** spoiler alert ** This book is bloody horrific.

I was so, so excited to read it, and now I just wish I could rewind two weeks to that day in Waterstones when I saw the cover and knew I had to read it. I had guessed it may be about child abuse, but not this...I don’t know. Grotesque? Disgusting? Explicit? I honestly thought it was about a daughter and her father who was unstable and convinced that the world was about to end. Maybe I thought it’d be a bit like The Walking Dead? Not with the zombies and the actual end of the world, but with all the hoarding and guns and stuff.

Well, I was WRONG. This book is about child sexual abuse and incest and neglect and it’s so graphic that it’s horrific to read. I can’t actually comprehend how someone can get into the mindset to write this? It’s fucked. It’s really horrible. There was a really graphic scene to begin with (after which I had a long talk with my boyfriend about whether I should continue reading it or not) and for a while after that it was, well, not exactly tame but a lot better. You know, no talk about graphic sexual assault between a father and his daughter.

50% of the book was okay to read. The other half was just too much, but by the time it started to get worse again I was 70% in. So what did I do? I skim-read the rest. I wanted to finish it and I wanted to write this review and it wasn’t worth it.

Basically: don’t pick this book up. Just don’t. I don’t care if people read this review and say that I don’t “understand” what the author was trying to convey. I frankly don’t give a damn about whatever message I was supposed to get from this. This was a HORRIBLE book. It is violent, it is graphic, it is triggering, and it is upsetting. This is no Lolita. This is just disturbing. Don’t go near it.

(As a side note, I think this is probably one of the most emotional reviews I’ve written. I’m just horrified.)

I found this book to be too difficult to read as it felt relentlessly miserable.

Quite a hard to read book. Was a book I had to put down a lot and go back. Hard to say I enjoyed it because of the subject matter.

My absolute favourite book

This is a book about extremism and survival; therefore it is no surprise to find that this is a hard book to read and, at the same time, so hard not to read (this book is trigger galore and can get quite gory – there are scenes I had to really push myself through but it is so worth it, if only for the writing). I am relieved to have finished this book but I am devastated in letting Turtle go (although she has firmly settled in my head; a modern day Scarlet O’Hara, ruthless, unsentimental and practical!). Turtle has to learn to distance herself from feeling (hence the name, the shell that acts as a barrier between her and the world) but her soul is fragmentary; splinters and shards that can cause pain but can also catch light at the right angle. She is an amazing character – and Martin is part of this in this warped Frankenstein-like tale where the creator is the monster. I found my hatred and disgust for Martin fluctuating just like my feelings towards the book. When Martin is present the threat he poses bubbles constantly just below the surface, ready to rear up at any moment. His unpredictability becoming predictable and sickening as the novel progresses. Tallent nudges and insinuates at explanations as to why Turtle doesn’t leave or react but I wanted to know more about why Martin is the way he is (from my reading of it Tallent seems to infer that Martin’s behaviour is nature and not nurture). Tallent helps us understand the situation/truth through Turtle’s actions as opposed to having access to her inner tumultuous world; actions that display cold calm and resignation (which is heart wrenching). “All I need to know is inside you” she says about Martin at one point, giving voice to her inner frustration of the elusive, slippery truth that would make things bearable instead of emotionless. How Tallent captures this lack of feeling, this lack of will is brilliant – in order to protect herself Turtle tries to stop caring (Martin can only hurt her if she cares). Her fluctuating desire to die and to live drives her way of being but ultimately she is sparked into action by a need to protect someone else. Tallent is such a talented (excuse the pun) writer, his beautiful descriptive writing sweeps you along, a musical underscore to the novel’s most gruesome scenes. Turtle’s situation is extreme and awful, but there is much to identify with here; human nature’s (and indeed love’s) contradictoriness and multidimensional aspect, the hell and rottenness lurking within society and (our manipulation of) nature, as well as sudden beauty, knowledge, sincerity, friendship and love (and also so much hope if Turtle and her friends are the adolescents/people in the world!) I know who I want to be with when the apocalypse comes around!

I feel sorry for the book I will be reading after this!

