What do you think?
Rate this book
O Osso Branco
Se os elefantes nos pudessem contar uma história seria, certamente, a de Lama. Durante anos, a jovem Lama e a sua família deambularam pelas planícies, pântanos e desertos do sub-Sahara. Agora, a terra está ressequida por uma longa e terrível seca e os corpos mutilados da sua família e amigos fazem espalhados pelo solo, abatidos por caçadores furtivos à procura de marfim. Tudo o que era até então familiar desapareceu por completo. No entanto, uma antiga profecia é ainda o que lhe dá força, juntamente com algumas sobreviventes, para prosseguir em demanda do lendário Osso Branco que indicará a direcção do lugar seguro, o Refúgio.
Assim começa a busca incessante através das vastas e perigosas planícies africanas que se transforma numa prova de resistência e sacrifício, enquanto as elefantas lutam pelas suas vidas e pela continuação da espécie. Neste viagem electrizante e comovente ao coração de África, Barbara Gowdy faz-nos mergulhar no tempo, no espaço e na consciência dos elefantes, num feito de imaginação sem paralelo na moderna ficção. De tal modo que, como a própria autora sublinha, leva-nos a imaginar «como seria ser tão grande e tão dócil e ao mesmo tempo estar tão em perigo, tendo aquela prodigiosa memória»...
Assim começa a busca incessante através das vastas e perigosas planícies africanas que se transforma numa prova de resistência e sacrifício, enquanto as elefantas lutam pelas suas vidas e pela continuação da espécie. Neste viagem electrizante e comovente ao coração de África, Barbara Gowdy faz-nos mergulhar no tempo, no espaço e na consciência dos elefantes, num feito de imaginação sem paralelo na moderna ficção. De tal modo que, como a própria autora sublinha, leva-nos a imaginar «como seria ser tão grande e tão dócil e ao mesmo tempo estar tão em perigo, tendo aquela prodigiosa memória»...
322 pages
First published August 6, 1998
146 people are currently reading
3,577 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Gowdy
24books241followersBarbara Gowdy is the author of seven books, including Helpless, The Romantic, The White Bone, Mister Sandman, We So Seldom Look on Love and Falling Angels, all of which have met with widespread international acclaim. A three-time finalist for The Governor General’s Award, two-time finalist for The Scotia Bank Giller Prize, The Rogers Writers� Trust Fiction Prize and The Commonwealth Writers� Prize, winner of the Marian Engel Award and The Trillium Book Prize, Gowdy has been longlisted for The Man Booker Prize. She has been called “a miraculous writer� by the Chicago Tribune, and in 2005 Ჹ’s magazine described her as a “terrific literary realist� who has “refused to subscribe to worn-out techniques and storytelling methods.� Born in Windsor, Ontario, she lives in Toronto.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 418 reviews
April 28, 2022
ZANNA BIANCA
Romanzo alquanto inusuale: Gowdy fa parlare i suoi protagonisti, che sono elefanti!
La quarta di copertina dice:
Se gli elefanti potessero raccontare una storia�
Ma qui gli elefanti sanno raccontare una storia, Barbara Gowdy li rende protagonisti e voci parlanti, o meglio, dialoganti e monologanti, pensanti: il narratore descrive e cuce le voci di questi animali, che sembrano provenire direttamente dall’alba dei tempi. Infatti, il glossario, solitamente inserito alla fine di un libro, qui invece precede il racconto, e ci addestra alla lingua dei pachidermi, alle parole che usano e al significato che gli attribuiscono.
Sempre a inizio libro, dopo l’epigrafe tratta dalle Elegie duinesi di R.M. Rilke, Gowdy posiziona una mappa del territorio con i luoghi principali: è dove si svolge l’azione, dove si muove il branco.
Non basta: dopo la mappa e prima del glossario, un albero genealogico delle principali famiglie degli elefanti.
Se vivono abbastanza, dimenticano tutto.
In genere, però, non arrivano a quel punto. Nove su dieci vengono abbattuti nel fiore degli anni, vari decenni prima che la loro memoria cominci a esaurirsi. Parlo dunque della maggioranza quando sostengo che quel che si dice è vero: non dimenticano mai.
Mota è una elefante (elefantessa?!) di dodici anni, rimasta orfana alla nascita, e ora incinta per la sua prima volta. Vive col branco, ma riesce a non morire col branco: quando i bracconieri fanno strage di femmine e cuccioli per impadronirsi delle zanne, Mota si salva e grazie al suo dono della preveggenza guida i superstiti alla ricerca di un mitico talismano, l’Osso Bianco, che gli elefanti narrano possa proteggerli dalla violenza della bestia uomo: il talismano li condurrà a un paradiso dove la caccia non esiste e tutti gli animali vivono in pace.
Gli elefanti parlano, dialogano, hanno sogni, visioni, allucinazione, e, soprattutto, ricordi:
Non dimenticano mai. A loro avviso, questo spiega la mole. Alcuni asseriscono addirittura che sotto quel fenomenale ingombro di carne e quelle ossa immense e ondeggianti siano tutta memoria. Sì, certo, hanno memoria: ciò che forse non tutti sanno è che senza di essa sono spacciati. Quando la memoria inizia a esaurirsi, il loro corpo deperisce come per una lenta e progressiva perdita di sangue.
Una storia di lotta per la sopravvivenza, lotta dura come l’avorio.
Una storia dal mondo animale per il mondo umano degli adulti.
Una lingua inventata che sembra più che plausibile: viene da credere che se gli elefanti, e le elefanti, parlassero, lo farebbero davvero come indicato dalla Gowdy.
Mi viene in mente Zanna bianca perché è uno splendido romanzo sugli animali: e perché i bracconieri sterminano gli elefanti per raccogliere l’avorio, le loro preziose zanne d’avorio. Che sono bianche.
Ma si potrebbe anche parafrasare un altro capolavoro di Jack London: il richiamo della savana.
Fino ad allora, ogni odore risucchiato da quelle proboscidi, ogni bagliore di luce smorzato con quelle ombre formidabili si conserva dentro di loro come un momento perfetto e immediatamente recuperabile. È raro che si chiedano l’un l’altro: ti ricordi? Ricordare si dà per scontato. Ciò che mettono in dubbio è l’attenzione: hai fiutato? Hai visto?
PS
Una chicca da ricordare è come si accoppiano gli elefanti: il maschio “scava la strada� al cucciolo che è già contenuto nel ventre materno
E forse più che accoppiamento bisognerebbe chiamarlo fare l’amore.
