her brother, just returned from the war, to an act that will haunt not only both families but the entire town.
Helget’s novel is a story of loyalty and betrayal that, like her earlier book, proves her uncommon understanding of the natural world and human frailties. Both moving and heartfelt, The Turtle Catcher confirms this young writer’s exceptional talent.
People magazine hailed the young author’s ability to “take the messiest of lives and fashion something beautiful.”Here, in her first novel,Helget turns her extraordinary sensibility to a haunting love story with a heinous crime at its core.
In a rural Minnesota town of German immigrants in the tumultuous days ofWorldWar I, The Turtle Catcher brings together two misfits from warring clans. Liesel, the one girl in the upstanding family of Richter boys, harbors a secret about her body that thwarts all hope for a normal life.Her closest friend is Lester, the “slow� boy in the raffish Sutter family, a gentle, kind soul who spends his days trapping turtles in the lake. Yearning for human touch in the wake of her parents� deaths, Liesel turns to her only friend—leading her brother, just returned from the war, to an act that will haunt not only both families but the entire town.
Helget’s novel is a story of loyalty and betrayal that, like her earlier book, proves her uncommon understanding of the natural world and human frailties. Both moving and heartfelt, The Turtle Catcher confirms this young writer’s exceptional talent.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2009
16 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Helget
20books70followersBorn in 1976, Nicole Helget grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota, a childhood and place she drew on in the writing of her memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways. She received her BA and an MFA in creative writing from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Based on the novel's first chapter, NPR's Scott Simon awarded The Turtle Catcher the Tamarack Prize from Minnesota Monthly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 183 reviews
November 5, 2012
This is a very unusual story, unexpected for sure, especially considering life on a farm wouldn't sound very interesting to many readers. It is spell-binding, emotional, haunting, and the writing is almost poetic at times. Descriptions are beautifully written without distracting from the story. There's romance, mystery, history, and characters to be laughed at and cried for. I read it in two days, and to heck with laundry, TV and the rest...I couldn't put it down. I didn't want it to end, but found the ending to be satisfying so it was Ok.... but I'll think about it for a long time.
December 19, 2023
A book about messy lives and messy secrets. Where what is right is relative in the sense that each man has their own truth. Does killing your fellow man in defense of your truth make it right?
No good sides in a war. But.. there are good and bad people. There are mistakes. And you live with the choices made.
Feels like a book I’d read for some English class. I think it’s too on the nose for a lot of things & often times felt disorienting. An OK read & glad to have read it. Not one I’d recommend.
No good sides in a war. But.. there are good and bad people. There are mistakes. And you live with the choices made.
Feels like a book I’d read for some English class. I think it’s too on the nose for a lot of things & often times felt disorienting. An OK read & glad to have read it. Not one I’d recommend.
December 16, 2015
I received a copy of this book for review from the publisher. I was excited to read it, because, if you know me at all, you know that I love me some gut-wrenchers, and this book seemed to have all the makings of one.
The first part of this book, which is only 26 pages, starts the book off in horrifying and tragic fashion. Even for someone like me who loves books that push me to see the ugliness and unfairness and atrocities of life, I read this part with wide, unbelieving eyes. This part of the book made me anxious and a little hesitant to read the rest of the story, which is unusual, to say the least. I thought, if this is how it starts, do I want to know where it's going to go? But I'm no coward, so I read on, and in some ways I was rewarded, and in others I was a little disappointed. This is a book that is hard for me to quantify, honestly. It's a story about life and loyalty, and the way that things don't always go the way that they should, or the way that we want them to go, but we go on anyway.
The story technically starts with the second part, which takes us back to 1897 Germany, to the story of how Magdalena Schultz, newly-pregnant at 16 and unable to marry the father of her baby, travels to America with her sister Frieda to find a new life and a new husband. She finds both, but they aren't exactly what she expected. Frieda snags Archie Richter, who runs the local German newspaper, as her own husband, and arranges the marriage of Maggie and Wilhelm Richter, Archie's brother, who is nearly 40, and a farmer, and a bit brutish, in Maggie's estimation. He isn't abusive, but he isn't overly empathetic either. So the Richter family begins, and the story takes us through babies (five of them), deaths, war, tests of loyalty and accusations of treason, and unexpected friendship and connection.
