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The Memory of an Elephant
“The Memory of an Elephant" is an epic saga told by an aging African elephant as he makes a last, perilous journey to find the humans who rescued him as an orphan some fifty years ago. Interwoven with his narrative are the tumultuous lives of the family who raised and then lost him: a famed hunting guide and his wife, who runs an animal orphanage (a conflict that in time upends their marriage); their son and daughter; and the young Kikuyu who finds the orphaned elephant and becomes part of the Hathaway family. This timeless story is alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking, spanning east Africa, Great Britain and New York from 1962 to 2015.
238 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 738 reviews
February 22, 2022
The Memory of an Elephant is the highly emotional story of Ishi, a Bull Elephant coming to the end of his life, who decides to travel back to the plains of his birth in Kenya before he dies. I read most of it with a giant lump in my throat and defy anyone not to be moved by the story of this supremely intelligent majestic creature.
Told in a mixture of first elephant and third person narration, jumping back and forth from the 2012 present, to his birth in 1962, we learn how Ishi comes to lose his first clan, and be raised in an animal orphanage by Jean, the wife of white big game hunter Russell Hathaway, and a young Kikuyu boy destined to be his friend and guardian for life, Kamau. Once he’s old enough to leave, Ishi finds himself a new clan, beginning a life of adventures that will take him far away, from happiness and freedom amongst his own kind, but perpetually at risk from evil two-legged poachers and their “boomsticks”, to the misery of safety in the cold of the North, and how a lucky intervention gets him back home again. He never forgets his human family, and despite their own tragedies, Kamau and the Hathaways will be there again as he undertakes his greatest adventure.
This is a beautifully told epic story that brings the beauty and wild cruelty of Africa vividly to life. Unfortunately it also inevitably reminds us how humans don’t deserve this planet. From the callous game warden whose preferred solution to the problem of a rogue elephant on the move is a rifle, to the psychopathic poacher interested only in enriching himself by selling ivory, Ishi learns early that not all two-legs can be trusted - but that not all elephants are good and kind either. There’s a horrific scene early on that we know must be coming, but is nevertheless devastating, and Ishi’s confusion and anguish had me in tears. There are however sympathetic human characters as well who balance things out so it never becomes too depressing. Unfortunately animal stories always end sadly, but one’s this was bittersweet and necessary.
I read a free advance copy through the Reedsy Discovery programme to provide an honest review.
Told in a mixture of first elephant and third person narration, jumping back and forth from the 2012 present, to his birth in 1962, we learn how Ishi comes to lose his first clan, and be raised in an animal orphanage by Jean, the wife of white big game hunter Russell Hathaway, and a young Kikuyu boy destined to be his friend and guardian for life, Kamau. Once he’s old enough to leave, Ishi finds himself a new clan, beginning a life of adventures that will take him far away, from happiness and freedom amongst his own kind, but perpetually at risk from evil two-legged poachers and their “boomsticks”, to the misery of safety in the cold of the North, and how a lucky intervention gets him back home again. He never forgets his human family, and despite their own tragedies, Kamau and the Hathaways will be there again as he undertakes his greatest adventure.
This is a beautifully told epic story that brings the beauty and wild cruelty of Africa vividly to life. Unfortunately it also inevitably reminds us how humans don’t deserve this planet. From the callous game warden whose preferred solution to the problem of a rogue elephant on the move is a rifle, to the psychopathic poacher interested only in enriching himself by selling ivory, Ishi learns early that not all two-legs can be trusted - but that not all elephants are good and kind either. There’s a horrific scene early on that we know must be coming, but is nevertheless devastating, and Ishi’s confusion and anguish had me in tears. There are however sympathetic human characters as well who balance things out so it never becomes too depressing. Unfortunately animal stories always end sadly, but one’s this was bittersweet and necessary.
I read a free advance copy through the Reedsy Discovery programme to provide an honest review.