This is a difficult book to review. Not only is it about a very controversial subject matter, it is written in such a way that made it difficult for me to love. To summarise, this story follows Turtle, whose father is physically and sexually abusive and effectively trains her in survival. It is definitely an uncomfortable read and if you are at all sensitive to portrayals of abuse in any form, I would not recommend this book to you.
To start off with the good, I found there were some really great people in this book. I began feeling very distant from Turtle, but the more I read, the more I understood her. Aside from her, there is Anna, who is a fantastic caring teacher, and Turtle’s friends Jacob and Brett, whose interactions I found hilarious and whose attitudes towards Turtle I found really heartening. They so naturally treated her like a friend, even though Turtle isn’t very sociable. Jacob and Brett’s families were also immediately welcoming and inclusive, and I just think this book did a fantastic job of showing awful people like Turtle’s father, and good people who stand up against the bad. The relationships were done very well. Turtle had such a complicated emotional response to her father but I think it was written well. Her actions towards Cheyenne showed a more positive side to Turtle, and how her friends inspired her to do better was heartening. I think that the ending was where I wanted Turtle to end up, in a loving home, recovering but not there yet with people who cared about her. For the record, I do think Julia will come back to both of the strong friends she made in this novel.
I did still have some issues with the novel. The writing style of this book created distance for me. The dialogue was always very unemotional and there are no descriptions of emotion in this, like face or the way things are said. There is, however, perhaps too much description in other areas. I like that nature is such a big part of this novel and some description would have been good, as Tallent is a skilled writer, but the long passages of description in this honestly just bored me and I just wanted to get back into the action again.
I had a problem with some of the portrayals of abuse in this novel. I cannot really comment on how realistic it was, but I found some of the language unnecessary for the subject matter. There is nothing wrong in my eyes about writing about topics of this nature, but if doing so I feel there needs to be a little more sensitivity, and words like “pussy” are not at all sensitive to use when writing about a 14 year old girl being raped. It didn’t happen too often, but it was something that I noticed.
Overall, I did enjoy this book and I think it was very well written. I'm really not sure how to rate this, however! It isn't a 5 stars for me, but 3 seems too low and 4 too high. I'm going to come back to this review in a few days when I can put the book properly into perspective.

This was an utterly harrowing read that focused on the tragedy of fourteen-year-old Turtle Alveston's life. Her incestuous relationship with her father leads to a separation from an understanding of the world. She is disenfranchised from inclusion with her peers and disenchanted with her small-town community. Her life is a lonely one that orbits around her father's being, allowing him to become dually the sun and the shadow of her existence.

I initially found this to be an utterly absorbing read. Tallent approached this tragic subject matter with an almost brutal force, that disallowed the reader from any gentle exploration of the topic. This wasn't an insensitively choice but was, I believe, one that purposefully forced the reader to confront the utter horror of what was being detailed, and to feel some small measure of Turtle's misery.

Whilst the narrative was compelling and the plot made for a heart-wrenching read, I found the writing style to have the reverse effect. Ordinarily, I adore poetic writing yet here I found it just did not work for me. I found the exploration of numerous small and inconsequential facets in each and every scene ended up distancing me from what was initially such an immersive story-line. Instead of allowing me to understand and visualise the landscape, it, instead, over-complicated each scene for me. I also found the dialogue to be lengthy and repetitive, in much the same style.

Whilst I can definitely accept the power of this harrowing story, I found I could not gel with the writing and this distanced me from the emotions abundant in this piece. For me, there was too much padding and description when the bones of the story-line were enough on their own.

A very powerful book that deals with a heavy subject matter (view spoiler). The writing was really good: landscape descriptions and the main character's circular way of thinking created quite a claustrophobic atmosphere. By no means an entertaining read but definitely one that sparks a range of emotions.

I have given up on this book about a quarter of the way in.

To put this review into a context I adored (if that is the right word) "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things" and "The Child Finder", both books that deal with the horror and repercussions of child abuse. I thought that they were well written and dealt with the subject matter in a sensitive, but no less thought provoking way.

And then we have this book that is gaining rave reviews. I just hated it. The abuse of Turtle felt really gratuitous and sensationalised. The repetitious descriptions of guns bored me senseless (having skim read the rest of the book, the numerous mentions of the guns and the survivalist lifestyle lived by Turtle and her Dad felt even more over-egged). Even the descriptions of the landscape grated on me.

Clearly I am in the minority here, and I can only write what I felt when I tried reading this.

Thanks go to the publishers and netgalley for the copy in return for an honest review.

This is not an easy read. But you would be poorer in literary terms for not having done so. It's a startling debut by an author who clearly knew exactly what he wanted to do from the start. Turtle is a blisteringly raw and endearing character who you are rooting for throughout the story. I LOVED this and mourned its loss once I had finished.

Turtle is a teenage girl who lives in a precarious world in which her father's love is conditional, she is an "alien" in school and the only security comes from caring for her gun.
However a chance encounter with Brett and Jacob opens her eyes to different possibilities and her father's reaction to his father's death gives her the space in which to reflect on who she is and what she needs.

