Elefantpassernes børn

by Peter Høeg

Mens Peter og Tilte er på besøg hos deres storebror Hans i København, forsvinder deres forældre. De skulle have været til La Gomera, men har tilsyneladende ikke forladt Danmark. Det er ikke første gang, forældrene forsvinder. Sidste gang var de i konflikt med myndighederne. Selvsamme myndigheder retter nu søgelyset mod Peter og Tilte, der bliver taget i forvaring på et behandlingshjem på Finø, men det lykkes dem ved list at undslippe.

På flugt fra politiet, om kap med tiden, gennem adelige, kriminelle og religiøse miljøer, søger børnene at finde ud af, hvad der er blevet af deres forældre. Gradvis finder de små spor, som peger i retning af en storstilet forbrydelse.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Denmark, Audiobook, Scandinavian Literature, Book Club, Contemporary

379 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2010

About the author

Peter Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before becoming a writer, he worked variously as a sailor, ballet dancer, and actor. He published his first novel, A History of Danish Dreams (1988), to positive reviews. However, it was Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1992), a million-copy best seller, that earned Høeg immediate and international literary celebrity. His books have been published in more than thirty countries.

Reviews

[Kelesea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I regret to say that I didn't really enjoy this book, The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Hoeg, that I won on Goodreads, and I'll tell you why:

-the prose was overwrought and overcomplicated, and it made me feel like I was stupid, and keep in mind, the narrator is a fourteen year old boy, and shouldn't sound like he is a Rhodes scholar
-there are far too many characters to keep track of and I kept getting confused
-because the prose was so confusing to me, I barely even absorbed what was happening
-I honestly felt the author was trying to purposely use huge words to sound intelligent, when in reality he didn't have to do such a thing
-it came across to me as a total condemnation of religion and society that depends on 'a higher power

I really tried to give it a chance, but it just wasn't for me.

[Amina | PAPER/PLATES · Rating 5 out of 5]

People who know me well know that one of my least favorite topics of conversation is religion. It varies in importance from person to person, so I find it impolite to probe into the religious workings or non-workings of the majority of individuals. Perhaps this has something to do with the extremes to which faith is wielded by a variety of people; why is it that talk of God is so frequently usurped as a means to an end rather than a means to improvement? It is this question that is poised so playfully at the center of The Elephant Keepers’ Children by Peter Høeg.

Skip straight to the recipe inspired by this book.

Fourteen-year-old Peter Finø is brokenhearted. His dream girl, Conny, has been whisked away from their fictional Danish island, Finø, by stardom. His parents work in the church as pastor and organist and have a history of, shall we way, overdoing it in an effort to boost church attendance. Peter’s older sister Tilte is obsessed with death and, as such, constantly thinking of ways to prepare herself and others for that eternal eventuality. His brother Hans is an oblivious stargazer whose infrequent gear shifts into rage could kill a man. The motley crew of characters is somewhat jumbled and happy, as families are, but let’s not forget Basker III, the Finø family’s pet dog who is always around but somehow never a burden.

Faith, or rather, a variety of faiths is one of Finø’s defining factors – along with its mix of churches, 18th century abodes and a deep, dark forest. On Finø, Christianity is king, but many other religions exist peacefully alongside it and that means the children, more than anyone, are accepting of differing perspectives. This attitude is put to the test when a vast gathering of all the world’s religions, The Grand Synod, takes the stage in Copenhagen, and a dismal plan is set in place to derail this global expression of religious collaboration and tolerance. As Peter, Tilte and the others slowly unravel the mystery of what threatens the Grand Synod, they must face their own fears, challenge authority and, worst of all, figure out their parents’ role in the whole thing.

The Elephant Keepers’ Children is a sort of meandering romp through a series of serious topics such as religion, death, drugs, crime, and sex. With little Peter at the helm, though, that which would feel heavy around the dinner table is surprisingly light and enjoyable through the eyes of a precocious teenager. Snarky, self-contradictory, soul-searching and unexpectedly wise, Peter is a lovable hero, whose bravery exceeds his size and whose deadpan criticism is so funny, it makes you wish you would be the subject of it sometime.