February 8, 2022
I will never forget
A must read for all animal lovers, Especially those who adore elephants. I feel as though I have waited for this story most of my adult life. It feels as though something deep inside of me has been rekindled. It comes to me at this final quarter of my own life. This book might well be the most significant book I have ever read.
A must read for all animal lovers, Especially those who adore elephants. I feel as though I have waited for this story most of my adult life. It feels as though something deep inside of me has been rekindled. It comes to me at this final quarter of my own life. This book might well be the most significant book I have ever read.
February 27, 2022
Stunning. Extraordinary. Profound. This book made me look at the world differently. It wrecked me emotionally, and the ending left me crying tears of both grief and joy. I really hope this perfect little gem finds more readers and gains more recognition. It's brilliant.
April 1, 2022
Heart warming and heart breaking in the same breath.
January 28, 2023
What. A. Story.
I have never finished a book ugly crying before.
I have never finished a book ugly crying before.
June 30, 2025
It begins when a surgeon on his way to an early operation is driving in torrential rain, so he is going significantly below the speed limit. He’s startled by a looming shape in the darkness and manages to stop his vehicle without hitting the shape or the median. Only when he is fully stopped does he realize that he is looking at the largest elephant he has ever seen. And the elephant is looking right back at him. After a few heart-stopping moments, the bull walks over the median divider and disappears into the rain. What was an elephant doing on the highway? There are no national parks or zoos in the vicinity.
This is an unusual “memoir” … an elderly bull elephant recounts his life as he treks across the African continent, intent on returning to his birthplace. The story goes back and forth in time, from Ishi’s recollections to his current-day trek across the continent.
What a marvelous book! Ishi (the elephant) is a remarkable narrator. Of course, he doesn’t always understand the ways of the two-leggers, with their boom sticks and mechanical birds (rifles and helicopters), but he has a long memory and remembers both those who have been kind to him and those who have harmed him or his family.
Lasker gives the reader a visceral experience by using Ishi’s voice to tell this tale. There are chapters that deal with the significant humans in Ishi’s life, from the Hathaway family (who operate an “orphan farm” in Kenya), to Kamau (the young tribal boy who first found and befriended the baby Ishi), to Gichinga (a sociopath and poacher).
One of my book-club buddies recommended this book for us. We all loved it!
This is an unusual “memoir” … an elderly bull elephant recounts his life as he treks across the African continent, intent on returning to his birthplace. The story goes back and forth in time, from Ishi’s recollections to his current-day trek across the continent.
What a marvelous book! Ishi (the elephant) is a remarkable narrator. Of course, he doesn’t always understand the ways of the two-leggers, with their boom sticks and mechanical birds (rifles and helicopters), but he has a long memory and remembers both those who have been kind to him and those who have harmed him or his family.
Lasker gives the reader a visceral experience by using Ishi’s voice to tell this tale. There are chapters that deal with the significant humans in Ishi’s life, from the Hathaway family (who operate an “orphan farm” in Kenya), to Kamau (the young tribal boy who first found and befriended the baby Ishi), to Gichinga (a sociopath and poacher).
One of my book-club buddies recommended this book for us. We all loved it!
September 26, 2022
Reading this book in conjunction with the downturn in health of my beloved dog companion led to obvious parallels as regards final journeys towards destined outcomes. It’s a touching story as various locations, characters and perspectives play a role in the life of bull elephant Ishi.
“Human nature never really changes. At least, not for long.”
“The world we travel in is circumscribed by theirs, I realised that long ago. They are the rulers of this Earth, there are too many of them and the rest of us are at their mercy.”
“Human nature never really changes. At least, not for long.”
“The world we travel in is circumscribed by theirs, I realised that long ago. They are the rulers of this Earth, there are too many of them and the rest of us are at their mercy.”
