The Elephant's Journey

The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago 2008
Translated by Margaret Jull Costa



It has been a very long time since I’ve sat down to muse about what I’ve read; even longer since I’ve written about it.  

Two months, in fact.

Speaking of facts, the fact is, I just finished reading the same book I started those two long months ago!

Not like me.

Under normal circumstances, when I pick up a book, I read until it’s finished. There are the inevitable stoppages, of course. Kids need to be fed. Husband’s shirts need to be ironed. Tables need to be wiped.

Life doesn’t stop.

Despite life, however, books do get read.

And they get read quickly.

Not this time.

The book at the center of this outlier is The Elephant’s Journey by José Saramago, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

As much as I loved The Elephant’s Journey, reading it was an incredibly “painstaking journey”.

An arduous 203 page read.

I truly did love this book. Honest.

I loved the plot – elephant travelling from Portugal to Austria in the 1500’s, an event that actually took place.

I loved the style – interjections of the narrator, often from another time and place.

I loved the writing – beautiful and quirky.

I loved the characters – for how little they say, they actually say quite a lot.

I loved the cover – almost tapestry-like (see Judging a Book by its Cover).

I DID NOT love the lack of paragraphs, the lack of punctuation, the lack of capital letters, the lack of white space on each and every page. I don’t know if this was a function of the translator (the book was first written in Portuguese), or if this was the author’s intention.

Either way, reading took a lot of concentration.

It was hard!

As a result, I gave myself two diversions in the form of “easy reads”.

My first diversion: Rekindled by Tamera Alexander. The story of a broken marriage put back to right as a result of tragedy.  

Okay, fine. This was a light Christian romance, but it also kept me up until after 2 am one night just so I could finish. (Not even close to what I can say about The Elephant’s Journey.)

I have to admit, used to read books of this genre all the time - now it’s only once in a while when I am in the mood for something ... ummm, light. However, Rekindled was an enjoyable read and it did serve to remind me about grace.

My second diversion: William and Kate A Royal Love Story by Christopher Anderson. The story of William and Kate’s romance, life, etc. No further explanation required, I’m sure.

Call me a romantic at heart, but I quite enjoyed this read - although, how true each account is, I can only wonder.

In my own defence, I come by my interest in the Royals quite naturally. My grandparents were British and loved everything royal, my grandpa shared a birthday with the Queen, and I can vaguely remember when Princess Diana married Prince Charles and even had a Ladybug book about their early life as a couple (minus all the bad stuff, of course!)

Besides, the royal couple just paid a visit to my fair western city earlier this summer.

I returned to The Elephant’s Journey with renewed vigour and now, thankfully, it is done.

The diversions worked.

Success.

I can move onto something a little less intense.

Ahhh.

An accomplished relief.

Reading on...