Leaving Time (with Bonus Novella Larger Than Life)

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I have loved Jodi Picoult's novels for a long time now, and am always eagerly awaiting the release of the next one. Ten years after her mother went missing, Jenna sets out to find her with a retired detective and a psychic. They are very intellectual and emotional animals, and the discussions about how they dealt with grief was heart wrenching. They are as unique in their personalities as humans are, and just as you would not assume that two random humans would become close friends, you should not assume that two elephants will bond simply because they are both elephants.

If I knew back then what I know now, I could have told the mayor that just because you stick an elephant in proximity with others does not mean they will form friendships. While his gut instinct had told him to dig deeper, his partner, Donny, had warned him off investigating further, preferring to bury an inconsistency in the evidence they had procured. The Sanctuary was where Jenna had been born, where her mother and father Thomas Metcalf worked together, caring for their beloved elephants, and learning of the close familial bond which elephant families share.She describes personal experiences that helped shape the story, including her own familial relationships and her trip to Botswana, where she learned about the urgent crisis facing elephants. The book contains a lot of information about elephants: how they live, what they eat, how they behave, how they play, how they grieve for deceased loved ones, and so on. It does remind me of a certain film from a few years ago, and you'll know exactly what film I'm talking about when you realise what the twist is. Located just two miles from the Connecticut River and south of Dartmouth College, the sanctuary serves as a rescue mission for “problem elephants” zoo and circus owners can no longer control.

It does not matter who you are or what kind of personal relationship you’ve forged with an elephant: Come between her and her calf, and she will kill you. I've averaged my rating: all things elephant related are 5-stars, with the people stuff being 3-stars. I know there is supposed to be some sort of amazing twist ending to this story, but honestly: these characters were so unlikable and so completely unbelievable that I truly couldn't care less what twisty ending I'm missing here. The richness and confidence of her prose compels you to turn the pages, and before you know it you have been whisked away into the characters' worlds.If you try to do this then I promise you that if you are successful then you must be some kind of genius, or maybe you have psychic powers of your own, because the ending is so unexpected in its audacity and suddenness that it made me catch my breath. Their grieving rituals are remarkable too – an elephant will have a change in behavior if it comes across the bones of another elephant – getting quiet and reverential, and the tail and ears droop.