The inexorable rush to a thrilling climax precipitated by the arrival of young Cayenne has the flavour of a Jodi Picoult. novel.
Turtle has amazing resilience but that "spiky" exterior that sometimes comes from being a survivor of abuse. She finds it hard to trust . The guilty pull between knowing the abuse is wrong and craving the attention and "love" it brings is brilliantly depicted. Having trained in this field, i found this to be psychologically realistic.
Turtle conducts long interior monologues with herself as she becomes more aware. She has an amazing resilience and is physically resourceful in dangerous situations.

Her father, Martin, is a monster. Some attention is given to his own experience of a "damaged" childhood but he remains a truly repellent character.

This book was recommended to me as I loved A Little Life which covers abuse also. However this book is a very different beast in that it covers a different sector of society.
For me the ending was all a bit sensationalist, but logical in that guns feature prominently throughout this disturbing book.

A shocking read but I am not sure I will return to this book again as it didn't "burrow" its way into me.

This book is a difficult one to review. It contains guns, violence, sexual and physical abuse, incest, and a whole lot of strong language and discomfort.
I was looking forward to reading this book because it was preceded by a lot of hype. I didn’t quite know the details of the story at the time but there was a lot of talk about how it would be ‘the next big thing.’ There were large billboards across London Underground promoting it, which are usually reserved for movies and not books. It has been lauded by Stephen King, Joanna Cannon, Celeste Ng, Ali Land and Claire Fuller.
It is an incredibly difficult book, graphic and violent. For me the most important question is if all this discomfort and difficulty is worth it in the end, and for me it is. Turtle is a confused and challenging character to love, but my desire to see her save herself kept me reading, though sometimes I had to re-read sections because I wasn’t sure if I had read them correctly; they were so shocking. Other times I had to put the book down and take a breath. I can’t say I ‘enjoyed’ it, but do I think it’s worth reading? Yes.

A very disturbing and brutal story with a difficult subject matter

I'm giving this four stars for the beautiful writing style, but I must admit it was at times very difficult to read. The novel centres on a young girl who is abused by her domineering father. It is the description of some of these scenes which I found harrowing. I'm not sure I would be able to read it again, despite the wonderful way it was written. Hopefully the next novel by Tallent will feature a less troublesome subject matter.

This is certainly not for everyone. It’s topic is abuse. But I found it well written and the smallest of incidents extremely well written.
No matter what; you’ll be thinking about this book long after you’ve finished the last page.

Turtle is a 14 year old girl who lives with her dad out in the sticks in the middle of no where she had no friends the only family she has is her dad and grandfather, she's had a reclusive childhood her father sexually abuses her deep down turtle knows that it's wrong but it's all she knows, she's also got a fascination with guns and for a girl of her age is an expert, her dad pushes her to hard he says it's because his the only one who loves her, her grandfather lives close by in a cabin he knows that his son is no raising turtle the way he should.
Turtle also meets two boys who she becomes friends with Jacob and Brett as it turns out bretts mother was best friends with turtles mother before she died..
I was really excited and looking to reading this book as I've read many great reviews also "Stephen king " said this book is a mastapeace so I thought it will be an amazing book, I also read some bad reviews. I'm always honest in my reviews and I hate to admit it that I didn't really like this book that much, it didn't grip me the fact that turtle as also known as Julia and kibble in the book can do your head in at times & the fact that the characters would repeat words at least three times like "Christ turtle " "Christ turtle" and other words to "you will know what I mean if you have read the book" also I think the story lacks more characters and the characters they did have the writer didn't use them as much as he should have and if he did then the story woukd off been better like "Anna " turtles teacher in the beginning of the book she tells turtles she's worried about her and suspects her father of mistreating her but that's the last you hear if Anna untill bear the end of the book I thought that if the writer used anna more mad her keep digging in to turtles home life that woukd of also made the story more juicy also bretts mother who was a friend of turtles mother who said in the story that she wants to see more of turtles look after her but again that's the last you hear of her also brett and Jacob could off been used more in the story, another problem I found is the story jumped ahead without much explanation and turtles dad walked out and left without much explanation and a few chapters later he come back again without much explanation that bothered me a lot, I could see where the writer wanted to go with this story and I think if he used the characters more and explained things a bit better then I would have loved the book, if say the first 80% of the book I wasn't sure of or sure if I liked it, but the last 20% of it i really did like again if the writer put as much story in the first 80% of the book like he did with the last 20% then again would of been great, I wasn't sure to give it three or four stars is say three and a half to be honest but some people will love it but for me I'm still not sure maybe I'd need to read it again.. it hasn't put me off reading more from this writer but inhope next time there be more depth and grit.. thank you the the publishers and Netgalley for my copy

This is one of the most powerful, compelling books I have ever read. Turtle is such a complex interesting character and the mix of dark and light is handled beautifully.