This comes from Liesel Richter, who befriends the mentally disabled son of her neighbor, mean-spirited, angry and vindictive Harald Sutter, a man who holds a personal grudge against the more successful Wilhelm Richter. Harald causes a lot of trouble in Wilhelm's life, using the war against Germany as an outlet, and pretty soon, things take a sharp turn from Troublesome Road onto Too Far Lane. Leisel, left alone to care for her family after her mother's death, finds companionship and acceptance in Lester, who routinely brings her turtles for food as gifts. Only when Leisel allows Lester access to her most closely guarded secret, thinking that he wouldn't understand that she was different from other girls, things go badly, and Leisel makes an irrevocable decision, both for Lester and herself.
This isn't a happy story. It's one of struggle and hardships (the emotional kind, not the monetary kind), and uncertainty. It's a story of learning who you are and that sometimes it's not enough to just do what you think is the right thing. Sometimes the world turns its back anyway. Which brings me to the one thing that felt incomplete in this story. Frieda and her husband were accused of treason for printing their German paper with stories from both sides of the Great War, which included showing that there were victims on both sides - a direct contradiction to the Official Story demonizing Germans as heathens and killers, etc. (Times haven't changed much since...) Frieda is arrested, and her husband is subjected to public humiliation, and while the rest of the story plays out, nothing is ever resolved with Frieda - was she released? Was she imprisoned forever? Did she decide that she would make a better martyr than prisoner?
There was a tiny touch of magical realism in the story, which both fit and seemed a little out of place in a story so steeped in the everyday ordinary world we all live in... but I felt that the ending was fitting to the story.
Overall, I can't say that I truly enjoyed the story - but it isn't that kind of story. It has a different purpose, and a different goal. It's the kind of story that one reads to try to understand people different from us, not be entertained. If you're interested in those kind of books, this one may be for you.
The first part of this book, which is only 26 pages, starts the book off in horrifying and tragic fashion. Even for someone like me who loves books that push me to see the ugliness and unfairness and atrocities of life, I read this part with wide, unbelieving eyes. This part of the book made me anxious and a little hesitant to read the rest of the story, which is unusual, to say the least. I thought, if this is how it starts, do I want to know where it's going to go? But I'm no coward, so I read on, and in some ways I was rewarded, and in others I was a little disappointed. This is a book that is hard for me to quantify, honestly. It's a story about life and loyalty, and the way that things don't always go the way that they should, or the way that we want them to go, but we go on anyway.
The story technically starts with the second part, which takes us back to 1897 Germany, to the story of how Magdalena Schultz, newly-pregnant at 16 and unable to marry the father of her baby, travels to America with her sister Frieda to find a new life and a new husband. She finds both, but they aren't exactly what she expected. Frieda snags Archie Richter, who runs the local German newspaper, as her own husband, and arranges the marriage of Maggie and Wilhelm Richter, Archie's brother, who is nearly 40, and a farmer, and a bit brutish, in Maggie's estimation. He isn't abusive, but he isn't overly empathetic either. So the Richter family begins, and the story takes us through babies (five of them), deaths, war, tests of loyalty and accusations of treason, and unexpected friendship and connection.
This comes from Liesel Richter, who befriends the mentally disabled son of her neighbor, mean-spirited, angry and vindictive Harald Sutter, a man who holds a personal grudge against the more successful Wilhelm Richter. Harald causes a lot of trouble in Wilhelm's life, using the war against Germany as an outlet, and pretty soon, things take a sharp turn from Troublesome Road onto Too Far Lane. Leisel, left alone to care for her family after her mother's death, finds companionship and acceptance in Lester, who routinely brings her turtles for food as gifts. Only when Leisel allows Lester access to her most closely guarded secret, thinking that he wouldn't understand that she was different from other girls, things go badly, and Leisel makes an irrevocable decision, both for Lester and herself.