Romanzo alquanto inusuale: Gowdy fa parlare i suoi protagonisti, che sono elefanti!
La quarta di copertina dice:
Se gli elefanti potessero raccontare una storia�
Ma qui gli elefanti sanno raccontare una storia, Barbara Gowdy li rende protagonisti e voci parlanti, o meglio, dialoganti e monologanti, pensanti: il narratore descrive e cuce le voci di questi animali, che sembrano provenire direttamente dall’alba dei tempi. Infatti, il glossario, solitamente inserito alla fine di un libro, qui invece precede il racconto, e ci addestra alla lingua dei pachidermi, alle parole che usano e al significato che gli attribuiscono.
Sempre a inizio libro, dopo l’epigrafe tratta dalle Elegie duinesi di R.M. Rilke, Gowdy posiziona una mappa del territorio con i luoghi principali: è dove si svolge l’azione, dove si muove il branco.
Non basta: dopo la mappa e prima del glossario, un albero genealogico delle principali famiglie degli elefanti.
Se vivono abbastanza, dimenticano tutto.
In genere, però, non arrivano a quel punto. Nove su dieci vengono abbattuti nel fiore degli anni, vari decenni prima che la loro memoria cominci a esaurirsi. Parlo dunque della maggioranza quando sostengo che quel che si dice è vero: non dimenticano mai.
Mota è una elefante (elefantessa?!) di dodici anni, rimasta orfana alla nascita, e ora incinta per la sua prima volta. Vive col branco, ma riesce a non morire col branco: quando i bracconieri fanno strage di femmine e cuccioli per impadronirsi delle zanne, Mota si salva e grazie al suo dono della preveggenza guida i superstiti alla ricerca di un mitico talismano, l’Osso Bianco, che gli elefanti narrano possa proteggerli dalla violenza della bestia uomo: il talismano li condurrà a un paradiso dove la caccia non esiste e tutti gli animali vivono in pace.
Gli elefanti parlano, dialogano, hanno sogni, visioni, allucinazione, e, soprattutto, ricordi:
Non dimenticano mai. A loro avviso, questo spiega la mole. Alcuni asseriscono addirittura che sotto quel fenomenale ingombro di carne e quelle ossa immense e ondeggianti siano tutta memoria. Sì, certo, hanno memoria: ciò che forse non tutti sanno è che senza di essa sono spacciati. Quando la memoria inizia a esaurirsi, il loro corpo deperisce come per una lenta e progressiva perdita di sangue.
Una storia di lotta per la sopravvivenza, lotta dura come l’avorio.
Una storia dal mondo animale per il mondo umano degli adulti.
Una lingua inventata che sembra più che plausibile: viene da credere che se gli elefanti, e le elefanti, parlassero, lo farebbero davvero come indicato dalla Gowdy.
Mi viene in mente Zanna bianca perché è uno splendido romanzo sugli animali: e perché i bracconieri sterminano gli elefanti per raccogliere l’avorio, le loro preziose zanne d’avorio. Che sono bianche.
Ma si potrebbe anche parafrasare un altro capolavoro di Jack London: il richiamo della savana.
Fino ad allora, ogni odore risucchiato da quelle proboscidi, ogni bagliore di luce smorzato con quelle ombre formidabili si conserva dentro di loro come un momento perfetto e immediatamente recuperabile. È raro che si chiedano l’un l’altro: ti ricordi? Ricordare si dà per scontato. Ciò che mettono in dubbio è l’attenzione: hai fiutato? Hai visto?
PS
Una chicca da ricordare è come si accoppiano gli elefanti: il maschio “scava la strada� al cucciolo che è già contenuto nel ventre materno
E forse più che accoppiamento bisognerebbe chiamarlo fare l’amore.
August 22, 2017
1 out of 5 stars to 's novel, , a story about a family of elephants wandering around the safari. Yes, that's right, I've given out a 1 star rating... of ~500 books I've read, only (5) five have gotten this poor of a rating, and this unfortunately, is one of them. I usually try to find something redeemable, but this one will be tough. And I mean no harm to the author, as her writing style was fine... it just was such a poor read.
I suspect this was a brilliant idea gone far off track. To start, it's about a group of elephants wandering around the safari in Africa, focusing on young Mud. Everything from vicious attacks by lions to childbirth to starvation to fear, find their way into this book. And on the outskirts, it sounds like a wonderful story full of heartache, emotion and that quintessential journey.
But somehow, other than a few spots where you get a bit sad, it feels half completed. When you're supposed to feel bad for finding a dead family member, remember that the book is seeing this thru the eyes of an elephant. The reaction feels like "oh, dead. let's move on." Do elephants not have feelings? I guess not. Now I feel silly for not knowing that.
I couldn't decide whether this was a half satire, half sad look at the unfortunate problems animals face. But just when it started going down either of those paths, it was a complete reversal and I thought I was starting a new book. Same characters. But as though I suddenly functioned with a lot less brain power. And I don't have that much to give, Barbara... and now I want it back.
I rarely skim pages in a book. If I find myself skimming more than 3 or 4 pages, I put it down and pick it up a few days later, hoping it was just my mind at the time. No... that wasn't the problem.
I had a month to read this book, and I seriously couldn't focus. I read the whole thing, but there were times where I re-read the same page ten times to see if I could get anything out of it worth discussing. And I did. I learned that you can mess words up on a page and create something equal to scrambled eggs when all you wanted was a beautiful, sweet and delicious custard. Oh, how I love desserts. I'd rather talk about them than this book anymore. Ugh.
And to be honest, I'm still confused as to what the white bone is or was... and what the heck it had to do with the whole story. Metaphor? No. Theme? Nah. A weapon to stab my eyes so I'm finished with the read.
I'll take... maybe 20%... of the fault and blame for not fully engaging, as it just felt like a bad book and I couldn't get interested. It was someone else's pick.
And let me tell you what this book club meeting was like... first of all... we took turns having it either at quiet restaurant, or someone's house. People often liked coming to my place because I cooked and had lots of food options -- and wine... and then we all stayed and hung out afterwards so no one had to drink and drive. For this book club, it was at my house... and I couldn't even talk about the book. Every time I started, someone shoved food in my mouth or poured me more wine. They didn't want to listen to me go off on it... BUT!!! No one else liked it either, so it was just that I was so vocal, it was ridiculous.