When I started this book I knew that it would be hard-hitting and uncomfortable to read, but I don’t think I’d appreciated just how harrowing it would be. This novel is written from the point of view of 14 year-old Turtle who has lived alone with her psychopathic incestuous father since her mother’s death. His relationship with his daughter is abusive in the extreme and she can see no future for herself.

But when she meets Jacob whose world is the polar opposite of hers and who accepts her just as she is, she begins to see a speck of hope and light, of possibility.

Gabriel Tallent does a great job of taking us inside Turtle’s head and giving us an understanding of her self-loathing, of the futility of her life and her future as she sees it.

As disturbing and heart-wrenching as it was I devoured this book and could not put it down until the end. The prose is beautiful despite the dark subject matter. The only slight negative I have is that there was a little too much description of cleaning and using guns for my liking. For that reason only I would probably have given it 4.5* but am happy to give it 5*.

This is a book that people will love or hate, but either way, I’m sure it will spark much discussion and controversy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

My Absolute Darling has been tipped as the must read book of 2017. Stephen King has called it a “masterpiece” and it has received a multitude of praise from the top voices in the literary world. The book is stripped to the bare bones of humanity and nature. It leaves the characters bare, their flaws being laid out in a sickening but compulsively readable way. Its about fourteen year old Turtle Alverston and her life with her father. They are a team locked away in the forest living a secluded life but not completely ignoring reality. In the early scenes in the book they’re in an amazing contrast between her home life and school, her father lingering in the background as he long as he can before she departs on the school bus. Its his love that lingers but his presence leaves an uncomfortable force whenever he is around, and it’s a sickening one as well as their scenes play out an uncomfortable way.

The book manages the contrast impeccably well. Turtle has scenes reminiscent of Stand By Me, when she meets two friends in the local forest. These scenes are reverting and engaging, as the author lays out Turtles differences in an engaging and astute way. In the second half of the book, this is taken to another level with her and a friend Jacob, as they battle the elements, trying to survive on a nearby Island.

However the book sickeningly always turns back to home and her father, which leads us back into the uncomfortable moments, ones that add to the greatness of the novel, but are never enjoyable to go through.

The aspect of love in the novel is what makes this book stand out so much. The book is surrounded in darkness and brutality but ultimately the theme of love remains strong for each of the characters. Each decision is swept up in it, which is what makes it all the more challenging. Whilst there are no moments of empathy, there is a deep underlying sense of sadness that comes across Turtle and her father, one that remains for first page to last.


The books strength on the world inside the bubble of their home and out is an intriguing one and plays out masterfully. Turtle is no normal fourteen-year-old girl but she is an incredible one, as the novel her story plays out in. The writing is engrossing and the hype is to be believed. It’s a enduring read but one that you reap the rewards from.

To be honest, I'm bemused! I understand from reading many other reviews that this has received critical acclaim. However, I found it clunky and very difficult to read, both because of the subject matter and the writing style. So, not one I can recommend, but, possibly worth a try for those who enjoy a challenge!

This is the hardest review I have had to write this year, mainly because I read too many reviews from other people before even reading the book. People love it, people hate it.. Whatever way on the fence they are, very few are going: "Meh, that was alright like". That in itself is exciting I think, so when I got a chance to read it in return for a review I was not only excited to see what the hype was about, but how I was going to sit on that fence.

To start, I wasn't overly impressed. There was so much description of everything ,that it took me forever to get through a page trying to put pictures to all these words:
The sun has risen a hands breadth above the horizon, crowning the eastern hills, sheaves of light slanting through the stunted trees. The road winds out below her, following a ridge with thickly wooded gulches on either side. She eases along, stopping to watch the silk-burrows of spiders in the cut bank, raking through grass for the grass-colored mantises, turning over roadside stones.
Beautiful huh? but page after page after page.. it gets a bit tedious.

The story (If you somehow have missed hearing about it) follows Turtle, 14, living in a rundown part of a small Californian cost with her mentally, physically and sexually abusive father. The author takes you right in there and there is no escaping the details of the abuse, but somehow he didn't manage to convince me, the way he portrait the abuse felt like I was reading about an abusive relationship between an unrelated woman and a man and not a child/father. I read one review were the person said that if the author really wanted to do something new and had wanted too avoid too sexualize Turtle, he would have written the MC as a boy/son in the same scenario and not a girl.. And I agree.

Turtle meets Jacob and Brett, two boys with the most unrealistic vocabulary imaginable (This didn't bug me) and they become a little gang and have adventures and there are hints towards some light romantic feelings. I read a lot of reviews that didn't like this aspect but I felt it was needed, it gave her character time to grow and change and become stronger.

I really liked the book and the fact that this review was hard to write, that I had to think about how I felt because I wasn't sure.