This isn't a happy story. It's one of struggle and hardships (the emotional kind, not the monetary kind), and uncertainty. It's a story of learning who you are and that sometimes it's not enough to just do what you think is the right thing. Sometimes the world turns its back anyway. Which brings me to the one thing that felt incomplete in this story. Frieda and her husband were accused of treason for printing their German paper with stories from both sides of the Great War, which included showing that there were victims on both sides - a direct contradiction to the Official Story demonizing Germans as heathens and killers, etc. (Times haven't changed much since...) Frieda is arrested, and her husband is subjected to public humiliation, and while the rest of the story plays out, nothing is ever resolved with Frieda - was she released? Was she imprisoned forever? Did she decide that she would make a better martyr than prisoner?
There was a tiny touch of magical realism in the story, which both fit and seemed a little out of place in a story so steeped in the everyday ordinary world we all live in... but I felt that the ending was fitting to the story.
Overall, I can't say that I truly enjoyed the story - but it isn't that kind of story. It has a different purpose, and a different goal. It's the kind of story that one reads to try to understand people different from us, not be entertained. If you're interested in those kind of books, this one may be for you.
September 1, 2017
2.5 stars because I'd actually fluctuate between 2 and 3 stars.
2 stars because I felt depressed after putting the book down. I realized nothing good happened to any of the characters and that was just plain depressing.
3 stars because the content was interesting. I'd never thought about Germans living in America during World War 1 and I appreciated how the writer made me think about this tricky situation.
The title is misleading though - this story was not about Lester Sutter, but about everyone living in New Germany. I was expecting more to be revealed and felt a little let down at the end, but not entirely due to the thought-provoking issues presented in the story.
2 stars because I felt depressed after putting the book down. I realized nothing good happened to any of the characters and that was just plain depressing.
3 stars because the content was interesting. I'd never thought about Germans living in America during World War 1 and I appreciated how the writer made me think about this tricky situation.
The title is misleading though - this story was not about Lester Sutter, but about everyone living in New Germany. I was expecting more to be revealed and felt a little let down at the end, but not entirely due to the thought-provoking issues presented in the story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 27, 2009
As I was cruising the new books shelf in our local library, this book jumped out into my hand. I’d never heard of it, nor of the writer, whose earlier memoir set in the same area apparently garnered praise and awards. This is her first book of fiction.
It’s a winner. Achingly beautiful in its writing, it tells the intertwined tales of the German immigrants and their neighbors of New Germany, Minnesota. At its heart is Liesl, who harbors what she thinks is a shameful secret about her body. Her only friend is Lester, brain-damaged by beatings administered by his father. The story opens with Leisl’s brothers, themselves damaged in other ways, especially by WWI, inflicting a terrible revenge on Lester, based on what Liesl has said in terrible fear.
The first half of the book is spell-binding, as we learn through flashbacks how everyone has arrived at the moment opening the book. Things slowed down a bit for me when the story enters the WWI battlefield. The writing became less lyrical, flatter, and my attention flagged.
It finishes up with a bit of magic realism, which could have been left at ordinary realism and worked just as well, or better, as the ending. All in all, though, an excellent book, beautifully written. I’m putting Helget’s memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways, on my TBR list, and shall wait for her next novel.
It’s a winner. Achingly beautiful in its writing, it tells the intertwined tales of the German immigrants and their neighbors of New Germany, Minnesota. At its heart is Liesl, who harbors what she thinks is a shameful secret about her body. Her only friend is Lester, brain-damaged by beatings administered by his father. The story opens with Leisl’s brothers, themselves damaged in other ways, especially by WWI, inflicting a terrible revenge on Lester, based on what Liesl has said in terrible fear.
The first half of the book is spell-binding, as we learn through flashbacks how everyone has arrived at the moment opening the book. Things slowed down a bit for me when the story enters the WWI battlefield. The writing became less lyrical, flatter, and my attention flagged.