But the other 80%... don't ask me what happened. I think it was a misprint. Something accidentally got thru and the publisher said "let's see if anyone notices... they may just be so interested in the elephants that they will still love it."
I could have been riding the stampede thru the safari on this one and still have fallen asleep. OK, I've put you through enough pain.
Don't read it. Please do not. And if you do, smack yourself for me. Twice, at least.
Ms. Gowdy: Please don't take offense to my review. I'm sure your other books are good, as you have published quite a bit. I'd like to buy you dinner and understand how this entire thing came to fruition. And then find out your secret to getting this into people's hands.
Off to find a lion... the only saving grace... elephants have a really good memory, so hopefully they are suffering as much as I did having to be part of this. Only fair.
P.S. I love elephants.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on ŷ, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at , where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
[polldaddy poll=9729544]
[polldaddy poll=9719251]
I suspect this was a brilliant idea gone far off track. To start, it's about a group of elephants wandering around the safari in Africa, focusing on young Mud. Everything from vicious attacks by lions to childbirth to starvation to fear, find their way into this book. And on the outskirts, it sounds like a wonderful story full of heartache, emotion and that quintessential journey.
But somehow, other than a few spots where you get a bit sad, it feels half completed. When you're supposed to feel bad for finding a dead family member, remember that the book is seeing this thru the eyes of an elephant. The reaction feels like "oh, dead. let's move on." Do elephants not have feelings? I guess not. Now I feel silly for not knowing that.
I couldn't decide whether this was a half satire, half sad look at the unfortunate problems animals face. But just when it started going down either of those paths, it was a complete reversal and I thought I was starting a new book. Same characters. But as though I suddenly functioned with a lot less brain power. And I don't have that much to give, Barbara... and now I want it back.
I rarely skim pages in a book. If I find myself skimming more than 3 or 4 pages, I put it down and pick it up a few days later, hoping it was just my mind at the time. No... that wasn't the problem.
I had a month to read this book, and I seriously couldn't focus. I read the whole thing, but there were times where I re-read the same page ten times to see if I could get anything out of it worth discussing. And I did. I learned that you can mess words up on a page and create something equal to scrambled eggs when all you wanted was a beautiful, sweet and delicious custard. Oh, how I love desserts. I'd rather talk about them than this book anymore. Ugh.
And to be honest, I'm still confused as to what the white bone is or was... and what the heck it had to do with the whole story. Metaphor? No. Theme? Nah. A weapon to stab my eyes so I'm finished with the read.
I'll take... maybe 20%... of the fault and blame for not fully engaging, as it just felt like a bad book and I couldn't get interested. It was someone else's pick.
And let me tell you what this book club meeting was like... first of all... we took turns having it either at quiet restaurant, or someone's house. People often liked coming to my place because I cooked and had lots of food options -- and wine... and then we all stayed and hung out afterwards so no one had to drink and drive. For this book club, it was at my house... and I couldn't even talk about the book. Every time I started, someone shoved food in my mouth or poured me more wine. They didn't want to listen to me go off on it... BUT!!! No one else liked it either, so it was just that I was so vocal, it was ridiculous.
But the other 80%... don't ask me what happened. I think it was a misprint. Something accidentally got thru and the publisher said "let's see if anyone notices... they may just be so interested in the elephants that they will still love it."
I could have been riding the stampede thru the safari on this one and still have fallen asleep. OK, I've put you through enough pain.
Don't read it. Please do not. And if you do, smack yourself for me. Twice, at least.
Ms. Gowdy: Please don't take offense to my review. I'm sure your other books are good, as you have published quite a bit. I'd like to buy you dinner and understand how this entire thing came to fruition. And then find out your secret to getting this into people's hands.
Off to find a lion... the only saving grace... elephants have a really good memory, so hopefully they are suffering as much as I did having to be part of this. Only fair.
P.S. I love elephants.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on ŷ, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at , where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
[polldaddy poll=9729544]
[polldaddy poll=9719251]
August 23, 2012
Warning: character deaths. These elephants live in a war zone - they are refugees. Massacre is the commonest death.
I’ve never read a novel that so constructs animal minds the way a science fiction writer constructs alien minds. This is a serious attempt to be inside the head of an elephant. To briefly outline what her elephants are like: they are big balls of emotion, intensely superstitious. Not too idealised � half of them are more silly than wise perhaps. (But on idealisation, every species has a very self-flattering name for itself, as in the Perfect Species. This is funny, sort of, and no doubt true: even human tribes do this.)
Again, it is deeply sad, with terrible events. Not for sooks.
I’ve never read a novel that so constructs animal minds the way a science fiction writer constructs alien minds. This is a serious attempt to be inside the head of an elephant. To briefly outline what her elephants are like: they are big balls of emotion, intensely superstitious. Not too idealised � half of them are more silly than wise perhaps. (But on idealisation, every species has a very self-flattering name for itself, as in the Perfect Species. This is funny, sort of, and no doubt true: even human tribes do this.)
Again, it is deeply sad, with terrible events. Not for sooks.
March 26, 2009
It took a while for this chisel of a book to crack the nut of my head. I had to start it three times because the perspective was so strange, and grim. But on the third try I was enthralled. This book put me inside a different way of thinking. I treasured returning to this book and comprehending the revelations on nearly every page -- of the fact that there was a different way of observing things.
So often I enjoy books that are brilliant executions of standard plots or formulas, like or . But this fell into no formula or genre I can think of. I recommend it for anyone who is tired of the "same old same." .
So often I enjoy books that are brilliant executions of standard plots or formulas, like or . But this fell into no formula or genre I can think of. I recommend it for anyone who is tired of the "same old same." .
May 17, 2008
This is an absolutely fantastic novel. The fact that the author managed to even *attempt* to get into the mind of an African elephant is astonishing. The work itself, however, an epic world of myth, belief, hope, and sacrifice, is what makes it more stunning. And beyond comprehension. In the top five books I've ever read.
December 26, 2015
This is a hard book to review. On the one hand, I consider it a thoughtful, well-researched, and rigorous attempt at getting into elephant minds. Solid world-building scheme, too. So as spec/animal-fic I respect this novel a lot. But for whatever reason it didn't work for me. I'm tempted to say it's because I just found the narrative arc, dialogue, and naming system tedious, but these are also the elements that give the novel its legitimacy as a genuine attempt to empathize with being-elephant. So I'd chalk this up more to my shortcomings as a reader than any failures on Gowdy's part. Even though I didn't enjoy it, I nevertheless recommend this to anybody interested in spec-fic that confronts our ecological/extinction crisis.