Classically speaking, detectives are not 14-year-old footballers and their 16-year-old aspiring therapist sisters. But Peter Finø and company lay that slow, clue-based, methodical investigator archetype to rest. Despite numerous flashbacks, asides, and ostensibly irrelevant details, The Elephant Keepers’ Children keeps a steady pace, tackling at once the notion that children are less wise than adults, as well as many of the social issues that worry society today.

This is the sort of book that you want to see as a movie, if only to fall in love with the boy Peter and witness his hijinks as he goes from discovering his parents’ disappearance to preventing a catastrophe. Then you realize that without the side trips into Peter and Tilte’s pasts, without the history and the anecdotes, this story would be flat, uninteresting, and typical. But each of Peter’s digressions comes full circle, and it is the mastery of weaving in Høeg’s storytelling that makes The Elephant Keepers’ Children pure magic.

[Andris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es nezinu, ko es gaidīju no izslavētā Hēga, bet "Ziloņkopēju bērni" mani pārsteidza nesagatavotu.
Farss ar reliģisko filozofiju piesitienu, kas norisinās Astrīdas Lindgrēnas skandināvu palaidņu universā. Visumā jau labi, bet kaut kā bija "par daudz" sajūtas, pārāk intensīvi un blīvi tas vels tika dzīts.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very much enjoy this author's work, even though I generally have to read a title at least twice to be anywhere close to understanding the complexities of his ideas and plots.

So I was not sure what to expect here and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was 'getting it' right from the start.

This is the story of Peter, older sister Tilte, older brother Hans, and what happens in their lives when their parents disappear. It is full of fantastical characters and events, and quite often stretches the reader's ability to believe that everything happening is plausible.

It is also hilariously funny, thought provoking, and outrageously goofy all at the same time. I was having a blast until I got to about page 350 or so. Then the story took a turn that I simply could not justify, and it all began to feel forced, as if the author wanted out of his own book and was coming up with something, anything in order to get his people where they needed to be in order to be done.

Until that point I was thinking 4 or maybe even 5 stars. But both my interest and my willingness to believe fizzled and I have decided three stars is plenty. And the book will go onto my 'dar' shelf to be given away. No matter how much I might have liked Peter and his bizarre family for most of the book, I would not be able to re-read, knowing what I know about the final chapters.

This is the fifth book by this author that I have read (Smillas's Sense Of Snow was pre-GR) and the third that I was disappointed with. I think that is enough of a signal from The Book Universe that enough is enough. Someday I will re-re-read Smilla's to be able to write a review for it, and I will probably read Borderliners again because I was terribly impressed with that one, but otherwise my adventures with Peter are through.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I have found a door out of the prison.”

So begins this tale full of unexpected humor, adventure, intrigue, and the search for transcendence. Peter, Tilte, and Hans grew up in a rectory. Their father is the pastor of a church on the tiny island of Fino, and their mother plays the organ when she’s not busy inventing gadgets. Both of their parents are elephant keepers, by which the children mean that they “have something inside them that is much bigger than themselves and over which they have no control.” This has led, in the past, to the concoction of fake miracles and at least one brush with the law. When their parents disappear, the children know that the elephants inside them must be driving them to do something desperate.

Peter tells the story, though he is largely dragged along by his older sister, Tilte, who says that teachers only complain about her “because they feel squeezed by the breadth of my personality.” This personality and her ability to turn every situation on its head with a few words add a sense of madcap hilarity to the proceedings as the children escape from the authorities, search for clues to their parent’s plans, and enact a rescue mission.

The story is told conversationally, and with multiple digressions per chapter, so that at times the whole thing can seem like a labyrinth of words. But the tangents are rarely pointless, even if the point is something more philosophical than immediately relevant to the plot. Be prepared to go along for the ride, even when it’s unclear where you’re heading.

As they travel in search of an answer to their problem, they meet characters from a variety of religious backgrounds, the island of Fino being a virtual paradise of religious diversity. Most of the people they meet end up helping them, willingly or not, because these children are difficult to deny.

“There is a verse of the Koran,” says one character. “It says that small devils are often the worst. And yet they require the greatest mercy.”

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving this 2 stars even though this was a DNF - some readers will enjoy wading through the dense prose, the constant diversions and the overlong sentences more than I did. What I got out of the first 1/4 of the book was this was a world populated by slightly quirky people, with some sort of magical realism going on. Not paranormal, but more psychological magic.