It finishes up with a bit of magic realism, which could have been left at ordinary realism and worked just as well, or better, as the ending. All in all, though, an excellent book, beautifully written. I’m putting Helget’s memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways, on my TBR list, and shall wait for her next novel.
August 14, 2009
The German and German-American characters of this World War I novel make this tale. From the first chapter, the reader knows the novel's conclusion, knows that the story ends with the murder of a retarded man accused of rape. The rest of the book is a rewinding to time before the murder, in some cases a rewinding to a time before the conception of some of the major players in this tale. Small-town lusts, family secrets, and shame play major roles in the tragedies to come, as does the divisive nature of the Great War itself--a war in which German-American sons were expected to enlist and fight against their own kin still living in Europe. Heat, poverty, and greed likewise take their toll as Liesel--a sheltered daughter guarding a shameful secret, her four brothers--each passionately different from one another, and their neighbor, Lester--a kind man from a cruel and poverty-stricken father, try to eke out their own happiness. Well worth the read. Nicole Helget is an author to watch.
July 12, 2010
Here is an example of true, living, breathing characters. These are the kind of people that you think about when you are not with them; as you wash dishes, you're thinking about Leisel washing dishes. I've started another book - a good one - but I wish that it was these characters I was with still.
This is the story of German-Americans during WWI. This is a war I know little of and the story of the conflicts within the recently arrived German community as their neighbors make Germans out to be monsters. How do you send a son off to war to fight against a nephew fighting on the opposite side? A unique story with fabulous characters - what's not to love?
This is the story of German-Americans during WWI. This is a war I know little of and the story of the conflicts within the recently arrived German community as their neighbors make Germans out to be monsters. How do you send a son off to war to fight against a nephew fighting on the opposite side? A unique story with fabulous characters - what's not to love?
March 18, 2009
The first chapter of The Turtle Catcher left me breathless...The setting is rural Minnesota 1920's and the first chapter describes how three brothers take the law into their own hands when they discover a neighborhood boy has taken advantage of their sister. They march him into the nearest lake and "help" him drown. Later you discover that the sister was not telling the truth about what the boy did to her. She has her own secret.
I also like that the book teaches me more about the 1920's time period and what was going on with WWI, which I know very little about.
I also like that the book teaches me more about the 1920's time period and what was going on with WWI, which I know very little about.
June 1, 2010
1 cup As I Lay Dying
1 cup To Kill a Mocking Bird
1 cup All Quiet on the Western Front (so I'm told)
3 tbsp Middlesex
The book had its moments. I just felt like the author was trying to cover a little too much ground. I felt empathy for many of the characters, hatred for others; but never really connected with any of them.
1 cup To Kill a Mocking Bird
1 cup All Quiet on the Western Front (so I'm told)
3 tbsp Middlesex
The book had its moments. I just felt like the author was trying to cover a little too much ground. I felt empathy for many of the characters, hatred for others; but never really connected with any of them.
July 28, 2017
Too creepy to enjoy reading. The story structure and phrasing were well done.
May 20, 2018
I've been dying to read this book for a while, so I was incredibly excited to find it at a used bookstore near my house. Wow, I'm not disappointed. Between the historical fiction, the rich characters, and the lovely writing, I loved so many things about this book. I absolutely love anything that has to do with WWI, especially Spanish Flu, so the historical aspect of the novel had a lot of fun nods to it. For example, there's a little chant that Otto recites about Spanish Flu that's a real chant taken from that time period, and it would've been a common one. Herman's PTSD and the effects of the gas he experienced during the war were also addressed. Lastly, one thing in particular I loved was how the novel forces you at points to look at what's right and what's wrong, whether people are really good or really evil, and what happens when we discover that we can't polarize things as complicated as good and evil, war, right and wrong, etc. One particular passage that stands out to me is the comparison of how the baseball game the characters are playing/watching is a metaphor for the war happening in their lives (WWI).
