The Slow Waltz of Turtles

A different cover to the fancy edition I picked up

It’s an 100-worder, people.

TSWOT is so well-bound that you almost miss its flaws. The matte, ink-seeped cover and rough-edged pages, together with its translated status and down-to-earth protagonist, initially keep you from noticing a far-fetched tale featuring voodoo, murder, schizophrenia, revenge… combined with chick-lit romance.  It’s bizarre, and messily unsuccessful; threads and twists are weakly established before flying off into the ether.  Combine this with an awkward translation from the French in which the over-formal dialogue gives every character the same tone and you get something dysfunctional.  It NEARLY works – parallels with Marian Keyes aren’t laughable – but ultimately dissolves into its own silliness.