Turtle lives in a falling down house with her father who teaches her survivalist skills (including an extensive knowledge of the care and use of guns). He’s also sexually abusing her. She attends school but is not going well there, and despite a teacher who tries to find ways to reach out, she is so fearful of her father (but, in that complex way, also loves him and kind of wants to protect him) and mistrustful of everything else that she is barely coping. Then she ends up meeting a couple of local teens, Jacob and Brett and she starts questioning her place in the world.
This is an amazing book. It’s absolutely horrible and very difficult to read, but it’s also beautiful and heartbreaking. It’s a book that I never want to read again and would find very difficult to recommend to anyone else, but I’m glad I read it. I think. It’s hard.
ireckonthat 