I didn't like this. The writing felt clunky to me, and the first-person narrative is certainly not helping. Aside from how it was written, I also didn't like what was written. I have some serious doubts about the veracity of the elephant knowledge in this book. I've never ever heard of an elephant picking up a crocodile with its trunk and throwing it against a tree. I don't know about the 'rotate the caretakers' business, but I did think that that whole part was unrealistic. What, they didn't have phones? I guess this was the pre- mobile phone era, but still, are you telling me she would have left no contact information? Why didn't they tell her to get back? Also, she's studying grief in elephants and she doesn't know that young elephants get so attached to their caretakers that they stop eating and die of grief if they leave?

I think this whole thing was supposed to engender emotions, but the only one it caused in me was irritation. ( )

Picoult explores the concept of motherhood and love between a mother and daughter. There are some similarities between the elephant behavior Alice is observing and her own life. Her efforts to save an orphaned baby elephant envelop her, but she is thrown further into turmoil by circumstances concerning her own mother. Too much is left unresolved and too many extraneous things are thrown in the story to make it a cohesive and satisfying tale. ( )

This is a short novella and I really am not sure what to rate it. Parts of it were a 2, 3, and 4 star for me. I guess, I will be adding it to my collection of books without a rating.

This is a short novella and I really am not sure what to rate it. Parts of it were a 2, 3, and 4 star for me. I guess, I will be adding it to my collection of books without a rating.

I downloaded this novella for free from Jodi's newsletter. I didn't read the description because if Jodi wrote it I'm going to read it. I think Jodi is one of the best storytellers of our time. She pulls you into the story so quickly and makes you care for the characters. I have cried reading so many of her books. I didn't with this one but I felt my heart breaking so many times. I didn't realize this is a prequel to Jodi's latest book Leaving Time, which I'm happy to say I will be picking up at the library tonight!

This is about Alice who lives on a game reserve in Botswana studying elephants. She sees poachers attack a herd where an elephant calf is orphaned. She quickly rescues the calf even though it is against the rules. This story is all about the relationship between Alice and the elephant calf. It's about the relationship between Alice and her Mom and it's about the relationship between Alice and her Botswana guide Neo. This is a beautifully written story that will leave you wanting more and will make you look differently at elephants and animals in general. ( )