Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Oxford Bookworms: Stage 1

(The Elephant Man: 400 Headwords) By Tim Vicary (Author) Paperback on

Rate this book
He is not beautiful. His mother does not want him, children run away from him. People laugh at him, and call him 'The Elephant Man'.
Then someone speaks to him and — and listens to him! At the age of 27, Joseph Merrick finds a friend for the first time in his life.
This is a true and tragic story. It is also a famous film.

Paperback

First published June 1, 1983

107 people are currently reading
805 people want to read

About the author

Tim Vicary

88 books358 followers
Tim Vicary is an author and a recently retired university teacher from the university of York, England. His legal thrillers about a tough British barrister, Sarah Newby, have been compared to the works of John Grisham and Scott Turow. The second book in the series, A Fatal Verdict, was awarded a B.R.A.G Medallion for an outstanding independent novel, and the third book, Bold Counsel, was awarded the Awesome Indies Seal of Excellence. He is currently writing a fourth book in the series, entitled Broken Alibi.

His four historical novels have also won praise. Nobody's Slave, a novel about the Elizabethan slave trade, won first prize in the young adult category of the Kindle Book awards 2014. His three other historical novels, Cat & Mouse, The Blood Upon the Rose, and The Monmouth Summer, are all available individually or as a boxed set of three, entitled Women of Courage.

Tim has also written about twenty much shorter books, graded readers for foreign learners of English, published by Oxford University Press. In 2010 and 2011 two of these - Titanic and The Everest Story - were each the winners in their category for the Language Learner Literature Award for the Extensive Reading Foundation.

Tim lives in the English countryside, near York. When he's not writing he likes horse-riding, cycling, and swimming.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
316 (26%)
4 stars
355 (29%)
3 stars
369 (30%)
2 stars
116 (9%)
1 star
35 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
Profile Image for Agir(آگِر).
437 reviews702 followers
April 26, 2016
این کتاب کوچولو تاثیر عمیق محبت در زندگی آدمی را نشون میده
و همین باعث می شه نتونم کمتر از 4 ستاره به کتاب بدم

قهرمان داستان که بخاطر چهره زشتش مورد تمسخر مردم بوده، مجبور به انزوا شده است
ولی بعد آنکه مورد محبت انسان ها قرار می گیرد رشد فکری و روحی می یابد و حتی با حیوانات و پرندگان و گل ها هم دوست می شود
در مورد گل ها چنین می گوید: هر روز آنها را آب می دهم . می دانی گل ها همیشه تشنه اند
با خوندن این جملات با خودم فک می کردم آیا ما هم بمانند این گل ها نیستیم؟


از محبت خارها گل می شود
وز محبت دیو حوری می شود
از محبت تلخها شیرین شود
وز محبت مسها زرین شود
از محبت مرده زنده می شود
از محبت حزن شادی می شود
..بی محبت موم آهن می شود

مولانا
Profile Image for Abrar Alarjan.
495 reviews465 followers
June 13, 2017
A story about a sad man but he did not talk about himself, I'm sad, this story makes me feel human value

هذه القصة تصنف من أجمل قصص اكسفورد التي قرأتُها في هذا المستوى.
Profile Image for Siti Shifa'.
18 reviews
July 28, 2017
I've read about the story before but this was my first time reading it in the form of a book. I cried towards the end. A person can have so much love in his heart yet considered ugly due to his looks. But a person can be beautiful yet be ugly on the inside.
56 reviews1 follower
April 22, 2015
my second experience of reading English story...
Profile Image for هالةْ أمين.
781 reviews479 followers
August 6, 2018
He tried to sleep on his back that night, but his heavy head came off the bed, and he broke his neck.
^
^
This is the most tragical end you can imagine :(

I saw the movie long time ago
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/...

of course it had more details than this short cut story
but it's give you the main idea about The Elephant Man.
6 reviews4 followers
March 30, 2008
this book is really good for people who is starting english like me.
It talks about a man named Merrick. He is very very ugly because he looks like a elephant and everybody laugh at him for his face.
At the end he dies because he sleep in the wrong side. His skin was all blue.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for اسيا.
38 reviews26 followers
May 17, 2017
the first book in English🙈💙
Profile Image for Clara Vu.
42 reviews
Read
September 14, 2025
Reading 20 page children’s books to not fail my goodreads challenge
14 reviews2 followers
October 17, 2012
It took 80 min. to read this.

7 words to summarize
- Elephant
- body
- show tent
- a man
- to love
- a doctor
- disable