Here's one reason for the DNF: all too often our hero/narrator says "I'll get to that in a moment" or "I'll explain that later" (in much more ornate language). Other reasons? I didn't buy that Tilte was such a force of nature, or that this island was so filled with bizarre people (a Buddhist nun/phone sex guru/computer expert all rolled in one).

ARC provided by publisher.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephen King once wrote an article describing why we crave horror stories, concluding that the darker cravings of one’s nature can be suppressed as long as we occasionally indulge those desires. E.g., you can keep the alligators under your mind’s trap door “as long as you remember to feed the gators.”

So, if Mr. King is to be trusted (and with his imagination for dark things, I would trust him on this front) we all have a split nature with our “gators” and the nice world of churches and daisies that we want to show our children. In Peter Høeg’s The Elephant Keepers’ Children, those foibles are called elephants, and they impact those we love far more than we’re sometimes willing to admit even to ourselves. We’re all elephant keepers. Høeg’s quiet observations about human nature, casually tossed in amid a wild adventure tale filled with humor and voice, make readers wonder: what is my elephant?

Set on the fictional idyllic island of Finø and in the twisted streets of Copenhagen, the novel is told in quick-paced present tense by fourteen-year-old Peter as he and his sister Tilte as they evade “protectors” to search for their parents, who have suddenly disappeared. By no means is it a kidnapping situation, though; their parents are oddballs, to say the least, and this is not the first time they’ve disappeared. The siblings evade child protective services and policemen to reach the mainland just in time to subvert a dangerous plot, though they’re unsure of the real villains.

Høeg’s telling is incredibly fast-paced and the first two hundred pages fly by before you know it (the book is nearly 500 pages long and admirably well paced, probably courtesy of some great editing). The characters are vivid and colorful enough to be fairytales themselves, from the death-focused but adventurous Tilte to the eccentric drug-obsessed Count Rickardt Three Lions to the Buddhist hacker Leonora Ticklepalate. The entire book wears a hat of whimsy, as evidenced by the characters’ surnames, and the humor is refreshingly and liberally sprinkled throughout.

However, like any excellent novel, there is an underlying current of darkness. Peter, Tilte and their socially awkward older brother Hans feel that their flaky parents have sort of abandoned them to grow up on their own, neglecting them even when they were all together. As a result, Peter and Tilte have both had relationships that ended disastrously and are magnetically interdependent, and Hans is chronically alone and can barely even speak to women. Nonetheless, love is apparent between the family members, and attempting to figure out what kind of love it is becomes a puzzle for readers throughout.

Not that there’s not enough else to entertain. The love story between police officers Lars and Katinka as viewed from the outside is remarkably sweet and fun to watch develop, and the saga of Maria from Maribo becomes more and more ridiculous as the book progresses (I won’t spoil too much of it).

In all honesty, plot-wise, the book is not that complicated. Much of the time is spent explaining the brief histories of hundreds of different things as they appear, or diverting for a bit to review the history of the offenses of Peter’s parents. Because the novel is told first-person and in a present tense, it flows a bit like someone telling a story over several cups of coffee at a dinner table, with rabbit trails and tangents occasionally cropping up but not distracting too much from the overall tale.

The ending is also of note, for how bittersweet and beautifully executed it is. We only meet Peter’s parents for a split second during the actual novel, but during the final epilogue segment when “happy endings” are supposed to happen, the suddenly grave and mature Peter begins to reflect about the endings of things. We all know our childhoods have to end at some point, but this final chapter is painful for all of us who have been ignoring it. I don’t want to give too much away because of the way the book builds to that final moment, but it is incredibly beautiful.

In short, we’re all elephant keepers. And life is an elephant keeper, too; the more we live and explore it, the more we find out its faults and foibles.

The Elephant Keepers’ Children is available on the Kindle for $8.99 or in paperback for $13.76. My library had a copy readily available because it’s nearly four years old now, but there ought to be one floating around in your library system if you live in a town of any size. This one really is worth a read, and as stated above, it doesn’t feel all that long despite the thickness.

