I loved The Elephant Whisperer. Whomever wrote the book (Lawrence Anthony or Graham Spence), the writing was fantastic. Additionally, I loved learning about African preserves, about safaris and about elephants. Many reviewers wondered about the title of the book. The Elephant Whisperer. Was Anthony saying that he was an elephant whisperer? Did have a special way of communicating with the wild elephant herd he saved from being killed? Or was Nana, the matriarch of the herd the true elephant whisperer? I tend to think the latter is the answer, that Nana was the one who had the special skill.
This is a memoir by Lawrence Anthony about his experience accepting a 'rogue' herd of elephants into the reserve he managed, Thula Thula. The matriarch was an escape artist, the teenage bull had witnessed his mother and baby sibling shot - and he had no male role model. The other elephants were traumatized and angry. Little did Anthony know that two of the elephants were pregnant. While Anthony worked at saving the herd from those who wished to kill them (both poachers and other conservationists) and from themselves, the elephants taught him life lessons about love, loyalty, and family.
The memoir was focused on the elephants primarily, Thula Thula secondly, and very little about Anthony and his wife, Francoise. The book was such a satisfying read and I wanted to learn more about the man. A quick Google search told me about Anthony's death and about how the herd, even without being "told" of his death, they somehow knew. And the traveled miles and miles to show respects for the man who saved them.
This was a 5-star goodreads book for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending this book to anyone. I thank whomever recommended this to my community book club and I look forward to our discussion tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment