The Bean Trees

Most interesting character in the book was Turtle... and she didn't even start speaking until the last 3rd of the book.

It was a hard book to get into at first. The main character Taylor Marietta was always rude and smart alecky which just didn't do much for me. This book was about relationships, friendships, risks, immigration issues and in a huge way, family. Taylor decides to pick up her things and head out to Arizona. Along the way, during one of her stops, she is given a child she names Turtle. Turtle's aunt just gives Taylor the baby and walks away. Turtle has been molested, bruised and is so traumatized that she doesn't utter a word at all for a very long time. The majority of the book is about how Taylor heads into Arizona and makes a home for her and Turtle. Along the way she makes friends who become her support system and as Turtle becomes her family, so do they. I commend her for taking on this child when in her hometown the biggest achievement was making it out of high school not pregnant. At any rate some issues arise like Taylor's friends facing deportation if found out and Turtle possibly being taken away because of the way her “adoption” took place. In the end everyone had a happy ending which was nice.