November 9, 2019
Dit was echt een teleurstellend boek. Het gaat over een kudde olifanten, in een erg droog seizoen, die door mensen afgeslacht worden. Enkelen overleven het, en als ze verder trekken merken ze dat er van andere kuddes ook velen gedood zijn, soms zelfs allemaal, zodat hele olifantenfamilies uitgemoord zijn. Ze geloven in de legende van het witte bot, dat het bot (de rib) van een pasgeboren olifantenkalf zou zijn, en als het gevonden wordt en opgegooid, zou de spitse kant wijzen naar Het Veilige Oord. Dus gaan de olifanten op zoek naar het witte bot. Tot dusverre lijkt het concept van het boek goed.
Maar dan begint het snel bergafwaarts te gaan. Verschillende kleine groepjes overlevers, en ook eenlingen, worden om de beurt gevolgd, en hun uitputtingsslag om te overleven wordt beschreven. En er volgt geen gelukkig einde, voor niemand, de meesten sterven alsnog, van het lot van anderen blijven we in het duister tasten. In het Engels heet het boek 'The white bone', maar het blijft onzeker of het witte bot ooit gevonden is door de olifanten, of dat het wel degelijk het witte bot uit de legende is dat een olifant op het einde van het boek vindt, want hij wordt vlak daarna gedood.
Hoewel ik graag over dieren lees, en het meestal leuk vindt als een auteur een 'cultuur' of 'beschaving' van een bepaalde diersoort creëert, is Gowdy hier m.i. niet erg overtuigend in geslaagd.
Maar dan begint het snel bergafwaarts te gaan. Verschillende kleine groepjes overlevers, en ook eenlingen, worden om de beurt gevolgd, en hun uitputtingsslag om te overleven wordt beschreven. En er volgt geen gelukkig einde, voor niemand, de meesten sterven alsnog, van het lot van anderen blijven we in het duister tasten. In het Engels heet het boek 'The white bone', maar het blijft onzeker of het witte bot ooit gevonden is door de olifanten, of dat het wel degelijk het witte bot uit de legende is dat een olifant op het einde van het boek vindt, want hij wordt vlak daarna gedood.
Hoewel ik graag over dieren lees, en het meestal leuk vindt als een auteur een 'cultuur' of 'beschaving' van een bepaalde diersoort creëert, is Gowdy hier m.i. niet erg overtuigend in geslaagd.
May 28, 2015
I was so disappointed in what I thought would be a great book and clearly I am not in the mainstream with my opinion of this book that so many are giving 5 stars to. The story was quite boring and even in this short book, took too long to tell. Elephants being slaughtered by humans are looking for their promised land. That's it. The song-singing and mythology did not work in this short, linear plot line. Songs, maps, glossaries and family trees should be reserved for epic books and this was not an epic book; it was straight line plot with a lot of unnecessary characters thrown in and not enough time or subplotting to get to know them. Using elephants as main characters was a nifty idea, but I did not think it was done well. There were far too many characters, only a few of which were developed and really only one or two that were of any interest at all. The way the characters were named (she-stammers, she-snorts, she-sees, she-spurns, for example) made it impossible to keep them distinct and the fact that they had no distinguishing traits (except for a few) made it worse.--And it was down-right annoying! I got the the point of not caring which elephant I was reading about very early in the story and found that often I did not know if a character was young or old, or male or female. While the characters were given human-like abilities to communicate and think, the larger part of their behavior was just elephant-like and how much can you talk about an elephant? They are large and pretty much all look the same, they flap their ears when they are mad and they stomp their feet on the ground.(I realize they are likely far more complex, but this is what I got from this book.) The author devoted far too many sentences to describing dung sniffing, trunk sucking, urine tasting, and mating behaviors. I wonder if perhaps it would have been better to stick with anthropomorphic behaviors instead of this disparate sharing of traits. (Was I reading about real elephants or was I reading a fantasy/fiction story? It depended on what sentence I was on.) The whole "tunnel digging" description of a male impregnating a female was discussed far too often and had nothing to do with the plot. I felt no emotional impact in this story and became bored with elephants. I wanted to feel awe-struck, I wanted to learn something while enjoying a story told by a unique narrator. What I actually came away with was "These big beautiful animals are actually kind of gross."
January 26, 2011
I read this book when it first came out back in 1998. At that point, I was still in middle school and had seen it featured at our library. Through the years I have often thought back on that book and while I couldn't remember precisely what it was about, I knew it involved elephants and for some reason had captivated me. Not too long ago I remembered the title and knew I had to read it again. After reading again, I can see why I was intrigued by the book, but didn't think it was anything completely spectacular. It is a novel about great sadness and I think that is what makes it stand out the most in my mind.
Mud (also known as She-Spurns, a name she rejects) is the adopted daughter of the elephant herd of the She-S's. A visionary, she has dreams sometimes of things that are going to happen, or things that are happening far away. She is newly an adult elephant with her first child growing inside her when a great drought comes to the land. To add to this hardship, massacres are occurring within the elephant herds as they are being hunted for their tusks and feet. Whole herds are being decimated at one time due to ruthless hunters.
In spite of this, the elephants have hope. A great male elephant named Tall Time has brought word of a mysterious relic. This relic is known as the White Bone and is said to hold great power. It can lead them to the Safe Place where at least they will be protected and unharmed by the vicious poachers. Trying to find this bone and get to the safe place is another matter entirely however and proves to be difficult. Mud knows she must get there and help her friends at all cost, but with everything against them along the way she is no longer certain they will all get there alive.
The characters in this novel can't be rated like other characters. They are elephants. And while they are somewhat anthropomorphic they are definitely written as an alien creature with dreams, stories, and personalities all their own. Mud in particular, is an interesting being in that she has mixed feelings about everything and is a bit of a loner. In most elephant herds this is unheard of. It makes her unique in a story already full of strange characters.
The writing takes some getting used to in this. The elephants are able to talk through their minds and all the different herds of elephants have their own naming system. Not to mention that other animals have their own names and thoughts that are translated through the elephants speech. It can become very confusing at times. Despite this, Gowdy manages to convey a deep sense of depression and sadness in this book. The plight of the elephants is not a happy one and there are plenty of descriptions and happenings to remind the reader of this. Some of the language in this book is very descriptive. To a weak stomached or sensitive reader I would advise being careful as there are talks of eating feces, elephant's sexual parts, and other more squeamish subjects littered substantially throughout the entire book. Looking at it from an elephant's standpoint there is no need to be squeamish, but for us who are not elephants the language is a little more taboo.
