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Come, Thou Tortoise

Average rating: 5/5

Based on 37 ratings

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Come, Thou Tortoise

by Jessica Grant

Knopf Canada | March 9, 2010 | Trade Paperback

A delightfully offbeat story that features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery.

Audrey (a.k.a. Oddly) Flowers is living quietly in Oregon with Winnifred, her tortoise, when she finds out her dear father has been knocked into a coma back in Newfoundland. Despite her fear of flying, she goes to him, but not before she reluctantly dumps Winnifred with her unreliable friends. Poor Winnifred.

When Audrey disarms an Air Marshal en route to St. John's we begin to realize there's something, well, odd about her. And we soon know that Audrey's quest to discover who her father really was - and reunite with Winnifred - will be an adventure like no other.

Excerpt:
Winnifred is old. She might be three hundred. She came with the apartment. The previous tenant, a rock climber named Cliff, was embarking on a rock-climbing adventure that would not have been much fun for Winnifred. Back then her name was Iris. Cliff had inherited Iris from the previous tenant. Nobody knew how old Iris was or where she had come from originally. Now Cliff was moving out. He said, Would you like a tortoise.

I would not say no to a tortoise, I said.

I was alone in Portland and the trees were giant. I picked her up and she blinked at me with her upside-down eyelids. I felt instantly calm. Her eyes were soft brown. Her skin felt like an old elbow. I will build you a castle, I whispered. With a pool. And I was true to my word.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Reviews

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 3/5

    Like the book, Loved Winnifred!

    LibraryCin

    • Top Book Reviewer

    4 months ago

    3.5 stars

    Audrey is from St. John's, Nfld, but living in Oregon with her tortoise, Winnifred. When her father ends up in a coma, she must rush home and she leaves Winnifred with friends while she's away.

    Audrey is a little odd (she is also nicknamed "Oddly"), maybe quirky is a good word. At first, I found her humourous, but at other times, just odd. I did enjoy the story, it was cute, but the parts I loved were the few chapters told from Winnifred's point of view! I would have loved for more of the book to have been Winnifred's. But, the majority if the book was Audrey back home reminiscing about her father, which was still good and fun, but not great. As a whole, the I liked the book.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    It is great

    Ruth Ann Tannahill

    13 months ago

    This is a really great book. It had me laughing out loud. A couple of times I stopped to call someone to read out a passage. I had a few unanswered questions at the end,

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 5/5

    Rule Number One: Never assume a tortoise is dead

    Ricquetta Francis

    16 months ago

    My first impression of this book was confusion. I was not used to writing style along with the characters voice. However, after working my way into the book, I found my self laughing out loud at the cute and quirky comments Audrey made. She's loveable and the story is like none other. Winfred, her tortoise, is adorable and makes me want one even more! You will be surprised by this read, I definitely recommend it.

    • Was this review
      helpful to you?

    Rating: 4/5

    An absolute delight

    'Nathan Burgoine

    • Author
    • Coles Employee

    3 years ago

    "Come, Thou Tortoise" is a novel that captures you with a flow of words and a style of writing that evokes Jeanette Winterson's "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit."

    Oddly (Audrey) Flowers is a delightful character, she's obsessed with the board game Clue, has a pet tortoise, and has just learned that her father is in a comma (her refusal to see it as more than a pause making her term the coma so). As her life becomes more conflicted, and she starts to look back through her childhood, her memories, and the mystery of her missing mouse, things unfold with a gentle humor.

    With every third chapter or so being told from the tortoise's point of view, you might expect the book to be strange and funny primarily, but I found it instead quite moving, and while quirky, "Come, Thou Tortoise" has a strong ability to evoke emotion in the reader. I look forward to more Jessica Grant.

    This reviewer also recommends:
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Details

From the Publisher

A delightfully offbeat story that features an opinionated tortoise and an IQ-challenged narrator who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery.

Audrey (a.k.a. Oddly) Flowers is living quietly in Oregon with Winnifred, her tortoise, when she finds out her dear father has been knocked into a coma back in Newfoundland. Despite her fear of flying, she goes to him, but not before she reluctantly dumps Winnifred with her unreliable friends. Poor Winnifred.

When Audrey disarms an Air Marshal en route to St. John's we begin to realize there's something, well, odd about her. And we soon know that Audrey's quest to discover who her father really was - and reunite with Winnifred - will be an adventure like no other.

Excerpt:
Winnifred is old. She might be three hundred. She came with the apartment. The previous tenant, a rock climber named Cliff, was embarking on a rock-climbing adventure that would not have been much fun for Winnifred. Back then her name was Iris. Cliff had inherited Iris from the previous tenant. Nobody knew how old Iris was or where she had come from originally. Now Cliff was moving out. He said, Would you like a tortoise.

I would not say no to a tortoise, I said.