The only reason I'm not giving this book a full 5 stars is because I don't know how I feel about the whole Lester situation. His connection with Liesel isn't really as developed as I'd like it to be, and I was comfortable with the way she seemingly took advantage of him sexually due to his disability. Can Lester consent? Can he not? Should Liesel be faulted for his death? Should she be forgiven due to her own circumstances and what she's dealt with over the years in regards to it? I don't know. It's a very grey area when it comes to the morality of it all, though that's realistic since not everything is black and white. Morality can so often be grey that it makes sense for morality to be grey in a novel, too.
Anyway, to wrap it all up, I'm SO glad I finally got to read this book. It didn't disappoint, and I wholeheartedly recommend it!
The only reason I'm not giving this book a full 5 stars is because I don't know how I feel about the whole Lester situation. His connection with Liesel isn't really as developed as I'd like it to be, and I was comfortable with the way she seemingly took advantage of him sexually due to his disability. Can Lester consent? Can he not? Should Liesel be faulted for his death? Should she be forgiven due to her own circumstances and what she's dealt with over the years in regards to it? I don't know. It's a very grey area when it comes to the morality of it all, though that's realistic since not everything is black and white. Morality can so often be grey that it makes sense for morality to be grey in a novel, too.
Anyway, to wrap it all up, I'm SO glad I finally got to read this book. It didn't disappoint, and I wholeheartedly recommend it!
March 30, 2020
Wow. I had never heard of this local author or her book but it was great. I found it in a little free library and was intrigued by it. I must admit the whole turtle thing and death of Lester was odd and probably not necessary as it wasn't real clear. But even with it I enjoyed the book. It was very well written. And an interested read during these uncertain times due to COVID. It was a reminder that all through history there have been many man uncertain times but life goes on and people adapt.
November 24, 2021
Nicole Helget’s story is both incredibly sad and absolutely remarkable. She tells an incredible and complex story of an immigrant family in southern Minnesota. Each character is revealed through a telling mundane and extraordinary circumstances. The German immigrant experience may be well understood within the remaining insular communities, but for the rest of us, The Turtle Catcher pulls back the curtain and shows how pride and shame have shaped one piece of the American experience.
February 27, 2020
This was an excellent story about a family oF German immigrants during the years leading up and through World War 1. There is much irony that the prejudice they hold toward Jews is flipped on them when the war starts and the German immigrants take a pacifist stance against the war against Germany Several hidden secrets make this an even more interesting read.
April 3, 2021
I cannot decide how I feel about The Turtle Catcher. The writing is undeniably good. The historical parts of the narrative are grippingly portrayed. The mixing in of the fantastical did not really work for me and a couple of places where the author wandered briefly into the future seemed totally out of place.
On the whole, since I bothered to finish reading it I guess I found it worth reading.
On the whole, since I bothered to finish reading it I guess I found it worth reading.
Read
June 2, 2022Compelling story of life in a German-American town in MN after WWI, where residents who had supported different sides in the war struggled to co-exist. Brothers in a family that owned & acquired more farmland during the war force the developmentally-delayed son of another resident to commit suicide after they learn he was the secret love of their hermaphrodite sister.
August 14, 2017
Really liked this book-the farm living, relationships, etc. However some of Liesel's storyline was a bit ridiculous. The book , otherwise, was excellent and I will look for others by this author.
October 8, 2017
The writing is amazing, but I cannot discern how I feel about the story...
October 1, 2019
I really liked this book. Good story about family love.
June 11, 2020
The first novel by Sleepy Eye, MN native. Interesting historical fiction about early German settlers to the New Ulm area, a bit stilted but well-written.
September 29, 2020
Interesting story about German immigrants during WWII. Strange ending
February 21, 2022
Interesting, strange, and at times repellent.
February 28, 2022
Not a read for the faint of heart. Lots of messy details, but things said that needs to be said.
July 4, 2022
I will be thinking about this one for a long time.