May 15, 2022
This is the most touching book I have read in a long time. I shed tears so many times while reading this book. It was heartbreaking to learn of the mistreatment so many elephants encountered with humans, and heartwarming to learn of the strength and love these magnificent animals get from each other. I'm not a fast reader, but I couldn't put this book down and finished it in two days. I highly recommend it for anyone who loves animals. I learned about this book when I did a search on Amazon for adult books about animals. The description was intriguing, so I searched my local library for the electronic version I could read on my Kindle, but they didn't have it. I ended up buying the Kindle version from Amazon for only $3.99. It was the best $3.99 I've ever spent!
August 2, 2021
"The Memory of an Elephant" tells the story of the elephant Ishi: the slaughter of his family at the hands of poachers, as depicted in a vivid early scene; his rescue by a British family who operates a Kenyan animal orphanage; his return to the wild; his transportation to an English zoo; and his eventual return to Africa where he seeks, at great risk, to return to the place of his birth.
Ishi's own first-person perceptions begin the novel. An Amazon reviewer more accurately called this voice "first-Elephant". Author Alex Lasker, in his curiosity and empathy, searches for the voice and language elephants might deploy for the rich and intelligent communication we know they share. Lasker uses both science (sensing vibrations through the soles of their feet) and conjecture (their taxonomical schemes, their observations about Nature, even about Humanity) to construct Ishi's internal monologue — reflecting on his present-day actions, his desires, and his memories.
Lasker's other tool is to alternate Ishi's "I" perspective with a broader, omniscient third-person narrative voice. From this proximity Lasker further depicts scenes of the brutality and joy in Ishi's life; and with this voice he builds the framework within which Ishi's voyage takes place — the world between 1962 and 2012. In sweeping sequences reminiscent of the generational sagas of Garcia-Marquez or Irving, we are introduced to the scattering and unfurling lives of the humans who surround Ishi, both his protectors and his tormenters. As we follow characters around Kenya, to London, to New York, and back again, Lasker seems to be showing us that these humans' individual emotional experiences — their joys and griefs — are no more or less valid than Ishi's.
Even if you already stand in awe and respect of the noble and innocent creatures we are are systematically, savagely erasing from the Earth, Alex Lasker's book, with its generosity of imagination and its spirit of empathy, will re-focus the elephant in your heart.
Ishi's own first-person perceptions begin the novel. An Amazon reviewer more accurately called this voice "first-Elephant". Author Alex Lasker, in his curiosity and empathy, searches for the voice and language elephants might deploy for the rich and intelligent communication we know they share. Lasker uses both science (sensing vibrations through the soles of their feet) and conjecture (their taxonomical schemes, their observations about Nature, even about Humanity) to construct Ishi's internal monologue — reflecting on his present-day actions, his desires, and his memories.
Lasker's other tool is to alternate Ishi's "I" perspective with a broader, omniscient third-person narrative voice. From this proximity Lasker further depicts scenes of the brutality and joy in Ishi's life; and with this voice he builds the framework within which Ishi's voyage takes place — the world between 1962 and 2012. In sweeping sequences reminiscent of the generational sagas of Garcia-Marquez or Irving, we are introduced to the scattering and unfurling lives of the humans who surround Ishi, both his protectors and his tormenters. As we follow characters around Kenya, to London, to New York, and back again, Lasker seems to be showing us that these humans' individual emotional experiences — their joys and griefs — are no more or less valid than Ishi's.
Even if you already stand in awe and respect of the noble and innocent creatures we are are systematically, savagely erasing from the Earth, Alex Lasker's book, with its generosity of imagination and its spirit of empathy, will re-focus the elephant in your heart.
January 29, 2023
Book Club Selection - January 2023
Wow, what a great epic story. Moving. Poignant. I loved the way Ishi and all the elephants were portrayed, so intelligent and sensitive. I also enjoyed following the story of the Hathaway Family, as painful as it was, as well as Kamau’s life over the years.
But this story was about more than that, it also described the changing times, in Africa and around the world, from the 1960’s into the new millennium. It shines a light on the poaching and the ivory trade. It also explores the lives of Europeans living in Africa during those times, boarding schools, etc. Lots of important topics covered. Very well written, and I highly recommend it.