I was alone in Portland and the trees were giant. I picked her up and she blinked at me with her upside-down eyelids. I felt instantly calm. Her eyes were soft brown. Her skin felt like an old elbow. I will build you a castle, I whispered. With a pool. And I was true to my word.


From the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Jessica Grant is a member of Newfoundland's Burning Rock Collective (members include Michael Winter and Lisa Moore). Her first collection of short stories, Making Light of Tragedy, includes a story that won both the Western Magazine Award for Fiction and the Journey Prize.


From the Hardcover edition.

Bookclub Guide

1. In a video interview with Jessica Grant (found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGzjzl57hjE), she states that although Audrey fancies herself a detective of sorts, "There are some questions in the book that she not only fails to answer, but that she fails to even ask." What do you think some of these might be, and how would you answer them?

2. What are your thoughts on Audrey's escapade with Marshal Marshall, and her encounter with the in-love pilots?

3. Walter described his work in genetics to Audrey by comparing mouse and tortoise heartbeats to her own (p. 274). Discuss how his work as a biogerontologist has affected Audrey.

4. Discuss the matter of Wedge's age. What do you think is really going on? Consider the Forced Swimming Test. What is it meant to prove, and is there a human equivalent?

5. What do you think about Verlaine's assertion that teaching a child that death is "evitable" is a form of cruelty (p. 275)?

6. Discuss the two narrative voices in the book. What are your thoughts on the reliability of these two characters as our narrators? How does the presence of Winnifred's narrative affect Audrey's?

7. Discuss Chuck and his struggles. What do you think is the cause of Winnifred's sinking feeling as Cliff departs with her (p. 359)? How does Chuck's story fit with the main narrative?

8. Audrey has many original perspectives on life's minutia (corkscrews, doorknobs, Christmas lights, swans, planes, taxicabs, to name a few). Was one a particular favourite for you? Why?

9. Discuss the presence of planes and airports in the novel. What do you think of Audrey's idea that flight is a skill hidden in our genes?

10. What are your thoughts about Thoby's arm? And why do you think he leaves when he does?

11. Were you surprised by the change in Audrey's relationship with Toff near the end of the book? What is your opinion of him?

12. Discuss Audrey and Judd's relationship. In what way is it different from the relationship she had with Cliff?

13. In some ways, the ending of the novel feels like a beginning. What do you think lies ahead for Audrey?

14. Discuss Winnifred's recollection of an encounter with a red butterfly in the desert (p. 340). What revelation does she have, and how does it fit with the themes of the novel?

Trade Paperback

432 Pages, 5.22 x 7.98 x 0.93 in

March 9, 2010

Knopf Canada

English


0307397556
9780307397553

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From the Critics

"Jessica Grant's Come, Thou Tortoise should be issued with a health warning: you will split your sides laughing, your eyes will leak, your heart rate will accelerate, and the abundance of wit will rewire the synapses in your brain. This book is astoundingly unique. A novel about fathers and daughters, love and loss, the wisdom that accumulates over the ages, and that ancient instinct to come home. Joyful. A tortoise de force."
-Lisa Moore, author of Alligator

"In Come, Thou Tortoise, everything on the top shelf is now in the bottom drawer, and all the things you left in your backyard happen to be under your pillow. Mysteriously, this difference is all the encouragement you need to evict nonchalance from your heart. Please - I beg you dear reader - read Jessica Grant."
-Michael Winter, author of The Architects Are Here

"Jessica Grant's debut novel is one of those rare books that manage to entwine humour - in this case, even outright silliness - with poignant insight and a captivating plot. . . . Come, Thou Tortoise is many things: a story about finding belonging, a paean to the importance of family, a commentary on relationships, and a kindhearted critique of modern life."
-Quill & Quire

"Simple poetry filled with warm absurdities, all delivered in Canadian deadpan. . . . This low-key story works because Grant avoids yanking on heartstrings. . . . The real success here is not the reptilian point-of-view or playfulness with language, but that Come, Thou Tortoise manages to be touching without excess sediment. Sorry, sentiment."
- Toronto Star

"It's extraordinary, original and simultaneously both deep and lightheartedly charming. . . . Jessica Grant has an engaging, wry and forthright style which echoes Miriam Toews, Don DeLillo, Lewis Carroll and Kurt Vonnegut Jr…. It's a delight. Pick it up, and prepare to see everything from Methusalan mice to palm trees in England. Pack a lunch. You may end up reading all day."
- The Globe and Mail

"This is a novel that has the power to jab you in the vitals. . . . A funny and sad and splendid first novel."
- Winnipeg Free Press

"Grant is exuberant and gutsy, putting to use a sharp eye for the tragic comedy of family life, love, and that perilous place we call home. . . . A writer whose work twinkles with wordplay."
- North Shore News (North Vancouver)


From the Hardcover edition.

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