One complaint I would have about this book is that the second part of it drags quite a bit. While its supposed to simulate the elephant's searching, it becomes repetitive and boring after awhile. I would have liked to see more interaction between the herds and matriarchs of the elephants or something to fill the void in which they are continually wandering.
Overall though this book makes the reader truly feel sorrow. Its a tough subject and hearing it directly from the elephants themselves is even more heartbreaking. This is not a good book for cheering a person up, but it is a good book for gaining a different perspective on life.
The White Bone
Copyright 1998
330 pages
Also includes a map, term explanation and family tree.
Mud (also known as She-Spurns, a name she rejects) is the adopted daughter of the elephant herd of the She-S's. A visionary, she has dreams sometimes of things that are going to happen, or things that are happening far away. She is newly an adult elephant with her first child growing inside her when a great drought comes to the land. To add to this hardship, massacres are occurring within the elephant herds as they are being hunted for their tusks and feet. Whole herds are being decimated at one time due to ruthless hunters.
In spite of this, the elephants have hope. A great male elephant named Tall Time has brought word of a mysterious relic. This relic is known as the White Bone and is said to hold great power. It can lead them to the Safe Place where at least they will be protected and unharmed by the vicious poachers. Trying to find this bone and get to the safe place is another matter entirely however and proves to be difficult. Mud knows she must get there and help her friends at all cost, but with everything against them along the way she is no longer certain they will all get there alive.
The characters in this novel can't be rated like other characters. They are elephants. And while they are somewhat anthropomorphic they are definitely written as an alien creature with dreams, stories, and personalities all their own. Mud in particular, is an interesting being in that she has mixed feelings about everything and is a bit of a loner. In most elephant herds this is unheard of. It makes her unique in a story already full of strange characters.
The writing takes some getting used to in this. The elephants are able to talk through their minds and all the different herds of elephants have their own naming system. Not to mention that other animals have their own names and thoughts that are translated through the elephants speech. It can become very confusing at times. Despite this, Gowdy manages to convey a deep sense of depression and sadness in this book. The plight of the elephants is not a happy one and there are plenty of descriptions and happenings to remind the reader of this. Some of the language in this book is very descriptive. To a weak stomached or sensitive reader I would advise being careful as there are talks of eating feces, elephant's sexual parts, and other more squeamish subjects littered substantially throughout the entire book. Looking at it from an elephant's standpoint there is no need to be squeamish, but for us who are not elephants the language is a little more taboo.
One complaint I would have about this book is that the second part of it drags quite a bit. While its supposed to simulate the elephant's searching, it becomes repetitive and boring after awhile. I would have liked to see more interaction between the herds and matriarchs of the elephants or something to fill the void in which they are continually wandering.
Overall though this book makes the reader truly feel sorrow. Its a tough subject and hearing it directly from the elephants themselves is even more heartbreaking. This is not a good book for cheering a person up, but it is a good book for gaining a different perspective on life.
The White Bone
Copyright 1998
330 pages
Also includes a map, term explanation and family tree.
September 22, 2016
They do a lot of walking - lumbering up sandy hills, through tall grasses & fresh growth, past trampled thickets, over fallen trees, down steep inclines, into thick sage brush, through drifts of red dust, splashing through warm shallows, trudging over river banks... I could go on & on. Then there were the She's - She Snorts, She Screams, She Scavenges, She Distracts, She Sees, She Scares, She Drawls and Drawls ...She S's, She D's, She M's, She B's - heck even She DD's or was it She BB's? It all blurs together.
I read to page 181 and then quit. I love the idea - a fictional book about a herd told from the perspective of one or two elephants. It was sad reading about how humans are pillaging this majestic animal. But this story is just too contrived. For me it read like a it was written just to win the Giller prize. Lots of people loved it. I did not and I just had to stop.
I read to page 181 and then quit. I love the idea - a fictional book about a herd told from the perspective of one or two elephants. It was sad reading about how humans are pillaging this majestic animal. But this story is just too contrived. For me it read like a it was written just to win the Giller prize. Lots of people loved it. I did not and I just had to stop.
Read
December 9, 2020I don't even know how to rate this.
I maybe want to describe this as a fantasy novel with elephant protagonists? In a time of drought and poaching, the mind reading and visionary elephants go on a quest to find a mythical white bone that will point them to a Safe Place.
I maybe want to describe this as a fantasy novel with elephant protagonists? In a time of drought and poaching, the mind reading and visionary elephants go on a quest to find a mythical white bone that will point them to a Safe Place.
July 10, 2007
One of my favorite books ever. This is one of the few books I've read that never quite made it into popularity, or onto any bestseller lists, but was still a great read. It follows the story of a certain group of elephants in Africa and their way of life and their hardships, of which there are plenty of. The entire book is overall very somber, with moments of being heartbreaking. The ending is almost reminiscent of the ending of "The Handmaid's Tale", at least in my opinion. I truly wish this book was more widespread and well-known.
December 23, 2007
Amazing book. An adventure, drama, heartbreak, hope, the struggle of the spirit to survive and thrive all told from the perspective of elephants. Don't be put off by that if you are not an animal lover or have a particular affinity for elephants, like I do. They are incredibly amazing, complex, extremely intelligent creatures, but this book is so beautifully written with such a compelling story that anyone who appreciates good literary ficton will enjoy this a great deal.
May 22, 2019
There is some writing in this book that I underlined and dog-eared and will go back to time and time again. Heart-breaking and wise.
May 23, 2019
The White Bone is a poignant novel about the effects of poaching on the behavior and psyche of African elephants and how human interference and natural disasters combine to threaten elephants� existence. Our protagonists, Mud and Date Bed, are two young female elephants struggling to survive a drought. They are separated when . Mud and Date Bed set off on a desperate search to find each other and a talisman called ‘the white bone� which could save the rest of the survivors.