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read half of this book. I really wanted to get through it, but the library wanted it back. I had had it for 9 weeks and was just sitting on it. Clearly, with that being said, it was a rough one for me to get into and, truly, to even understand. It is reminiscent of the old crazy writing of Tom Robbins "Still Life with Woodpecker" or the one about the chick with the big thumb (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues). Just very surreal and I felt like I was in a funhouse the whole time. I wasn't certain if I was supposed to take the story seriously or if I was missing the joke. What I could surmise was a story of children who had been left behind by their eccentric parents, great figures in their land, who run from aristocrats with ridiculous names that for the life of me I can't remember now. All I remember is kids being chased everywhere, but somehow fooling everyone and escaping time and again. I expect one day I shall try again but I suppose I am in a more serious frame of mind these days and found this silliness just plain wasteful of my time.

[Len · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable, often very funny, piece of fantastical and satirical nonsense. However, nonsense that is artistically produced to make one feel there may be something profound in there somewhere and it was entirely my fault that I didn't spot it. Imagine if Picasso, just for a giggle, had created a graphic novel. There would have been long queues of intellectual reviewers desperate to extrapolate its surreal virtues and argue whether it fell into abstraction, cubism or modified representationalism. All the time leaving Pablo helpless with laughter. Perhaps Mr. Høeg was laughing at us. Especially those of us who spent too long trying to work out what an elephant keeper really was.

If this story had been written years ago it may have attracted such terms as “helter-skelter” or “zany.” I could certainly imagine it being adapted into a Disney live action film, probably with Hayley Mills as Tilte, while young Peter's trip to a Copenhagen brothel would probably be reduced to an escapade at Tivoli. The religious, or anti-religious, aspect would have been on shaky ground. Religion does not come out of it at all well, as practically all devotees are shown to be either silly, hypocritical, or simply dishonest. In fact, religion and its abuse by the unscrupulous is one of the main themes in the novel.

Tilte and Peter's parents are pastors on the small island of Finø. Their own particular elephant – that is, a secret desire or behaviour of significance that should not be divulged – is the longing for wealth. With father's preaching skills and mother's technological wizardry they are able to fool the credulous into believing that the time of miracles is upon us – and is available at the right price. That, and their reluctance to spurn temptation, is the beginning of Tilte and Peter's picaresque tale through the byways and institutions of Denmark. Some of the references to religion are a little near the knuckle, at least they are in 2022 (when this review was first written), especially some of the characters' names: an American-Indian guru called Da Sweet Love Ananda, and Finø's leading Muslim Sinbad Al-Blablab.

Generally personal names are a big thing in The Elephant Keepers' Children. Most sound extravagant but perhaps are no more than an equivalent to translating Dickensian names into Danish. However, it is something that makes one wonder which market the author had in mind for his book. Peter is a typical boy hero and has a tendency to translate almost everything he does or faces into the football (soccer) tactics of his beloved Finø FC, for which, by his estimation, he is the star player; while Tilte is his bossy older sister who firmly believes she is the true direction-finder for the family. Yet their adventures, as well as taking them in and out of farcical chases and confrontations, brings them up against violence, sex, dishonesty, drug abuse and perversion. Denmark appears as a strange world, funny and dangerous, corrupt and romantic. Which sums up the book: bewildering yet entertaining.

[Ingrida Ceple · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pēters Hegs ir mans rakstnieks. Biju patiesi sailgojusies. Lasi, un gandrīz katrā lapā tik spilgts citāts, teikums, atziņa, ko gribi noglabāt savā krātuvītē. Es lasu Hēgu ar taaaadu baudu! Viņa sarkasms, situāciju, cilvēku, notikumu apraksti - es vienkārši kaifoju. Jau 20.lapaspusē es sapratu, ka šī grāmata būs arī manā grāmatplauktā, nevis tikai no bibliotēkas paņemta.

Brīnišķīgs, aizraujošs, humora pilns darbs, kas brīžiem norisinās riktīgā Latīņamerikas seriāla cienīgā drāmā, ieskaitot seksuāli-kulturālu kaučingu, katafalku, ar ko tiek vadāti bērni arī uz un no skolas un vēl līķis zārkā, mācītāju ar masarati un mācītāja sievu 800 nogalināto ūdeļu kažokā, kur šoreiz bija jāsmejas patiesi skaļi un no sirds. Bet visam cauri Hēga raksturīgās dziļās atziņas, kuras lasot tikai viena domā - kur nu vēl labāk pateikt, nu tā pateikt, tik garšīgi, nesamāksloti, tik viņam raksturīgi.

