The Elephant Keeper (Jill)
The Elephant Keeper
By Christopher Nicholson
Completed August 2, 2009
For an animal lover like me, it’s hard to dislike The Elephant Keeper by Christopher Nicholson. The main character, Tom Page, is a likeable guy, who devoted his life to care for two elephants in late 18th century England. The elephants were all personality – characters that you loved and wanted the best for.
The Elephant Keeper, however, is the perfect example on how interesting characters alone can’t make a good book. The writer must add other ingredients – writing style, plot development and credibility – to the book to make it a story. Unfortunately, these final key elements were lacking in Nicholson’s debut novel.
What frustrated me about The Elephant Keeper was that Nicholson had these elements in the first book of the book. This is the section written by Tom as a “history” of the elephants under his care. Then, the story shifted to the present day, and the whole thing lost its luster. I questioned Tom’s reliability as the narrator, found his conversations with the elephant Jenny to be troubling and was disappointed that the ending tied no loose ends. If only Nicholson could have kept everything as a “history,” I think the story would have fared better.
Where I give Nicholson credit, though, was his depiction of Jenny. Her calm demeanor as an observer of the human race was insightful. Like Rose from Water for Elephants, Jenny had a sense of right and wrong, a wicked sense of humor and love for those who loved her. She was Tom’s faithful companion and the one constant thread throughout the novel.
If you can take The Elephant Keeper at face value – a story about a man and his elephants – than you will enjoy this book. It’s a nice escape into historic England and love between humans and animals. ( 
)
sounds like a debut that needed a bit more work. thanks for the honest review.