August 31, 2023
A fiction story of two families in New Germany, MN trying to figure out what is right and what is not during World War I. Such a wonderful study of the gray areas of morality in immigrant farm lives.
March 12, 2017
What a pleasant surprise! Admittedly, I picked up this book from my local library simply because I liked the title. I read the first paragraph of the first chapter and I was hooked. This is a complex, haunting story rooted in southern Minnesota; it is very well written -- even poetic at times -- and I had a hard time putting it down. Author Nicole Helget grew up in Minnesota and is a graduate of Mankato State. I will be reading more of her work.
June 8, 2013
Wer Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts in New Germany, einer Siedlung deutscher Auswanderer in Minnesota, überleben will, muss hart sein. Frieda und Magdalena zeigen diese Härte schon, als sie sich die Auswanderung in die USA erkämpfen. Magdalena erwartete im Deutschland der Jahrhundertwende ein Kind von einem jüdischen Mann, mit dem eine Heirat undenkbar war. Die schwangere Magdalena heiratet kurz nach ihrer Ankunft in Minnesota den zwanzig Jahre älteren deutschen Farmer Wilhelm Richter, ihre Schwester Frieda dessen Bruder Archie, den Herausgeber der deutschen Zeitung. Magdalena kümmert sich um Küche und Kinder und die Versorgung des Viehs, Wilhelm kauft in großem Umfang Land von verschuldeten Bauern und investiert sein Geld in die deutsche Rüstungsindustrie. Dass der älteste Sohn wenig Ähnlichkeit mit Wilhelm hat, wird nicht weiter beachtet; denn Magdalena bringt zwei weitere Söhne und eine Tochter zur Welt. Liesel Richter wird als Zwitter geboren, mit männlichen und weiblichen Geschlechtsteilen. Magdalena sucht die Schuld für diese körperliche Abweichung ihrer Tochter bei sich. Sie zieht sich von allen, sogar von ihrer Schwester, zurück und behält Liesel unter ihrer strengen Aufsicht auf dem Hof. Die Brüder dürfen in die deutsche Schule gehen. Zehn Jahre nach Liesels Geburt bringt Magdalena ihr fünftes Kind Otto allein mit Liesels Hilfe zur Welt - und überlebt diese Geburt nicht.
Liesel führt nun Vater und Brüdern den Haushalt und zieht den kleinen Otto auf. Von der Außenwelt erfährt Liesel nur aus zweiter Hand, wenn ihr Bruder Hermann ihr Lesen und Schreiben beibringt und sie in seinen Büchern liest. Liesel ist sich ihres besonderen Zustands bewusst, den ihre Mutter stets sorgfältig verborgen hat, aufgrund ihres isolierten Lebens jedoch nicht in der Lage, sich einer anderen Person anzuvertrauen. Sie ahnt, dass ihre Brüder eines Tages heiraten werden und dass dann eine Schwägerin den Haushalt führen wird. Für ihr eigenes Leben ist ihr allein die Perspektive vorstellbar, mit Lester, dem geistig behinderten, vom Vater grausam misshandelten Sohn der Nachbarn, eine Beziehung einzugehen. Lester zeigt Liesel als "Schildkrötenfänger" seine Zuneigung; Schildkrötenfleisch ist auf dem kargen Speisezettel der Farmer eine willkommene Ergänzung. Mit Eintritt der USA in den Ersten Weltkrieg wandelt das ländliche Minnesota sich von einem ehemals toleranten Pflaster zur engstirnigen Provinz. Von den deutschstämmigen Auswanderern wird durch ihre Meldung zum Kriegsdienst gegen Deutschland ein Bekenntnis zu den USA erwartet. Wilhelm Richter will nicht akzeptieren, dass seine Söhne in Frankreich gegen deutsche Soldaten kämpfen. Seine Nachbarn, die ihm nie verzeihen werden, dass er in schlechten Zeiten ihr Land aufkaufte, lassen sich willig für die staatlich organisierte Bespitzelung deutscher Einwanderer einspannen. Ein weiterer Handlungsstrang folgt Herman Richter in den Ersten Weltkrieg und lässt ihn körperlich und psychisch versehrt auf die elterliche Farm zurückkehren.