Wow, what a great epic story. Moving. Poignant. I loved the way Ishi and all the elephants were portrayed, so intelligent and sensitive. I also enjoyed following the story of the Hathaway Family, as painful as it was, as well as Kamau’s life over the years.
But this story was about more than that, it also described the changing times, in Africa and around the world, from the 1960’s into the new millennium. It shines a light on the poaching and the ivory trade. It also explores the lives of Europeans living in Africa during those times, boarding schools, etc. Lots of important topics covered. Very well written, and I highly recommend it.
August 7, 2025
The Memory of an Elephant is an epic saga told by an aging African elephant as he makes a last, perilous journey to find the humans who rescued him as an orphan some fifty years ago. Interwoven with his narrative are the tumultuous lives of the family who raised and then lost him. This timeless story is alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking, spanning east Africa, Great Britain and New York from 1962 to 2015.
This book will stay with me- I want everyone I know to read it. I’m already thinking of all the people I will pass my copy along to.
This came as a recommendation from several family members.
I was crying by page 14 and sobbed at the ending.
This is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.
This story follows the life of an elephant named Ishi and all that he experiences throughout his life.
This is more than just a story - there is so much meaning & emotion. This book serves as a reminder that life passes by so fast.
I hope more people find this book.
This book will stay with me- I want everyone I know to read it. I’m already thinking of all the people I will pass my copy along to.
This came as a recommendation from several family members.
I was crying by page 14 and sobbed at the ending.
This is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.
This story follows the life of an elephant named Ishi and all that he experiences throughout his life.
This is more than just a story - there is so much meaning & emotion. This book serves as a reminder that life passes by so fast.
I hope more people find this book.
January 17, 2022
I usually shutter to read novels that cover such a wide time span as history isn’t my strongest interest. That said, The Memory of an Elephant requires us to live out Ishi’s memories and learn of who he is as a dominant male in the animal kingdom.
As the story unfolds we learn of his early heartbreak, that love can cure a broken heart, and that there is no peace in the daily life of such a peaceful and beautiful animal. It’s unnerving that Ishi must always be on the look out for a fight or flight and I cheer for those rare day when he can just be, undisturbed by boom sticks and false birds. Man hunting him down for his tusks. As the saying goes, and I believe, the only one who needs an elephant’s tusk is the elephant. Alex Lester does a great job of incorporating the reality of the tusk black market without completely and utterly breaking our spirit so we can read on.
Lester flushes out the lives of the main characters across the time span without bogging us down in unnecessary details. It is in the human lives and Ishi’s transitioning over time that this story fully captures the reader. Because this novel reminds us that man’s cruelty extends beyond humans and into the pristine animal kingdom, I am reminded why I give to organizations to protect these magnificent and sentient creatures.
As the story unfolds we learn of his early heartbreak, that love can cure a broken heart, and that there is no peace in the daily life of such a peaceful and beautiful animal. It’s unnerving that Ishi must always be on the look out for a fight or flight and I cheer for those rare day when he can just be, undisturbed by boom sticks and false birds. Man hunting him down for his tusks. As the saying goes, and I believe, the only one who needs an elephant’s tusk is the elephant. Alex Lester does a great job of incorporating the reality of the tusk black market without completely and utterly breaking our spirit so we can read on.
Lester flushes out the lives of the main characters across the time span without bogging us down in unnecessary details. It is in the human lives and Ishi’s transitioning over time that this story fully captures the reader. Because this novel reminds us that man’s cruelty extends beyond humans and into the pristine animal kingdom, I am reminded why I give to organizations to protect these magnificent and sentient creatures.
March 22, 2025
This book unexpectedly grabbed my heart! I had not heard of this book until it was on our book club list. The book follows the life of an elephant and all the "two-leggers" and other elephants and animals he meets along his life journey. Elephants are SO smart. If you love elephants or liked the book Remarkably Bright Creatures, I think you will love this book.