The white bone represents hope for a future for elephants, safety from immediate extinction. Gowdy uses the white bone to explore the potential that elephants have awareness of the precariousness of their existence, not just as individuals but as a species and society. I appreciate the use of fantasy and speculation to explore such an immediate issue. Gowdy reaches a good middle ground with regards to the intelligence of the elephants � they’re clever, but not geniuses. There is some excessive anthropomorphizing towards the end, where one elephant character contemplates monogamy (which I doubt is a concept in any elephant’s mind). Nonetheless, The White Bone is an excellent example of intelligent, balanced anthropomorphism. I highly recommend The White Bone to adult fantasy fans, especially if you enjoyed books about animal characters in your childhood.
The white bone represents hope for a future for elephants, safety from immediate extinction. Gowdy uses the white bone to explore the potential that elephants have awareness of the precariousness of their existence, not just as individuals but as a species and society. I appreciate the use of fantasy and speculation to explore such an immediate issue. Gowdy reaches a good middle ground with regards to the intelligence of the elephants � they’re clever, but not geniuses. There is some excessive anthropomorphizing towards the end, where one elephant character contemplates monogamy (which I doubt is a concept in any elephant’s mind). Nonetheless, The White Bone is an excellent example of intelligent, balanced anthropomorphism. I highly recommend The White Bone to adult fantasy fans, especially if you enjoyed books about animal characters in your childhood.
April 14, 2019
I love elephants but I really don't think (or believe) that they can get visions when their calf will be born (after a calf tunnel being dug?!) and whether or not it will live.
I mean, they might, after eating way to many wrong mushrooms... But I don't think they will.
This my friend, is Elephant Fantasy although I don't think it is meant like this.
It is weird. Weird A.F.
In case it's not weird enough for you, they can also "sing and dance". Yeah... Don't look at me, I did not make this up. I did not eat any sort of "shrooms".
O, BTW, there are an actual map, glossary and family trees in the back of the book...
One of these stars is purely for the footnotes. Apparently I'm a sucker for those.
story 1/5
characters 1/5
writing 2/5
audio/paper This was a physical read.
reread? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhm... Don't think so...
I mean, they might, after eating way to many wrong mushrooms... But I don't think they will.
This my friend, is Elephant Fantasy although I don't think it is meant like this.
It is weird. Weird A.F.
In case it's not weird enough for you, they can also "sing and dance". Yeah... Don't look at me, I did not make this up. I did not eat any sort of "shrooms".
O, BTW, there are an actual map, glossary and family trees in the back of the book...
One of these stars is purely for the footnotes. Apparently I'm a sucker for those.
story 1/5
characters 1/5
writing 2/5
audio/paper This was a physical read.
reread? Uhhhhhhhhhhhhm... Don't think so...
November 5, 2007
A fantasy about elephant families where some of them can read minds and some can talk to other animals. It sounds too sci-fi until you start reading it and it just seems like you are meeting some interesting people who happen to be elephants. The author does a great job of including realities like dung-eating and poaching (warning: this book will make you sad).
March 31, 2008
I found myself thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it. Definitely not a light book - but very interesting. Written from the perspective of several different elephants. Author does an excellent job of creating a culture and language that is both believable and easy to follow. Very moving content.
October 23, 2018
Chose to read this for our uni assignment. It opened up another world. It is obvious the author researched the plight of elephants in Africa but she didn't leave off there. Barbara Gowdy created a language befitting the elephants which takes the reader inside the minds of these large animals. A worthwhile read and I recommend The White Bone to all and sundry
May 7, 2016
I enjoyed reading this book especially through the perspective of elephants something different and quite good.
August 16, 2021
It seems to me that there are two approaches to take when writing fiction in which nonhuman animals are the characters and the world imagined is theirs. First, to write about animals and their world in such a way that there is some familiarity or resemblance to ourselves and the world as experienced by ourselves. Examples in this category may include Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and Watership Down by Richard Adams. Second, to write fiction that imagines the world that’s inhabited by the animals who are the principal characters and describe them and their world through their own unique set of imaginations and experiences. Now, this is an admittedly simplistic approach to categorise a longstanding genre of fiction. There will be differences of opinion about which category particular novels should be placed. There are, of course, gradations between the two. Most likely, with more time and space available to me than at present, I could further refine this dualistic interpretation into a more complex one.
Nonetheless, it’s important for me to begin this review of The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy that’s a story of African elephants published in 1998. It comes with a map of the imagined African plains where the novel takes place, family trees for five family elephant groups, and a glossary. In the Acknowledgements, Gowdy recognises such authorities on elephants as Cynthia Moss, Joyce Poole, and Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton whose work informed her understanding of elephants. This is a well-researched novel and the work of a writer whose imagination and craft is widely recognised as being outstanding.
I read The White Bone as part of my research for the biography that I’m writing about Topsy, the elephant electrocuted to death on Coney Island, New York in 1903. Indeed, several friends and colleagues held this book to be the fictionalised account of elephants to read more than any other.
Why, then, did The White Bone fail to work for me as a good read?
I think it has to be with how Gowdy imagined and expressed the lives, thoughts, and experiences of elephants. It may well be that my imagination struggles with animal-based fiction when they’re written along the lines of my second category as I briefly describe at the beginning of this review. For example, Gowdy uses a system to name the elephants—imagined as their creation—in which they’re called, for example, She-Scares, She-Demands, and She-Drawls-And-Drawls. In a footnote on page 41, she explains:
This is admirable for the author who exercises her imagination to create an elephant world but tedious for the reader who (well, I did) longs for a more digestible set of names. I also found the idea behind the so-called white bone as a nod to the direction of a faith belief system for elephants to be, well, gratuitous. Some aspects, however, did ring true for me even if they may appear to be, at first blush, implausible. Science has proved, for example, that elephants communicate at great lengths and at frequencies beyond our ability to experience. Consequently, it seems to me to be entirely plausible that elephants can communicate telepathically, which they do in this novel.
Despite these and other misgivings, I persevered with the novel and at times found myself very emotionally engaged and distressed by it. There are sections in which Gowdy movingly describes the violence humans (“hindleggers�) do to elephants and the trauma they consequently live with. These are the novel’s most vivid moments and alone make it well worth the read.