Tas ir tā, ja tev piemēram garšo kūciņas, tās ir dažādas un daudzas ir tik labas un izcili gardas, bet ir kāda garša, kas ir tavējā, neizskaidrojami, bet vienkārši tu izkūsti un kaifo, ja tā ir piemēram, aveņu ievārījuma garšā. Hēgs ir mana aveņu ievārījuma kūciņa :) Banāls salīdzinājums, bet es viņa darbus baudu un lasot tos, viņš gandrīz vienmēr man sniedz smaidu, skumjas, smeldzi, to ahhh sajūtu - pilna garšas eksplozija un tur nu neko nevar darīt. Un nav arī jādara, vienkārši jābauda.....

''Vai tu atceries kādu sava mūža brīdi, kad esi bijis laimīgs. Nevis vienkārši priecīgs. Bet tik laimīgs, ka viss ir bijis absolūti totāli simtprocentīgi ideāli. Ja vari atcerēties kaut vienu vai, vēl labāk, vairākus tādus brīžus, lūdzu padomā par tiem. Tas ir svarīgi. Jo tieši šādos brīžos sāk vērties vaļā durvis uz āru.'' (16)

''Tajā fotogrāfijā Nīčem ir ūsas kā slota un acīs tāda izteiksme, ka galvā neviļus iešaujas doma - var jau būt, ka šis vīrs ir ģeniāls, bet tā noteikti ir izcili laba diena, kad viņam pašam ir izdevies aizpogāt savu bikšupriekšu. (64)

''- Viņi ir ziloņkopēji, tāda mammai un tētim tā problēma. Viņi ir ziloņkopēji, kaut paši to neapzinās.'' (121)

''-Tu ieej pa Lauvu vārtiem Alhambrā, - Leonora saka klausulē. - Tu esi pilnīgi kaila. Un tev ir ņeķītrs sārts dibentiņš. Telefona klausule ir nolikta uz galda un tāpēc mēs dzirdam, ka dāmai otrā līnijas galā balss ir rupja un nikna.- Man nav neķītra dibentiņa. Man ir dirsa, tik liela kā rezerves riepa.
- Lielumam nav nozīmes, - Leonora atteic. - Nozīme ir izteiksmei. Man ir klientes, kam pakaļa ir kā traktora riepa. Tik un tā veči liekas gar zemi ordām. Ja par to nekaunas, traktora riepa ir nāvējošs ierocis.'' (123)

'' - Tas, vai Dievs pastāv,  - viņa paziņo, - ir vissvarīgākais cilvēka dzīvē. Vienalga, vai tu kam tici vai nē, vai tu to zini vai ne, tik un tā visi meklē savas dzīves jēgu, visi cenšas noskaidrot, vai ārpus cietuma ir kāds spēks, kas licis pasaulei tapt un izskatīties tādai, kāda tā ir, un mēs visi gribam uzzināt, kas notiek, kad mirstam, un vai mēs kaut kur bijām pirms tam, kad piedzimām, tāpēc nekad nevajag mānīties ar šo vietu, kas atrodas dziļi sirdī'' (143)

[Rebekka Steg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This week I've been reading a book in Danish, by the Danish writer Peter Høeg (author of Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, The Quiet Girl, Borderliners). I especially loved Borderliners, it's actually one of my favourite books. The Elephant Keepers' Children (my translation, there's no official translation yet) is in the style of mystical realism, similar to Haruki Murakami. The philosophical idea behind the novel, is the thought that some of us have "elephants" inside of us, that we need to be keepers for, and it is not all of us who handle this too well. The book is written from the perspective of 14-year-old Peter, the son of the pastor at a small, mythical island in Denmark. We follow the adventures of Peter and his sister, as they try to deal with their parents and their elephants. This book was good, but it's not Peter Høeg's best, for that I would suggest Borderliners, or his most famous book, Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow (also sometimes under the name Smilla's Sense of Snow

[Iveta Celmiņa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Neesmu lasītāja-iesācēja. Neesmu lubeņu cienītāja. Nu bet šo darbu reāli "nepavilku". Līdz beigām izmocīju ar cerību, ka kaut kas tomēr tur būs, bet...nu nē. Ja arī autoram ir doma par "ziloni"mūsos, ko mēs paši kopjam, ar ko mēs cīnāmies, tad to noteikti varēja pateikt daudz, daudz saprotamāk. Bez absurda.
Lasot nepameta sajūta, ka par mani ņirgājas: "Ak, nesaproti, ja? Nu,nu, tādai jau nu nesaprast-prātiņš par īsu. Hi-hi!"
Vai ieteiktu lasīt citiem? Jā un nē. Jā,izlasiet un pasakiet man, par ko tur viss "cepiens" ir. Nē, nelasiet-ir daudz citu dziļu grāmatu.