February 12, 2026
I devoured this book in less than 24 hours (it is also a shorter read). As soon as I finished I thought it was worthy of 5 stars. After I sat with it for a few days I decided maybe 4+ but not quite 5. I loved the overall story but was not a big fan of all the side characters getting too much story time with no true purpose. I wanted the elephant to shine more as his parts were the most moving. Overall, a book that was outside of my usual reading type but I am very glad I read it. It made me more aware of poaching and the depth and intelligence of animals. Parts of it made me also hate the “two leggers”! I would definitely recommend.
January 13, 2022
Read With Two Boxes Of Tissues Nearby
Magnificent. The intertwining stories of multiple lives as they connect and reconnect with an elderly elephant come together in an anthem of life; Its common desires and needs, regardless of species and the mysteries that might lay beyond the realm of existence as we know it. Thought-provoking and emotional.
One of the best I’ve read in years.
Magnificent. The intertwining stories of multiple lives as they connect and reconnect with an elderly elephant come together in an anthem of life; Its common desires and needs, regardless of species and the mysteries that might lay beyond the realm of existence as we know it. Thought-provoking and emotional.
One of the best I’ve read in years.
October 31, 2021
This book is one of the best I have read. It is about an elephant, his mom is killed and he is brought to a camp where Jean and Russell, help baby animals. The elephant who they name Ishi, tells the story of his life. GREAT BOOK
April 20, 2022
If I die before I read another book, I’ll be grateful I read The Memory of an Elephant. It tore my heart out and replaced it with something better. It was an immersion I’ll never forget. The amazing story of Ishi. Don’t miss it!
October 6, 2025
This story is told from many perspectives. Parts are told by the elephant and parts are told by the people (two legged’s) that are in his life. The time spans 50 years from the initial incident resulting in an orphaned elephant to the final days of his life, and all of the complex decisions that are made by humans throughout those years. I listened to the audiobook and would not put this narrator on my list of favorites.
February 22, 2022
I loved the Book, because I loved the protagonist, Ishi, the elephant, from calf to old bull. The author's style is not unlike Somerset Maugham (plus a lot of cinematic drama, Lasker being a screen writer). All of the people's lives impacted by the elephant are reoccurring until the end of the book. Everything is covered: ivory peaching, sport hunting, herd slaughter, orphanage for orphaned animals, capture and transporting zoological specimens, game sanctuaries and returning domesticate animals to the wild. This is all seen through the eyes and thoughts of Ishi (from the Swahili word kuishi 'to live'). The low pitched rumbling discussions between elephants is imaginative, but research continues to indicate that elephants are sentient and have richly social lives. The story line, while quixotically optimistic, holds the readers attention and emotions to the end.
August 6, 2022
A stunning story, told by an aging African elephant, Ishi, as he makes a long and arduous trek home to find the humans that rescued him fifty years earlier.
A beautifully written story that spans years and continents, connecting family and enemies, both human and animal, in this beautiful journey. To be sure, it is not easy, nor is it always beautiful, the vivid descriptions of the poachers is almost too much to bear, but so important to the story. Thankfully the tender, heartwarming moments ease the grief that I experienced along with Ishi, whose wise narrative guides the reader as expertly as he navigates the African plains to his home.
This is a profoundly moving book, often I was in tears, and often I was in awe. The elephant is a magnificent animal, and this book reminds us that with each and every page.
A beautifully written story that spans years and continents, connecting family and enemies, both human and animal, in this beautiful journey. To be sure, it is not easy, nor is it always beautiful, the vivid descriptions of the poachers is almost too much to bear, but so important to the story. Thankfully the tender, heartwarming moments ease the grief that I experienced along with Ishi, whose wise narrative guides the reader as expertly as he navigates the African plains to his home.
This is a profoundly moving book, often I was in tears, and often I was in awe. The elephant is a magnificent animal, and this book reminds us that with each and every page.
March 30, 2022
Beautiful!! I loved it. I felt like I was in the Kenya landscape. Had a good balance of description and dialogue. I had to request my library to purchase and they happily agreed 📚
The story is told by an elephant named Ishi from his infancy to his old age. Interwoven with the perspective of two-legger (human) friends and enemies.