I have just finished rereading The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy and written a second review without familiarising myself with first review published above. (published 16 August, 2021)
Books come with reputations created by reviews, personal recommendations, or frequent references to them in related readings. Reputations may disadvantage a book, however, as they may emerge as reading disappointments. Nonetheless, the book can still be appreciated as an important work, well-written, if not enjoyable or satisfying. Researching and writing the biography of Topsy requires me to undertake extensive background reading. Barbara Gowdy’s novel about African elephants called The White Bone is of particular interest to me. I’m intrigued with the challenge of how I am going to represent Topsy, including her voice, in my narrative. I have read many novels over the years that feature animals as primary characters, including Richard Adams� Watership Down to one of my favorites, R K Narayan’s A Tiger for Malgudi. Authors take very different approaches to representing animals in the stories they tell. The specter of anthropomorphism is never very far away. Centrally present with Adams’s rabbits but more subdued with Narayan’s wild tiger who is caught and forced to perform in a circus. Gowdy’s approach to the elephants, the characters in this novel, is interesting but ultimately unconvincing. She provides a map of the terrain the elephants range over. There are family trees for different branches of elephant generations. There’s even a glossary of terms for converting elephant-speak to human understanding. While this is commendable work. Gowdy is to be congratulated on imagining elephants as individuals living in their world. While I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from reading this book, I cannot give it a ringing endorsement. Gowdy’s elephants and their world simply didn’t work for me. I was generally unconvinced by how the elephants and their behavior and culture were described. The narrative didn’t engage me mostly because its flow was erratic and confusing and seemed incomplete. I take no comfort in criticizing this book as it’s an important work of imagination. Perhaps I should return to it for a second read in about a year.
Nonetheless, it’s important for me to begin this review of The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy that’s a story of African elephants published in 1998. It comes with a map of the imagined African plains where the novel takes place, family trees for five family elephant groups, and a glossary. In the Acknowledgements, Gowdy recognises such authorities on elephants as Cynthia Moss, Joyce Poole, and Iain and Oria Douglas-Hamilton whose work informed her understanding of elephants. This is a well-researched novel and the work of a writer whose imagination and craft is widely recognised as being outstanding.
I read The White Bone as part of my research for the biography that I’m writing about Topsy, the elephant electrocuted to death on Coney Island, New York in 1903. Indeed, several friends and colleagues held this book to be the fictionalised account of elephants to read more than any other.
Why, then, did The White Bone fail to work for me as a good read?
I think it has to be with how Gowdy imagined and expressed the lives, thoughts, and experiences of elephants. It may well be that my imagination struggles with animal-based fiction when they’re written along the lines of my second category as I briefly describe at the beginning of this review. For example, Gowdy uses a system to name the elephants—imagined as their creation—in which they’re called, for example, She-Scares, She-Demands, and She-Drawls-And-Drawls. In a footnote on page 41, she explains:
When a family grows overly large, one of the older cows may break away—taking her calves, grandcalves and younger sisters with her—to start a new branch of the family. In order to name itself, this branch will double the family sound. A breakaway family splitting off from a family that is already double-sounded will call itself (for example) the Second She-D’s-and-D’s. Individual cow names are occasionally doubled within a family unit if it is deemed appropriate for a young cow to be named after an older still-living relative.
This is admirable for the author who exercises her imagination to create an elephant world but tedious for the reader who (well, I did) longs for a more digestible set of names. I also found the idea behind the so-called white bone as a nod to the direction of a faith belief system for elephants to be, well, gratuitous. Some aspects, however, did ring true for me even if they may appear to be, at first blush, implausible. Science has proved, for example, that elephants communicate at great lengths and at frequencies beyond our ability to experience. Consequently, it seems to me to be entirely plausible that elephants can communicate telepathically, which they do in this novel.
Despite these and other misgivings, I persevered with the novel and at times found myself very emotionally engaged and distressed by it. There are sections in which Gowdy movingly describes the violence humans (“hindleggers�) do to elephants and the trauma they consequently live with. These are the novel’s most vivid moments and alone make it well worth the read.
I have just finished rereading The White Bone by Barbara Gowdy and written a second review without familiarising myself with first review published above. (published 16 August, 2021)
Books come with reputations created by reviews, personal recommendations, or frequent references to them in related readings. Reputations may disadvantage a book, however, as they may emerge as reading disappointments. Nonetheless, the book can still be appreciated as an important work, well-written, if not enjoyable or satisfying. Researching and writing the biography of Topsy requires me to undertake extensive background reading. Barbara Gowdy’s novel about African elephants called The White Bone is of particular interest to me. I’m intrigued with the challenge of how I am going to represent Topsy, including her voice, in my narrative. I have read many novels over the years that feature animals as primary characters, including Richard Adams� Watership Down to one of my favorites, R K Narayan’s A Tiger for Malgudi. Authors take very different approaches to representing animals in the stories they tell. The specter of anthropomorphism is never very far away. Centrally present with Adams’s rabbits but more subdued with Narayan’s wild tiger who is caught and forced to perform in a circus. Gowdy’s approach to the elephants, the characters in this novel, is interesting but ultimately unconvincing. She provides a map of the terrain the elephants range over. There are family trees for different branches of elephant generations. There’s even a glossary of terms for converting elephant-speak to human understanding. While this is commendable work. Gowdy is to be congratulated on imagining elephants as individuals living in their world. While I wouldn’t want to dissuade anyone from reading this book, I cannot give it a ringing endorsement. Gowdy’s elephants and their world simply didn’t work for me. I was generally unconvinced by how the elephants and their behavior and culture were described. The narrative didn’t engage me mostly because its flow was erratic and confusing and seemed incomplete. I take no comfort in criticizing this book as it’s an important work of imagination. Perhaps I should return to it for a second read in about a year.
June 6, 2012
Not an easy, or a fun, but a deep, important, thought-provoking read. Gowdy attempted the impossible feat of getting into the head of another creature--an elephant. This already is a huge stretch and its incredibly difficult to do it well, and to do it in a way that the reader feels comfortable taking the narrator seriously. Gowdy worked extremely hard to get out of her own head and into another being's umwelt.
She did an almost miraculous job. She obviously did a formidable amount of research on African savanna and forest elephant physiology, behavior, ecology, and culture. But she transcended the facts. She didn't set out to create a factual account of what it's like to be an elephant. We can, obviously, never really know. (Or at least, not with the tools we currently have.) She is not actually positing, for instance, that elephants are telepathic, or that she has zoned in on the precise nature of elephant society, naming, and mating rituals. These are the tools she uses to create a three-dimensional world that feels like a place a protagonist--an elephant protagonist--could live. It would be easy to get caught up in the details of the world she's created, and I'm sure people will, have, and do. But the important part is that she created a world that feels real, and real-feeling minds to inhabit it.
