Marina Kuperman’s Turtle Feet, Surfer’s Beat
Penelope Lennox’s life changes dramatically, to say the least, when her boyfriend dumps her and her parents decide to take a family trip – to Costa Rica! The trip isn’t quite the rotten thing Penelope expected, however, as she learns about the plight of the leatherback turtle while getting to know a particularly handsome surfer…
I wouldn’t be doing myself or my readers any favours by saying this book wasn’t in need of an editor.
As a story, this book as a lot of potential. There is a lot of opportunity to learn about not only the efforts to save the leatherback turtle but also surfing culture and Costa Rican culture as well. I found what was touched on fascinating, and I wanted to read a lot more about it.
This book focused too much on the musings and often superficial thoughts of a teenager instead of a beautiful place to explore and a cause to alert people to. I didn’t know the leatherback turtle was in so much peril…and after reading the book, I still don’t know much more than I did before, other than a few random facts.
As a book, it is lacking in the hard editing department. The tenses (past and present tense) changes mid-sentence, the main character’s voice is strong but I found it eventually grew annoying in the sense she didn’t seem to have many deep and caring thoughts that penetrated the surface character very often. Penelope’s ‘epiphany’ seemed to be necessary for the plot rather than something real, and my biggest pet peeve…
The sexual intensity between Penelope and her boyfriend was too fast, largely unbelievable, and also unnecessary with some aspects.
Overall, I think this story needs to be edited thoroughly and rewritten with more of a focus on the cause it is trying to support.
**That all being said, I don’t want this review to take away from the cause Marina is supporting – helping the environment and saving the leatherback turtle. Please check out the site and help support the cause.
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