The story is told by an elephant named Ishi from his infancy to his old age. Interwoven with the perspective of two-legger (human) friends and enemies.
February 28, 2022
The Memory of an Elephant is about the life of Ishi a bull elephant. Its about the people in his life both good and bad, also the other elephants he meets. Ishi tells of his life time of stories which are both amazing and heartbreaking. This is a very emotional book, you will cry.
July 7, 2022
Good story by itself…..
The story idea is great. The writing is not so great. It is very sketchy and superficial in many places.
The story idea is great. The writing is not so great. It is very sketchy and superficial in many places.
January 22, 2023
Wow. Just wow. There really isn't anything else to say.
March 18, 2026
“The Memory of an Elephant” is historical fiction, family saga, and animal fiction novel focusing the life experiences of Ishi, a fifty-nine African elephant as he reaches the end of his life and returns to the orphanage in which he spent his childhood with the Hathaway family.
The novel consists of a prologue, twenty-seven chapters, and an epilogue.
In the prologue, the reader is introduced to a man named Dr. Ovidio Salazar as he is driving slowly on a highway due to torrential rains. During his slow drive, Dr. Salazar is almost involved in a car accident when he swerves to not hit an animal and is shocked to discover that the animal he almost hit was an elephant. After Dr. Salazar and the elephant have brief eye contact, the elephant turns and exits off the highway. The prologue ends either Dr. Salazar calling Trevor Blackmon, an assistant game warden for Zambia’s national parks to inform he of the elephant leading Blackmon to plan on finding and “dispatching” or killing the elephant.
Following the prologue, the reader is transported to Kenya in 1962 and the first hours and weeks of the elephant’s life spent with his mother, six siblings as well as aunts, and best friend who was a buck. As a young elephant cafe, he learns that death is always a moment away and the best defense against this is to travel in large numbers. After seeing his friend killed by a big snapper (alligator,) his carefree nature is permanently changed and he is reminded to be constantly aware of threats from big cats, sloped dogs, and worst of all two-leggers (humans) who carry sharp sticks.
In 1964, the male elephant and his clan are attacked by poachers leaving him almost dead. After the slaughter of the male elephant’s clan, he is found seriously injured by a fourteen-year-old African teenage named Kamau Matiba, Kamau gets assistance for the severely injured male elephant from Russell Hathaway, a professional white hunter who works as a safari guide for the rich and famous. Also living with Russell is his wife Jean, fourteen-year-old Amanda, and twelve-year-old son Terence. Upon Kamau meeting Jean, Russell offers him a job at the orphanage and pay for his schooling. After Kamau discusses Russell’s offer with his parents, they are suspicious yet proud and once he begins working at the orphanage, he names the baby male elephant Anaishi or Ishi for short which means “he lives and he remains.”
Kamau eventually realizes that one of the poachers is Gichinga Kimathi, a disgraced former member of his village.
While Ishi is recovering at the orphanage, a traveling clan or elephants pass by and he learns the sad fate of his mother and other family members. After grieving the loss of his family and being offered a place in the traveling clan when he is older, Ishi decides to focus on becoming stronger and independent from the two-leggers by eating solid foods and reducing playing with other animals at the orphanage.
It is revealed that Russell comes from a high-class British family, attended a boarding school as a young boy, and Terence will be attending the same school as a twelve-year-old.
The novel shifts from to Kenya in the past to present day in Zambia and the reader sees Ishi’s life develop as well as the transformation of the Hathaway family. As Russell see more senseless killings of animals and at the encouragement of Jean, he becomes involved in a local conservation community.
After Ishi leaves the orphanage to join the traveling elephant clan led by Blue Mother, Jean is heartbroken but soon have somewhere else to direct her focus when Terence is viscously attacked by bullies at his boarding school.