[Lormac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Look, if an author is aiming for whimsey, and I am assuming Hoeg was, considering that he was naming his characters things like "Leonora Ticklepalate" and "Thoredeus Claptrapp," the author needs to keep his book short. Whimsey only works in under 200 pages, otherwise it becomes an ordeal, which this book was...
PS If the goal of your book is to address the issue of the existence of God, whimsey is probably not the best approach.

[Ken Fredette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Peter Høeg's books, ever since he wrote Smilla's Sense of Snow in 1993.

[Allyson · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of my favorite books which I reread is his Smilla's Sense of Snow, but I only just tolerated this book.
I am always suspicious of translations as feel they cannot represent the author's true voice, but since I do not read Danish, have no choice. The faults in this book I will therefore blame on his translator, chief among them the stupidly distracting character names. The plot is fantastical, but I might have accepted it were the names reasonable. They were ludicrous, unnecessary, and diminished the reading experience as created an artificially farcical setting which disallowed any reasonable reading of the book. A shame as many of his observations were magically revealing and insightful, but a wasted opportunity to create a book more to my liking.
Surprisingly disappointing, even the underdeveloped theme of the title.

[Lacivard Mammadova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Başqa ölkələrin müəllifləri ilə tanışlığı çox sevirəm. Heç olmadığım ölkənin təsviri, mədəniyyəti, insanlarının xarakteri qəhrəmanlarda, onların qərarlarında üzə çıxır. Soyadının necə oxunduğunu bilmədiyim müəllifin kitabının adı çox maraqlı gəldi. Qəmli, kədərli ailə dramı oxuyacağımı sansam da, zarafatları yerində, ilk səhifələrindən bizi böyük bir macərəyə atan detektivlə üz-üzə qalırıq. Qəhrəmanlarımızın yaşını da nəzərə alsaq, bu janrda oxuyub da düşündürməklə bərabər (detektivlər bizi adətən yorur, düşündürür) eyni zamanda da əyləndirən çox pozitiv bir kitabdır. Kilsə ilə bağlı mövzu isə həmişə ülgüc üstündə gəzmək kimidir, amma burada bizə komediya kimi gəlir. Dili rahatdır, kitab adamı yormur #birnəfəsə

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun absurdist romp. I really liked the voice of the narrator, Peter. This has the same peculiar sense of humour - deadpan philosophical - that seems to be a Scandinavian thing. It reminded me of both Doppler and The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared.

But I think that Hoeg doesn't use his time very well. At over 500 pages, the story could have got much larger and crazier, or else he could have edited it down to a tighter 300 to 350 pages.

[Sebastian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Bodil · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a waste of talent.
Why would anybody write a story that most of all reminds you of a written version of "Scooby-Doo"? I can almost hear the sounds of the dog Scooby-Doo every time the dog in story pops up (and as we all know, that ain't pretty ;-)).

The names of the characters are so far out that they are not remotely funny or interesting. It worked in my childhood cartoons, Donald Duck, but it doesn't work in an adult book, even though I am sure that there is a very cunning reason why the author picked those names, other than the narrator being 14 years old. The surrealism is not working, as it is very boring.

Yes, there are some interesting semi-philosophical theories in the book, and yes, there is a bit of suspense, but I would dare say that the plot of any of Enid Blyton's "The Famous Five" or "The Secret Seven" would beat this plot.

Sorry, Peter Høeg, you can do so much better! I hasten to say that I read this in Danish, the original language of his book, so it is not even a question of something not getting through to me, as I am Danish. Heavy sigh.

