The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony

Elephants are large, very large and when angry or encroaching on human habitation can cause chaos and carnage in their wake.  With the growth of human population in Africa the land that elephants can safely roam is shrinking.  Lawrence Anthony had set up a small game reserve Thula Thula, S Africa when he was approached and asked if he would like to take in a small herd, 7 animals, of rogue elephants who were angry, distressed and aggressive. He would and did.  This book is the story of how Lawrence with patience came to gain the trust of the matriarch and therefore the herd through watching, understanding and 'talking' to them.  His aim was to habituate the herd enough that they would tolerate humans near, but not close by, as part of the moving safaris he offered on his reserve.  

The book generated an interesting discussion about animal behavior, the various techniques that other animal 'whisperers' use.  We found the book entertaining although lacking in detail - for instance, how did Lawrence and his wife buy Thula Thula?  What sparked his interested in big game and game reserves and a bit more about the local tribes and the impact reserves like this have upon their lives would have been interesting.    I suppose that many of these details are in other books that he has written but it would have been nice to place the story in a wider context. 

Below a link to

Short interview with Lawrence Anthony 


Words used to describe it:
   enjoyable tale, surprisingly good, loved one paragraph, a bit episodic, enjoyed it, interesting story

Marks out of 10:
   between 6 - 9

Next Book

The Last Telegram by Liz Trenow

Next Meeting

23 October

at

53 Bishop's Road, SW6

The Grand Banks Cafe by George Simenon

Number 8 of the Inspector Maigret detective novels, and the first that most of us had read.  Leisurely paced and intimately detailed it was an excellent holiday read.  Who killed the captain and why was there a woman on board the Ocean's last disastrous voyage.  Some of us found the translation a little clunky - starting too many sentences with And, was irritating.  The characters and period were skillfully and lightly crafted, although the plot was slight.  We all enjoyed the book although there wasn't much to discuss .  Someone mentioned that the next book of Simenon's that they read - The Yellow Dog, was a much better read.

Thank you Jackie for the delicious food - so glad that I didn't have supper before I came!  You put the bar pretty high.

Words used to describe it:
undemanding, dated, Victorian sensibilities, cabin fever, the other ones are better, atmospheric, familiar and easy, comforting, nostalgic

Marks out of 10:
between 6 - 9

Next book

The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony

Next Meeting

Thursday 25th September at 126 Harbord St