After Ishi is seriously injured following an attack from a lioness, Mother Blue and the other four adult females of the elephant clan escort him back to the orphanage to recover with a promise to return for him during the rainy season. While Amanda is attending boarding school in Switzerland, she is bullied but overcomes it by joining the school newspaper which eventually leads to a career in journalism. As Terence gets older, he discovers his sexuality and majors in Design in London while Kamau remains in Africa and attends college majoring in veterinary medicine.
In the past, Ishi has entered adolescence as a ten-year-old bull elephant and experiences the hardship of surviving a legendary drought and wildfires. As Ishi looks for protection from the wildfires, he meets an old bull elephant and reluctantly joins a clan of six male elephants.
In the present, news of Ishi’s attempt to walk back to him birthplace to die gets the attention of a media mogul who decides to televise the journey and reunite Ishi with Russell who is now eighty-seven and Amanda who is now sixty-three and both living in England. Unfortunately, Jean and Terence died years ago.
In the past, Ishi becomes a clan leader after the death for Big Black and defeating Boomer, a fellow bull elephant who wanted to become leader of the clan.
In an effort to “protect” Ishi from poachers, Russell has him tranquilized and sent to a zoo in Liverpool. Terence dies from a drug overdose at the age of twenty-two leading to a rift between Jean and Russell. While Jean handles Terence’s death by focusing more if her orphaned animals, Russell takes a job as a hunting guide which leads to Jean divorcing him after he is permanently injured.
After Terence is buried, Amanda becomes an investigative journalist in London, gets married at twenty-eight and becomes a mother of twin daughters at the age of thirty. Following the discovery of her husband Geoffrey cheating on her, Amanda ends their marriage but they still remain good friends and co-parents to their daughters.
After their divorce, Russell stops working as a safari guide then moves to London while Jean secretly battles brain cancer in Kenya. Despite being divorced, Russell returns to Kenya and becomes Jean’s primary caregiver until she dies at the age of fifty-eight.
Following Jean’s death, Russell and Amanda choose to remain in London and offer Kamau the job of running the orphanage with his wife Makena which he happily accepts.
Ishi adjust to life in the Sheffield Zoo through yearly visits from Russell and a relationship with Tatiana, a female elephant who previously worked at a Russian circus. While living at the zoo, Ishi becomes a father but after an incident involving a keeper, the family of three are separated.
After twenty years of life at the zoo, Ishi becomes depressed but excited when he has unexpectedly visited by Amanda and her daughters leading to a tearful reunion.
Russell enjoys a life of painting and companionship with a rich widow named Leslie but at age seventy-five experiences a stroke which affects the left side of his body.
At the age of fifty-nine, Ishi finally gets revenge for the murder of his family then returns to the orphanage in Kenya, reunites with old friends, then rejoins his mother and family clan in death.
The novel ends with an epilogue occurring in 2015 in which it is noted that every year, Kamau visits Ishi’s final resting place. Three years after Ishi’s death, Russell dies at the age of ninety and is buried next to Jean in Kenya. After Amanda’s daughter’s get married and move away, she moves to the home of her father’s companion and starts writing her first novel called “The Memory of an Elephant.”
As I finished the novel, it was interesting to read a novel from an animal’s perspective as he is sharing his life story with the person reader this novel with the awareness of black-skinned two-leggers and white-skinned two-leggers, differences between two-leggers and animals, and the cruelties of life. In addition, it was fascinating to consider the language and conversations of elephants through their feet and different personality traits in elephants.Overall, this is a novel showing the transformation of humans and animals, the development and depth of human-animal relationships, and how animal conservation can create a global change when supported by those with financial means or famous connections.
The novel consists of a prologue, twenty-seven chapters, and an epilogue.
In the prologue, the reader is introduced to a man named Dr. Ovidio Salazar as he is driving slowly on a highway due to torrential rains. During his slow drive, Dr. Salazar is almost involved in a car accident when he swerves to not hit an animal and is shocked to discover that the animal he almost hit was an elephant. After Dr. Salazar and the elephant have brief eye contact, the elephant turns and exits off the highway. The prologue ends either Dr. Salazar calling Trevor Blackmon, an assistant game warden for Zambia’s national parks to inform he of the elephant leading Blackmon to plan on finding and “dispatching” or killing the elephant.
