Book Review: Turtle Season by Miriam Ruth Black

Anna's husband passed away a year ago.  Add to that the effects of menopause and Anna doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin anymore.  She's a professor at a local community college, but even there, she's losing touch.  She doesn't want to do it anymore.  She needs a change, so she enrolls in a documentary making class.

I was disappointed with the story.  Not so much because of what happens to Anna, but what happens along the way.  The characterization of men is very bad.  They're either non-existent or evil creatures.  I'm not a man, so I don't take direct defense, but I feel that attitude of that certain type of feminism that hates men.  Anna's son is this self absorbed I don't want to use the word, but I have to say bastard as I can't think of anything else to describe him.  But, her daughter is this beautiful creature who comes to her mother's aide when she feels she is needed.  Quite a contrast.   Anna's been like the perfect wife, but her husband is a cheater.  Anna doesn't find this out until after he's dead, but it makes her look good while he looks bad.  The women get raised on a pedestal while the men get thrown into a fire.  I can understand having either the son or the father being a bad guy in the story, but not both.  There are exactly three male characters in this story, if I recall correctly, and one's dead!

I do like the message that life doesn't end as we age.  Anna's life hasn't ended.  It's just changing.  She's finding a new path for herself.  I do like that.  Our younger years may be behind us but that doesn't mean our life is gone.  As Anna did we can pursue new things.  We can find new loves.  We are not gone.

This story does deal with lesbianism.  It was a bit jarring for me, but that has nothing to do with the rating.  This book just reminds me so much of some of my friends from high school days who were those feminists who hate men.  I'm not one of them, even though they were my friends.  While reading the novel I couldn't get that out of my head and it did end up tainting the story for me.

I read this as a review request using the Kindle app on my laptop (I love this app, btw).  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.