In coming up with completely alien and original myths, systems of naming, perspectives, believes, and webs of relationships, Gowdy transports us to the world of what it might feel like to be an elephant, and she makes that world so real that transitioning to it--picking up the book and putting it down again--one encounters some turbulence. She's created a plausible, impressive elephantine world, and I can't commend her enough for that.
Gowdy faithfully focuses on senses and subjects elephants might care about, and would think of far differently than we do. She consistently describes what things smell like, and what they sound or feel like. She talks a lot about food, and other animals, and defecation. She executes the astonishing task of stepping outside her human set of assumptions to look at the world as someone else might. This enables us, for instance, to look at a derelict piece of human detritus () and see a miraculous relic, able to focus the spirits of those who encounter it.
The story she tells in this world isn't a happy one. It's full of loss and confusion and grief. She makes us feel what it might feel like to be an elephant in Africa today, beset by inexplicable and inescapable changes to their landscape and their lives, the devastation (poaching, human conflict, habitat loss) as random as the blessings (protected parks, and humans who want nothing more than to quietly gaze at elephants). She deliberately leaves a lot unexplained.
Gowdy didn't set out to entertain or amuse. She set out to make the point that, as Joy Adamson paraphrases on the back of the book, the reality perceive by humans isn't the only one. In losing elephants, we're losing not only a species (even a keystone species) or a niche in an ecosystem, or a point in a web; we're losing a whole world.
Not an easy or a happy book, but an important one. Somewhere in the reviews someone complained that there's nothing we can do to help elephants except to donate money and not buy ivory. That's not true. There's so much more you can do (involving legislation, and making conscious choices, and supporting the infrastructure for humans that will make the elephants' lives better), but I would argue that even caring, just knowing about the problem and caring, is the first step to making any sort of difference at all.
I highly recommend this book.
She did an almost miraculous job. She obviously did a formidable amount of research on African savanna and forest elephant physiology, behavior, ecology, and culture. But she transcended the facts. She didn't set out to create a factual account of what it's like to be an elephant. We can, obviously, never really know. (Or at least, not with the tools we currently have.) She is not actually positing, for instance, that elephants are telepathic, or that she has zoned in on the precise nature of elephant society, naming, and mating rituals. These are the tools she uses to create a three-dimensional world that feels like a place a protagonist--an elephant protagonist--could live. It would be easy to get caught up in the details of the world she's created, and I'm sure people will, have, and do. But the important part is that she created a world that feels real, and real-feeling minds to inhabit it.
In coming up with completely alien and original myths, systems of naming, perspectives, believes, and webs of relationships, Gowdy transports us to the world of what it might feel like to be an elephant, and she makes that world so real that transitioning to it--picking up the book and putting it down again--one encounters some turbulence. She's created a plausible, impressive elephantine world, and I can't commend her enough for that.
Gowdy faithfully focuses on senses and subjects elephants might care about, and would think of far differently than we do. She consistently describes what things smell like, and what they sound or feel like. She talks a lot about food, and other animals, and defecation. She executes the astonishing task of stepping outside her human set of assumptions to look at the world as someone else might. This enables us, for instance, to look at a derelict piece of human detritus () and see a miraculous relic, able to focus the spirits of those who encounter it.
The story she tells in this world isn't a happy one. It's full of loss and confusion and grief. She makes us feel what it might feel like to be an elephant in Africa today, beset by inexplicable and inescapable changes to their landscape and their lives, the devastation (poaching, human conflict, habitat loss) as random as the blessings (protected parks, and humans who want nothing more than to quietly gaze at elephants). She deliberately leaves a lot unexplained.
Gowdy didn't set out to entertain or amuse. She set out to make the point that, as Joy Adamson paraphrases on the back of the book, the reality perceive by humans isn't the only one. In losing elephants, we're losing not only a species (even a keystone species) or a niche in an ecosystem, or a point in a web; we're losing a whole world.
Not an easy or a happy book, but an important one. Somewhere in the reviews someone complained that there's nothing we can do to help elephants except to donate money and not buy ivory. That's not true. There's so much more you can do (involving legislation, and making conscious choices, and supporting the infrastructure for humans that will make the elephants' lives better), but I would argue that even caring, just knowing about the problem and caring, is the first step to making any sort of difference at all.
I highly recommend this book.
June 29, 2023
This book would've been so much better if a quarter of it wasn't about elephant snatch
February 28, 2013
Gowdy did a good job imagining the world from an elephant's perspective (I think!) as she created a culture, language and landscape that fit well with her story. For me however, the book was quite depressing even though there is always a shred of hope and long memory to guide the elephants over the landscape. The setting is a time of severe drought and human poaching which seems endless and that is the part that I found quite depressing. Some folks found the book to end on a positive and hopeful note but for me it did not as I thought the ending was more futile energy leading to further death and this is why I could not give it more stars. The stars are for her imaginings.
I will try another by this author to see what else she can do.
I will try another by this author to see what else she can do.
April 17, 2016
I just finished a second read of the book (first one in 2003). Reading the book 13 years later, as elephant populations continue to dwindle due to poaching, I found it even more discouraging than I did the first time. It is a unique book - written from the perspective of elephants - and it may not be for everyone. I am a natural history fan and an unmitigated species geek, so appreciated the level of detail and accuracy in terms of elephant life history and behaviour. The author has obviously taken a lot of artistic license as well, but it fit well with the story.
March 13, 2007
wonderful tale of hope and mystery written from the perspective of the elephant clan.
the "characters" are well developed, and complex, just like communities found in the human world.
I especially loved the family tree graphic found in the front of the book that allows you to keep all the members straight as the book progresses over several generations.
every time I see an elephant now, I reflect back to this book and wonder what is going on inside their ancient mind...
the "characters" are well developed, and complex, just like communities found in the human world.
I especially loved the family tree graphic found in the front of the book that allows you to keep all the members straight as the book progresses over several generations.
every time I see an elephant now, I reflect back to this book and wonder what is going on inside their ancient mind...
January 20, 2013
Unlike any other book I've read. Haunting, moving, surreal and incredibly imaginative. Give this book a chance - it takes some time to get into. At first I found the elephant 'lingo' to be irritating, but once I got past that I was completely absorbed. The characters are complex and convincing and their struggle for survival is heartbreaking.
January 25, 2016
Amazing, beautiful, tragic.
February 21, 2013
I know this book is nuts. It's told from the point of view of elephants, for god sake. But it's magical and heartbreaking. And it changed the way I think about animals in the world.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 418 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.