[thewanderingjew · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 almost unintelligible in the audio addition because they are so foreign sounding.
The book is unusual in that it is not addressing the reader at large, but is supposed to be a private conversation between Peter (Petrus), the narrator, and the reader, you, and it feels that way, as well. You are engaged in a private conversation, almost outside the boundaries of the book.
The Fino children, Hans, Tilte, Peter (in order of their age), and Basker III (the dog), all reside on the island called Fino, in Denmark. The children are pranksters who have mastered the art of deception. They come from a strange background of characters, a hump-backed great-grandmother and parents who could easily be considered good-natured charlatans, who have been leaders in their Church. Their Father is the “miracle-making” pastor who leads services in which there are magical occurences and mother plays the organ and is a craftswoman, as well. She is multi-talented. All residents have many jobs since they live in a very small town, and she is no exception. Their jobs are often contradictory in nature, making the reader chuckle under their breath, as the thief may be the one in charge of the alarm systems and the person of religion may be dispensing advice on debauchery.
The head of the school is Alexander Beastly Flounderblood, aptly named, as is Leonora Ticklepalate who in Tibetan nun’s habit, lives the life of a monk while giving telephone advice about various sexual exploits. Basker III is the third in a line of hounds named after the supernatural hound in the book, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Tilte is the 16 year old sister of Petrus and Hans, whose spiritual nature and cleverness can have a mesmerizing effect on everyone, in essence tilting the world her way. She discovered that there is a door that exists within everyone that leads to freedom.
There are so many characters and their names are double entendres that also indicate their background. The reader will simply smile as Polly Pigonia comes to life on the page. She had a pig farm which she has turned into an ashram. Finn Flatfoot is the local policeman, Svend Sewerman was a builder of sewers, Pallas Athene is a goddess who runs a brothel. Is Peter the rock and is Hans a metaphor for Jesus, with Pallas Athene, his Mary Magdalene? Within the witty dialogue and the use of sleight of hand in this fantasy, there is also a serious message hidden, and it is apparent at the end, more than anywhere else, in Peter’s final words.
Peter wants to tell you, the reader, about the door to the room. “The self is a room inside the prison”. He wants to show you how to escape the prison which is our self. Within us there are rooms of joy and sorry, pain and pleasure. If we move outside the room, through the door, and we don’t think, we can let go of our baggage and become free. Within each of us is also an elephant which can be a dream, a burden an unfulfilled hope, both good and bad. Sometimes we have to let go of that elephant as well. Peter can see the elephant within. Does the reader also see the elephants people carry with them? When we stop thinking and walk through that door, is that the meaning of life or the end of it? What is the true escape?
This is not a book for everyone. Reading this is a trip into a world of madness, nonsense, mystery, romance, subterfuge, silliness, crime, religion, right and wrong, terrorism and bravery, and they are all mocked by the author. The book arouses so many conflicting thoughts in the reader, but the book is never overbearing. It turns all trials into triumphs, all tragedies into happy endings. The reader will wonder if it is not, perhaps, really about the meaning of life, on its serious level, even as it mocks all of society’s conventions, all of the religions, all of the mores, all of the people in power. One has to take the time to ferret out the true meaning of the tale and of each word, sentence and name, in order to discover the inner message of the author and not just be influenced by the lightness of the plot through the use of trompe l’oeil. There is much more to the story than meets the eye. Is everyone flawed, in a prison of their own making, or has the world created the prison for them?
.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a good translator to ensure that humour in one language has the same effect in another - and Martin Aitken is a very good translator! This is the story of three children whose fairly odd parents have disappeared and their journey to find them. Written from the point-of-view of the youngest child, Peter, we see the eccentricities of others according to a 14 year-old and the confusion of that period of adolescence just before early adulthood. Peter's middle sibling, sister Tilte, is the most unusual characters I've read about in a long time - clever, self-assured, questioning, manipulative, and yet vulnerable. Through them and their eldest brother, Hans, we meet several very memorable characters (and their dogs) who are well-developed and who feel familiar to us. I am fairly certain I laughed out loud at every page of this story and when it ended, I was still filled with a mixture of good humour and wistfulness that the story should go on, but of course it couldn't because it ended in just the right place.

[Karen Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out thinking that I wouldn't like this book, would stop reading it and just bring it back to the library but it's one of those books that kind of just sucks you in after awhile and you have to keep reading. For some reason, and this is only my opinion, 14 year old Peter (the main character) reminds me of Flavia De Luce in Alan Bradley's series..........they get themselves into outrageous situations, are able to extricate themselves from those situations just in the nick of time and belong to eccentric, but loving families. I think that I will probably try some more of the author's books......