Wilhelm Richter verlor seine gesamte Familie bei einem Überfall der Sioux und wuchs bei Verwandten auf; seine Frau Magdalena wurde ihr Leben lang von Schuldgefühlen geplagt, weil sie ihrem Mann bei der Heirat ihre Schwangerschaft verschwieg. Beider Tochter Liesel muss ohne eine weibliche Vertrauensperson vom zehnten Lebensjahr an selbst zurechtkommen. Rein äußerlich gelingt ihr das und sie kann auf das Lob ihres Pflichtbewusstseins durch Vater und Brüder stolz sein. Im Fall der Familie Richter trägt der Erste Weltkrieg von außen zur Eskalation des Familienkonflikts bei. Nicole Helget schildert in drastischen Szenen, wie Menschen, die ohne elterliche Zuwendung in archaischer Abgeschiedenheit aufgewachsen sind, durch ihre Abschottung von anderen Menschen in ausweglos scheinenden Situationen zu archaischen Methoden greifen. Liesels Schicksal hat mich stark an Joyce Carol Oates Rebecca in Geheimnisse erinnert.
Liesel führt nun Vater und Brüdern den Haushalt und zieht den kleinen Otto auf. Von der Außenwelt erfährt Liesel nur aus zweiter Hand, wenn ihr Bruder Hermann ihr Lesen und Schreiben beibringt und sie in seinen Büchern liest. Liesel ist sich ihres besonderen Zustands bewusst, den ihre Mutter stets sorgfältig verborgen hat, aufgrund ihres isolierten Lebens jedoch nicht in der Lage, sich einer anderen Person anzuvertrauen. Sie ahnt, dass ihre Brüder eines Tages heiraten werden und dass dann eine Schwägerin den Haushalt führen wird. Für ihr eigenes Leben ist ihr allein die Perspektive vorstellbar, mit Lester, dem geistig behinderten, vom Vater grausam misshandelten Sohn der Nachbarn, eine Beziehung einzugehen. Lester zeigt Liesel als "Schildkrötenfänger" seine Zuneigung; Schildkrötenfleisch ist auf dem kargen Speisezettel der Farmer eine willkommene Ergänzung. Mit Eintritt der USA in den Ersten Weltkrieg wandelt das ländliche Minnesota sich von einem ehemals toleranten Pflaster zur engstirnigen Provinz. Von den deutschstämmigen Auswanderern wird durch ihre Meldung zum Kriegsdienst gegen Deutschland ein Bekenntnis zu den USA erwartet. Wilhelm Richter will nicht akzeptieren, dass seine Söhne in Frankreich gegen deutsche Soldaten kämpfen. Seine Nachbarn, die ihm nie verzeihen werden, dass er in schlechten Zeiten ihr Land aufkaufte, lassen sich willig für die staatlich organisierte Bespitzelung deutscher Einwanderer einspannen. Ein weiterer Handlungsstrang folgt Herman Richter in den Ersten Weltkrieg und lässt ihn körperlich und psychisch versehrt auf die elterliche Farm zurückkehren.
Wilhelm Richter verlor seine gesamte Familie bei einem Überfall der Sioux und wuchs bei Verwandten auf; seine Frau Magdalena wurde ihr Leben lang von Schuldgefühlen geplagt, weil sie ihrem Mann bei der Heirat ihre Schwangerschaft verschwieg. Beider Tochter Liesel muss ohne eine weibliche Vertrauensperson vom zehnten Lebensjahr an selbst zurechtkommen. Rein äußerlich gelingt ihr das und sie kann auf das Lob ihres Pflichtbewusstseins durch Vater und Brüder stolz sein. Im Fall der Familie Richter trägt der Erste Weltkrieg von außen zur Eskalation des Familienkonflikts bei. Nicole Helget schildert in drastischen Szenen, wie Menschen, die ohne elterliche Zuwendung in archaischer Abgeschiedenheit aufgewachsen sind, durch ihre Abschottung von anderen Menschen in ausweglos scheinenden Situationen zu archaischen Methoden greifen. Liesels Schicksal hat mich stark an Joyce Carol Oates Rebecca in Geheimnisse erinnert.
