The Elephant Keepers' Children
by:
Peter Høeg (author)
Martin Aitken (author)
From the author of Smilla's Sense of Snow, an epic novel about faith and the magic of everyday life.Told from the precocious perspective of fourteen-year-old Peter, The Elephant Keepers' Children is about three siblings and how they deal with life alongside their eccentric parents. Peter's father...
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From the author of Smilla's Sense of Snow, an epic novel about faith and the magic of everyday life.Told from the precocious perspective of fourteen-year-old Peter, The Elephant Keepers' Children is about three siblings and how they deal with life alongside their eccentric parents. Peter's father is a vicar, his mother is an artisan, and both are equally and profoundly devout. The family lives on the (fictional) island of Finø, where people of all religious faiths coexist peacefully. Yet, nothing is at it seems. When Peter's parents suddenly go missing, Peter and his siblings fear the worst--has their parents' relentless quest to boost church attendance finally put them in danger? Told with poignancy and humor, The Elephant Keepers' Children is a fascinating exploration of fundamentalism versus spiritual freedom, the vicissitudes of romantic and familial love, and the triumph of the human spirit.
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Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9781590514900 (1590514904)
ASIN: 1590514904
Publish date: October 23rd 2012
Publisher: Other Press
Pages no: 502
Edition language: English
Category:
Novels,
Humor,
Funny,
European Literature,
Cultural,
Book Club,
Literary Fiction,
Mystery,
Family,
Religion,
Contemporary,
Scandinavian Literature,
Denmark
I really liked this book. And, yes I do understand that it was very coincidental and that the actions were too convenient and that looking at it completely objectively I should only give it two stars. But I absolutely loved the tone. I found Peter to be hysterically funny and his quest for enlighten...
I think it took a genius to write this book and make it readable, likeable and fun. It could easily have been a book tossed into the dustbin. The story mocks every convention of modern society in tongue-in-cheek ways with hilarious plays on words even with the names of characters and places, some al...
I simply couldn't get into this book no matter how hard I tried. I found the characters, the setting and the storyline to be incredibly bland and vanilla! Although, I have a love of Nordic Noir, I find Peter Hoeg's novels to be my least favorite of the genre. I thought maybe I was off, but with the ...
Couldn't figure it out in the beginning, figured it was the translation (I've been having a hard time with translations this year) but then I let go. Once I did that I enjoyed the ride. It's a whimsical, quirky story involving a young teen boy & his siblings looking for their parents who've disappea...