[Travis Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and weird, this book was just plain fun to read. I loved the setting, Denmark, and I loved the way 14-year-old Peter, the main character, described it, with all the cheerful sarcasm of the intelligent youth. The plot was identical to so many I've in Childrens' -- parents disappear, children have to cope & make decisions, wild adventures -- but Hoeg's version is rich with the kind of humor that makes you stop and reread the page with a smile on your face.

[Anders Kauranen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det var ungefär som att läsa manuset till en pilsnerfilm fylld med slapsticks. Den var bitvis rolig men det når inte riktigt ända fram.

[Liene Millere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hēgs nebeidz mani pārsteigt. Šī stipri atšķiras no pārējām, jo šajā nav tik liela smeldze. Turklāt lasot šo grāmatu es ķiķināju un vietām smējos balsī. Arī šī grāmata pieskaras svarīgiem jautājumiem, šajā ziņā Hēgs paliek uzticīgs sev. Šoreiz tie ir vairāk personīgi - par ziloņiem, kurus nēsāja sevī, par attiecībām ģimenē, par to, ko nozīmē būt vecākiem un kā ar to visu sadzīvot. Viņš savdabīgi skar arī reliģijas jautājumus, taču pārāk dziļi šajā lauciņā nebrien.

[Andrew Marr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I see that most readers who have rated & commented on this book were bewildered or disgruntled or otherwise dissatisfied. I found the book to be extraordinary. I admit that in the early going, although I was intrigued by the droll but at times surprisingly wise narration of 14-year-old Peter, I wondered if the novel would amount to anything. For me, it did. For one thing, it has been years since I read anything that put me in stitches laughing anywhere near as much as this one did. But I need a lot more in a novel of this length to feel that I have read anything significant. With that said, it is hard to say much more because I am somewhat tongue-tied by this novel. What ties my tongue is that I don't want to spoil the surprises as they unfold. I will say that, although Peter is clearly a scamp and self-centered in a way that leaves himself open to the good of others (sometimes at least), he lets it known to the reader that, along with his amazingly wise older sister, he is on a spiritual quest, a quest for transcendent freedom. In this quest, he and his sister have to deal with charming and attractive parents who have lunatic tendencies and they have to contend with a coterie of enemies bound together by an irrational desire to persecute the two adolescents. By the book's end, it has amounted to both a human comedy and a Divine Comedy of eschatological reconciliation.

[Arta · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘...galīgi izkūkots prāts nav nekas tāds, kas iztērējas vienā paaudzē...’ un lasot Ziloņkopēju bērnus, brīžiem šķita, ka arī manējais vēl nav iztērējies...

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not bad writing, but also not much happening.
A story told as a 14 year old boy from a fictional somewhat remote island of Finø in Denmark (pronounced Fiina on the audiobook for some reason. Maybe the differences between a, o, ä and ø are not that clear... a = like u in English word hut, ä = like in English word man, o = like au in naughty, ø = like i in bird). The inner voice did not remind me of a 14 year old boy who's grown in a remote area. There was just too much academic wisdom in his ramblings. Way too slow pace. And while the reader's voice was pleasant, either the names of a bunch of characters were as gibberish as Finø, pronounced Fiina, or they were also mispronounced constantly. Here some gems from the audio (written as they were Danish or Swedish names, based on the tape): Äno-Laabia, Sinbäd Al-Blääblää, Fiina (instead of Finø), Bulimia (yes, there was a woman who was called either Bulimia, Bulli-Mia, or Buli-Mía), Bäskør, Flaunderblad, Tiltta/Tilte...

[Oskars Kaulēns · Rating 5 out of 5]

ļoti patīkama atkalredzēšanās ar Pēteru Hēgu manā dzimtajā valodā. smalki un patiesi - par nepiepildītu gaidu un vientulības ziloņiem, ko mēs katrs nēsājam sevī, neprotot tos ne atbrīvot, ne savaldīt; par pieaugušu cilvēku centieniem spēlēt sevi un izlikties par to, kas viņi nemaz nav.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned ship 7/8ths of the way through. I wanted it to be better than it was. In the end, I couldn't justify giving it a 300th chance. It's confusing, absurd, and in the end, kinda dumb ....