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Turtle Diary
The turtles in London Zoo become the mutual obsession of two lonely strangers who dream of setting free the turtles and themselves. Detail by detail their diaries record a world in which thought leads to action and action brings William G. and Neaera H. to their own open sea.
Hardcover, 192 pages
Published
December 12th 1998
by Macmillan _
(first published December 28th 1978)
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By the author of my favorite children's book--A Mole Family Christmas. Didn't ruin my childhood memories, and that's saying something for a book that has both sex and phrases and themes you recognize from the life of Delver Mole and his family .
A very bleak look at middle age loneliness in a contemporary city, London, with the existential questions about moder life that come from it. Hoban is probably always a very philosophical fiction writing, with grand ideas running through quite explicitly through the narrative of his novels (at least Riddley Walker and this one which are the only ones I've read). At times there might not be too much of this, and not enough plot to push the reader through. But I think the patient reader ends up be...more
This is the third Russell Hoban I've read and even though both the writing and the storyline are very different to those of Ridley Walker and Kleinzeit, in a blind reading test (!!!), I would still guess he had written it as there are little clues dropped here and there which echo details from the other two, eg.,smoking, mirrors and advertising (is he saying that advertising is all smoke and mirrors?). Also common to the three is the sense of a journey needing to be made but one which may or may...more
I think of the turtles swimming steadily against the current all the way to Ascension. I think of them swimming through all that golden-green water over the dark, over the chill of the deeps and the jaws of the dark. And I think of the sun over the water, the sun through the water, the eye holding the sun, being held by it with no thought and only the rhythm of the going, the steady wing-strokes of the flippers in the water. Then it doesn’t seen hard to believe. It seems the only way to do it, t...more
shorter, simpler, and quieter than the other books of his i've read, but no less masterful, and perhaps more compelling from a novelistic standpoint. this guy is kind of amazing; every book is completely different stylistically, but all are obviously him... in equal parts funny, sad, insanely imaginative, beautifully written, and 100% down-to-earth character-driven story. i see a long stretch of russell hoban coming on...
A bookstore employee and a writer of children's books conceive a parallel obsession with kidnapping and releasing giant turtles at the London zoo. Their paths intersect for a while and they carry out what seems a madcap plan with remarkable ease. Told in the form of alternating diary entries by the two characters, this winds up being a very satisfying read, sensitive without being sentimental. Hoban's one of the good ones; like John Fowles or Bernard Malamud he seems to have lapsed into total ob...more
un uomo e una donna e londra. solitudini, vecchie tristezze, le tartarughe dello zoo da liberare nell'oceano, londra come sfondo e un porto della cornovaglia come luogo ideale. non mi ha convinta- troppo indeciso fra ironia e malinconia, toni seri e qualche battuta. (ma forse ho problemi con gli scrittori inglesi)
Jul 03, 2010
David Glenn Dixon
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Hobanites
Shelves:
hoban-in-order
Downplays the personified, talking environment drastically after Kleinzeit. The main fantasy element is in the coinciding attention William G. and Neaera H. pay to images, thoughts, things around them. A subtler yet less mysterious book than Kleinzeit.
I love this book. Russell Hoban, who was an illustrator and a children's writer before he turned to adult novels, spins a gentle fairy tale for adults. It is visually astonishing and very thoughtful.
The novel is like a poem almost. It was a little boring in alot of the chapters though. I just wanted to look for some good quotes they had, like the quote they had about smoking is like living; I liked that.
Quintessential Russell Hoban, poetic and original. It's nothing like as dark as Riddley Walker; it's a sohrt and easy read, the characters are vulnerable and touching, and there is a kind-of-happy ending. Beautifully written of course, with moments of pathos and others that made me laugh. The more I read of Hoban's work, the more baffling I find that he seems to have been virtually forgotten.
Footnote: oddly enough, it's the second book in a couple of weeks where one of the main characters is a c...more
Footnote: oddly enough, it's the second book in a couple of weeks where one of the main characters is a c...more
Such a touching, heartfelt, well-told story. The simplicity of the writing is so beguiling, since it tackles such huge themes of personal freedom. A humane novel about the human condition.
Another strange little book that was big for my formative years. Strange relationship between two people who both love a turtle. I think.
Not as good as Riddley Walker but an enjoyable and gentle tale of two people who free turtles from a zoo.
En absolut favorit som tar upp viktiga aspekter för ett lyckligt liv. Ska nog ta och läsa om den igen.
Loneliness and isolation and (maybe)an escape. A wonderful book. Miss Neap, like the tide.
One of my favourite books. Hoban is a crackling, hilarious, subversively private writer.
I enjoyed this book it was cute.
I really loved this.
Surprisingly simple yet philosophical, this story traces the first person narratives of two lonely people living in 1975 London (the year the book was written), how they are drawn to a quest to free the turtles from the Zoo, and how their decision shapes the course of their lives. A lovely read.
This is *nothing* like Riddley Walker! It's a sweet story, though. I guess they made a movie out of it w/ Ben Kingsley. Haven't seen that.
I read this for a class, but at a time when I was so busy that I won't really count it as read until I give it another go.
Very strange book. 2 lonely people join to free sea turtles. Linear, poetic
Returning captive turtles to the sea...
Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban (1976)
one of my favourites! hilarious.
one of my ten favorite books.
Hoban's such an original prose stylist.
May 19, 2013
Hodges
marked it as 2013-to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
nyrb-bookclub-selection,
nyrb
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“Sometimes I think that the biggest difference between men and women is that more men need to seek out some terrible lurking thing in existence and hurl themselves upon it like Ahab with the White Whale. Women know where it lives but they can let it alone. Even in martiarchal societies I doubt that there were ever female Beowulfs. Women lie with gods and demons but they don’t go looking for monsters to fight with. Ariadne gave Theseus a clew but the minotaur was his business.”
—
4 people liked it
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Feb 10, 2011 07:26pm