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August 12, 2019I haven't decided how many stars to give this. I'm still trying to "get over it".
February 5, 2015
Really more of a 2.5, but I'm rounding up based upon this author's obvious potential.
If you have ever taken a creative writing class, you may be familiar with the common assignment of rewriting one if your existing stories from a different point of view, or using a different structure or a different timeline....or even shifting the genre. This book felt like a compilation of all of the above to me, and it was all a bit too much.
Nicole Helget has a definite talent for crafting a paragraph. There is poetry in her voice and it shines through while she is painting even the most horrific scenarios. She also is an apt character builder. With very little fanfare, she guides her readers to see the layers of guilt and fear, righteousness and pride, desperation and understanding which each if her characters embody. Helget also has a good eye for a tale worth telling. She sets her story in New Germany, Minnesota around the time of WWI. She explores the agony of German immigrants as they face the possibility of taking up arms against their extended family still in Europe. She holds nationalism, culturalism, prejudice and jealousy up for her readers to explore. Finally, Nicole Helget's messaging is extremely well couched. It is clear without being preachy. It repeats as ripples on a lake, never quite the same in detail, but cut roughly if the same shape. In this way she drives her point home without patronizing her readership.
Unfortunately, all of these exceptional attributes are a bit hard to focus on while reading The Turtle Catcher. The story jumps erratically through time even as the omnipotent narrator leaps from character to character to share their perspective. Additionally, the main character seemed to shift, then shift again during the novel, which left me a bit lost at sea while reading. Finally, there are bizarre and awkward forays into the supernatural which did not seem to fit with this particular tale. Overall, the novel had a pieced together feel, rather than that of a finely crafted story. The pieces themselves were wonderfully done, but the piecing together was ragged and untidy. Unfortunately there was no getting past the jarring impact of this as I read and it has left me with an overall negative feeling for the book, while simultaneously singing the author's praises. A strange duality to be sure.
If you have ever taken a creative writing class, you may be familiar with the common assignment of rewriting one if your existing stories from a different point of view, or using a different structure or a different timeline....or even shifting the genre. This book felt like a compilation of all of the above to me, and it was all a bit too much.
Nicole Helget has a definite talent for crafting a paragraph. There is poetry in her voice and it shines through while she is painting even the most horrific scenarios. She also is an apt character builder. With very little fanfare, she guides her readers to see the layers of guilt and fear, righteousness and pride, desperation and understanding which each if her characters embody. Helget also has a good eye for a tale worth telling. She sets her story in New Germany, Minnesota around the time of WWI. She explores the agony of German immigrants as they face the possibility of taking up arms against their extended family still in Europe. She holds nationalism, culturalism, prejudice and jealousy up for her readers to explore. Finally, Nicole Helget's messaging is extremely well couched. It is clear without being preachy. It repeats as ripples on a lake, never quite the same in detail, but cut roughly if the same shape. In this way she drives her point home without patronizing her readership.
Unfortunately, all of these exceptional attributes are a bit hard to focus on while reading The Turtle Catcher. The story jumps erratically through time even as the omnipotent narrator leaps from character to character to share their perspective. Additionally, the main character seemed to shift, then shift again during the novel, which left me a bit lost at sea while reading. Finally, there are bizarre and awkward forays into the supernatural which did not seem to fit with this particular tale. Overall, the novel had a pieced together feel, rather than that of a finely crafted story. The pieces themselves were wonderfully done, but the piecing together was ragged and untidy. Unfortunately there was no getting past the jarring impact of this as I read and it has left me with an overall negative feeling for the book, while simultaneously singing the author's praises. A strange duality to be sure.
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