Thursday, February 17, 2022

Book Review - The Elephant of Belfast; S. Kirk Walsh

 

Blackstone Audio - 2021 - Library Loan
Narrator - Charlotte McCurry - very good
(10 hours - 51 min.)

Hettie Quin is a 26 year old zookeeper at the Bellevue zoo in Belfast, Northern Ireland - the years are (1940-1941).  Hettie is a young woman who has always felt more comfortable with animals than people.  Her home life is not a happy.  Hettie's sister died in childbirth and her father, a man who drinks too much and seeks out other women has moved out. Her mother lives in a perpetual state of melancholy now.  It also doesn't help that the year is 1940 and everyone in Belfast feels the escalating tension between British loyalists and the Irish Republican army.

When Violet, a 3 year old Indian elephant arrives at the zoo from Ceylon, Hettie and Violet develop a special bond and a growing dependance on one another especially as Germany begins a blitz on Belfast. In the process Hettie's mom also goes missing.

Based on the true story of Denise Austin and a baby elephant named Sheila, The Elephant of Belfast reminded me (in a less intense kind of way) of The Zookeeper's Wife, a book and movie which I really enjoyed.   As a life long animal lover, I never really considered the impact of war on animals until reading these kinds of stories.  Although this book wasn't perfect, I enjoyed it a lot and thought it was a mostly heartwarming story that reminds us how love and having a purpose can give us hope in difficult times.  I was happy I had a chance to try this audio.

Rating - 4/5 stars

24 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this one a lot even though I found myself wishing for more time spent between the young elephant and Hettie. It's the first novel I've read that was set in Northern Ireland during WWII, and I found that interesting. Reminds me a little of the hungry young elephants in the Algiers zoo that me and a few runner-friends carried apples to on our daily runs up the hill to the zoo every morning. The animals in that zoo were very thin in the early nineties during all the problems that country was having during its own version of a civil war.

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    1. That is so interesting Sam and, yes, I wish there was less and Hettie and .....more about her and Violet.

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  2. Everything I have read about this book is positive. It seems to be almost universally liked by those who read it. I'm glad that you enjoyed as well.

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    1. This was a nice lighter story IMO - not heavy in war or violence - I almost wish it had a bit more substance.

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  3. I love elephants! (I even got to ride on one once.) So I really can't wait to read this one. And I don't know hardly anything about the German Blitz on Belfast, so that intrigues me, too.

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  4. I was thinking it would be a heavy read but, it really wasn't. I do wish there was more about Violet and Hettie as Sam mentioned above.

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  5. Lark, it is a good story but, it is very light in the history arena. Still a good story though.

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  6. Sound like a good one. Yes, war is awful for the animals too, they've no recourse most of the time.

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    1. True, when there isn't food to feed humans the animals are sacrificed fist.

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  7. This book sounds appealing. Since elephants can live a long time and it is based on a true story, I wonder if the elephant is alive today and if so where it is.

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  8. Northern Ireland in WW2 is not something you read about very often and this is an interesting take, so I'll keep an eye out for this one.

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  9. Everything I've read about this one has been positive, and as Cath mentioned, the setting is unusual one for WWII.

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  10. This sounds wonderful, Diane. I do love animals and can only imagine that war disrupts their lives in ways humans may not realize. I will have to look for this one.

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    1. I think you might enjoy this one - not a real violent time of war story.

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  11. This is on my list and I'm glad to see it was a winner for you. Hope it doesn't take me too much longer to get to it...

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    1. It wasn't perfect JoAnn but, I went with the flow and enjoyed it.

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  12. Animals offer we humans so many good things. I'm glad you enjoyed this one.

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  13. Whenever I hear about animals and WWII bombings, I think of the beautiful children's book The Faithful Elephants about the Tokyo zoo. If your library has a copy, I highly suggest it, but be warned, you will cry.

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    1. Thanks for this suggests - I'm a brave one, I'd like to read it.

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  14. I need to find this on audio. It sounds interesting and definitely a different premise.

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