Elephant Winter (Paperback)

by Kim Echlin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Elephant Winter is full of hushed wonders and harsher realities. When 30-year-old Sophie Walker returns to Canada to be with her dying mother, she thinks her stay will be temporary. While the two "settle into the daily business of waiting," she is drawn to her unlikely neighbors, the keeper of the Ontario Safari and his five elephants. Soon enough, in fact, Sophie falls for both Jo and his charges, and decides to record and explore elephant language and mores. Even in captivity, Sophie finds, these creatures strive for the greatest happiness and good for all, a far cry from the individualism of humans.

One visitor in particular is an almost allegorical representation of self-interest at any cost, and Jo seems incapable of banishing him. That would be Alecto Ryle. This unwelcome guest turns out to have made his reputation on sadistic experiments and autopsy reports, not to mention the massacres that enabled them--and now he's hanging around the Safari, waiting for one or more of the animals to die.

In her first novel, Kim Echlin can occasionally be expository, particularly in Sophie's five-part Elephant-English Dictionary. This is a very different beast from the glossary Barbara Gowdy created for The White Bone, but it also has its beauties. Describing one salute, Sophie admits that most keepers "hold in disdain people who romanticize elephants, but I have seen my elephants singing this evening song into the grey Ontario winter twilight. Their bodies appear to soften and shift like clouds on the rocky fields." Though Elephant Winter's human factor is itself gripping, Echlin's evocation of the intimate rapport between her heroine and the creatures she inherits can be sublime. After the matriarch, Kezia, loses her baby, she unshackles herself and escapes.

Through the darkness I finally saw her body, swaying down the road where horse farms and vegetable farms were strung like beads through the fields. She walked slowly and alone on that dark country road as if she were memorizing something. Drops of milk hung frozen from her breast.

Terrified that Kezia will panic, Sophie realizes that the best thing to do is let her take charge, and puts her arm out: "After an infinite five seconds, she reached out, hooked her trunk around my arm, slowly turned and began to lead me home." Readers not intrigued by elephants or by the possibility of deep communication will not be taken by this lyrical novel--but are there such people? --Kerry Fried --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
The appealing protagonist of this engaging first novel (published in 1997 by Viking in Canada) learns the language of elephants, creating a dictionary of elephant speech to support her theory that elephants communicate not unlike humans, expressing happiness, grief, anger, joy, contentment and melancholy. Sophie Walker is 30 when she returns home to southern Ontario from Zimbabwe to care for her dying mother, a wildlife painter whose unconventional life has inspired Sophie to pursue her own career as a world-traveling art teacher. Challenged by a harsh Canadian winter and the daunting role of caregiver, Sophie responds eagerly to the attentions of rough-hewn Jo Mann, the elephant keeper at a neighboring tourist park, and signs on as barn hand. They fall in love, and soon Sophie discovers she's pregnant. Enter Alecto Rikes, a sinister animal physiologist, whose academic ambitions eclipse his humane instincts, and who seeks to perform an elephant autopsy at any cost. When a male pachyderm turns violent, Alecto kills him, saving Jo's life but breaking his spirit. Seriously wounded, he leaves Sophie to deal with her mother's death and the impending birth of their child. In a poignant twist, a grieving female elephant is the only source of emotional support for Sophie. Echlin's solid devotion to detail makes for an original and engrossing narrative. In prose both eloquent and controlled, she fearlessly links the often anguished sanctity of the mother/daughter bond with the spiritual affinity humans can feel for animals. (Apr.) FYI: Echlin completed her doctoral thesis on Ojibway storytelling. She has lived and traveled in France, the Marshall Islands, China and Zimbabwe. Currently, she resides in Toronto, where she has produced TV documentaries for the CBC.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Global; 1 edition (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140263500
• ISBN-13: 978-0140263503
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,874,089 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine story, wonderfully told, by truly gifted writer., April 15, 2000

By	W. Hepburn "elefuntz" (Sarasota, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Elephant Winter: A Novel (Hardcover)

A fine story, wonderfully told, by a truly accomplished writer. Deeply moving tale seems more real than fiction. About a young woman who returns home to help her mother go through the last dying stages of cancer and herself becomes involved with a small herd of captive elephants living nearby at a private tourist attraction. I won't give away the details but urge you to read this book if you enjoy elephants and experiencing emotions.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A LYRICAL EVOCATION OF ELEPHANTS AND LOVE, September 6, 1999

By	ATTICUS (NEW YORK, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elephant Winter: A Novel (Hardcover)

How could any reader fail to be impressed by the originality and beauty of Ms. Eichlin's novel? A friend who has devoted his life to elephants gave me the book in Botswana's Okavango. I was immediately captivated by the author's almost mystical feeling for elephants. Her dictionary of elephant sounds is a triumph which several people who have spent their lives around elephants attest to. Altogether, this is a breathtaking opening act for a talent who will be around for a long long time.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gifted writer, spectacular in her love, April 19, 2002

By	Catherine M. Dorkin "willow100cm" (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Elephant Winter: A Novel (Hardcover)

'Elephant Winter' is about a young woman who returns home to Canada to look after her ailing mother. Her mother is dying of cancer but is determined to continue to do things she would normally do. The daughter, tired of being inside the house with artwork and bugies, soon becomes friends with Jo, the keeper of the elephants. He's a quiet, shallow man who worms his way into Sophie's effections.
A novel about love, lust, family and elephants, it is amazing to see the sameness that mammels and humans have. I loved Saba, Keiaz and Lear, the elephants. The elephants were not protrayed as animals but as humans with feelings and understandings.
It would be so lovely to be an owner of an elephant and feel the fingers of the trunk on your skin. To become to understand this great beast of nature.
The majestic creatures were interpreted by Echlin through sounds and songs. I particularly enjoyed the dictionary that she provided so that we could learn along with her. Although we will never be able to understand an elephant, it was interesting to learn nonetheless.
The relationship between Jo and Sophie was incredible, rich with agony and love. Nearly pure love.
Read this tale for yourself and you too will fall in love with Echlin and elephants.