What is the part of your body which you dislike?
- It's my legs. I don't like my legs because of muscle.
If you were a disable person or not healthy, How would you feel?
- I couldn't accept my body. However, I would try to become cheerful.
9 reviews1 follower
October 26, 2021
لم أكن اتخيل أن القصة حقيقية.. لن أتكلم عن جوهر القصة و إنما أريد أن أقول ما كان يدور في رأسي طيلة قراءتي لهذه القصة.. و هي الآية التي طالما رددتها صديقتي على مسامعي "و من أحياها فكأنما أحيا الناس جميعا" ما قام به الطبيب تجاه هذا الشاب هو إحياء لهذه الروح التي كادت ان تهترء و تموت في مكان قذر و لن يسمع بها احد..
Profile Image for Hamidreza.
87 reviews21 followers
September 4, 2019
من این کتاب رو به زبان اصلیش خوندم . خیلی قشنگ بود . و همینطور ناراحت کننده . واقعا میگم قشنگ بود
Profile Image for Dalal.
236 reviews55 followers
October 2, 2017
very heartbreak story and a poor man who had a very bad life :(
Profile Image for Elina.
89 reviews18 followers
May 13, 2021
2.5
اممم نمیدونم🤔
من ورژن oxford bookworms ِش رو خوندم و شاید زیادی خلاصه بود و همین باعث شد حس خاصی ازش نگیرم
شاید باید دوباره بخونمش
نمیدونم
1400/2/23
3 reviews2 followers
Read
October 13, 2008
Great Book. The mans a fricking elephant dont get much better than that
Profile Image for Amin elahifard.
50 reviews
July 29, 2017
عنوان: مرد فیل چهره؛ نویسنده: تیم ویکاری؛ ؛ موضوع: رمان
موضوع داستان در مورد مردی است که به صورت مادر زادی چهره و اندامی شبیه به فیل دارد، و همین مسیله باعث بوجود آمدن سختی و ناملایمات بسیاری برای او شده است. در یک مقطع حضور یک انسان با محبت در زندگیش باعث تغییر همه چیز شده و نویسنده سعی دارد اثر محبت در زندگی انسانها و نحوه برخورد آنها با همنوعان خود را نشان دهد.
Profile Image for Schwarzer_Elch.
985 reviews46 followers
January 12, 2023
Tan entretenido como simple. Disfruté mucho de su lectura, pero estoy seguro de que se trata de esas lecturas que, tarde o temprano, terminan por caer en el olvido.
Profile Image for Blackedpoison.
24 reviews2 followers
April 19, 2020
I hate death when it comes so fast to the kind hearts and leaves nothing but memories. Very harmful memories.
Profile Image for Gabo Reyes.
22 reviews
September 28, 2019
Sin duda un libro perfecto para practicar mi inglés adicional que la historia es tan triste pero con un toque de extrema felicidad, sin duda todos somos humanos y cómo humanos nos deberíamos de cuidar mutuamente, pero somos una especie muy fea.
Profile Image for Magaly.
216 reviews4 followers
October 11, 2025
3.5
No pude parar de leer este libro. Muy bueno para la gente que está aprendiendo inglés. Tiene un inglés muy sencillo. La historia me hizo buscar más sobre este hombre que sí existió de verdad.
Profile Image for Falling the Darkness.
38 reviews
March 10, 2021
Çok severek okudum. Joseph Merrick' e insanların bakış açısı beni derinden etkiledi . O her insan kadar şanslı değildi ama insanlar bunu gazeteye ya da ünlü bir yere çıkınca anladılar çok yanlış bir davranış insanı üzüyor bu bir gerçek hikâyedir . Kitabın filmide vardır sunumum bitince izleyeceğim .Benim ikinci ya da üçüncü İngilizce kitap deneyimimdi. Az çok speaking yapabiliyorsanız anlarsınız. Hiç bir zorlanma yaşamazsınız. Grammer bilmek önemli değil kitabı okuyabilmek için . İngilizce'nizide ilerleyebilirsiniz. Bu kitap benim sunumum içindi . Soru -cevap için okulda öğretmenimiz yaptırıyor iyiki de yaptırmış böyle güzel bir kitaptan mahrum kalırdım yoksa çünkü Türkçe çevirisi hiçbir yayınevinde yok İngilizce baskısını da Oxford'dan almanızı öneririm çünkü karıştırılan sözcüklerin çevirisi var.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for أحمد الردعي.
5 reviews2 followers
December 18, 2020
قصة جميلة وأعطيتها خمس نجوم لأنها تؤدي الغرض الذي اشتريتها لأجله، كنت أبحث عن قصة أو رواية قصيرة بالانجليزية بأسلوب سهل وكلمات سهلة لأعود نفسي على القراءة بهذه اللغة. من وجد في نفسه مثل أسبابي فلا يتردد في قراءتها.
Profile Image for Caique Peixoto.
4 reviews15 followers
April 22, 2025
Essa é a versão mais curta, uma press em inglês da universidade de Oxford.

É um bom resumo que consegue condensar bem a carga dramática da história, fiquei com vontade de rever o filme, de ler o livro original e de ver mais a beleza das coisas. Muito bonito!
Profile Image for Lucas.
124 reviews4 followers
July 19, 2017
A good book to start in the lenguage of the english
Profile Image for Abdullah Hussaini.
Author 23 books80 followers
July 22, 2017
This is my first english book i read. It was when im 7yo and i can easily understand this stories. Today, if i read english book, immediately i remember this book.
Profile Image for November Z.
5 reviews2 followers
January 28, 2019
It’s very short story. Life is very difficult for some people.
Profile Image for Hm.
828 reviews11 followers
January 9, 2021
I love it and I feel so sad it sooooo goooood
Profile Image for Ranette.
3,457 reviews
February 15, 2021
I always find it very upsetting to see the way humanity treats those who are different. This poor man had many difficult years before finding friends.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.