Following the prologue, the reader is transported to Kenya in 1962 and the first hours and weeks of the elephant’s life spent with his mother, six siblings as well as aunts, and best friend who was a buck. As a young elephant cafe, he learns that death is always a moment away and the best defense against this is to travel in large numbers. After seeing his friend killed by a big snapper (alligator,) his carefree nature is permanently changed and he is reminded to be constantly aware of threats from big cats, sloped dogs, and worst of all two-leggers (humans) who carry sharp sticks.
In 1964, the male elephant and his clan are attacked by poachers leaving him almost dead. After the slaughter of the male elephant’s clan, he is found seriously injured by a fourteen-year-old African teenage named Kamau Matiba, Kamau gets assistance for the severely injured male elephant from Russell Hathaway, a professional white hunter who works as a safari guide for the rich and famous. Also living with Russell is his wife Jean, fourteen-year-old Amanda, and twelve-year-old son Terence. Upon Kamau meeting Jean, Russell offers him a job at the orphanage and pay for his schooling. After Kamau discusses Russell’s offer with his parents, they are suspicious yet proud and once he begins working at the orphanage, he names the baby male elephant Anaishi or Ishi for short which means “he lives and he remains.”
Kamau eventually realizes that one of the poachers is Gichinga Kimathi, a disgraced former member of his village.
While Ishi is recovering at the orphanage, a traveling clan or elephants pass by and he learns the sad fate of his mother and other family members. After grieving the loss of his family and being offered a place in the traveling clan when he is older, Ishi decides to focus on becoming stronger and independent from the two-leggers by eating solid foods and reducing playing with other animals at the orphanage.
It is revealed that Russell comes from a high-class British family, attended a boarding school as a young boy, and Terence will be attending the same school as a twelve-year-old.
The novel shifts from to Kenya in the past to present day in Zambia and the reader sees Ishi’s life develop as well as the transformation of the Hathaway family. As Russell see more senseless killings of animals and at the encouragement of Jean, he becomes involved in a local conservation community.
After Ishi leaves the orphanage to join the traveling elephant clan led by Blue Mother, Jean is heartbroken but soon have somewhere else to direct her focus when Terence is viscously attacked by bullies at his boarding school.
After Ishi is seriously injured following an attack from a lioness, Mother Blue and the other four adult females of the elephant clan escort him back to the orphanage to recover with a promise to return for him during the rainy season. While Amanda is attending boarding school in Switzerland, she is bullied but overcomes it by joining the school newspaper which eventually leads to a career in journalism. As Terence gets older, he discovers his sexuality and majors in Design in London while Kamau remains in Africa and attends college majoring in veterinary medicine.
In the past, Ishi has entered adolescence as a ten-year-old bull elephant and experiences the hardship of surviving a legendary drought and wildfires. As Ishi looks for protection from the wildfires, he meets an old bull elephant and reluctantly joins a clan of six male elephants.
In the present, news of Ishi’s attempt to walk back to him birthplace to die gets the attention of a media mogul who decides to televise the journey and reunite Ishi with Russell who is now eighty-seven and Amanda who is now sixty-three and both living in England. Unfortunately, Jean and Terence died years ago.
In the past, Ishi becomes a clan leader after the death for Big Black and defeating Boomer, a fellow bull elephant who wanted to become leader of the clan.
In an effort to “protect” Ishi from poachers, Russell has him tranquilized and sent to a zoo in Liverpool. Terence dies from a drug overdose at the age of twenty-two leading to a rift between Jean and Russell. While Jean handles Terence’s death by focusing more if her orphaned animals, Russell takes a job as a hunting guide which leads to Jean divorcing him after he is permanently injured.
After Terence is buried, Amanda becomes an investigative journalist in London, gets married at twenty-eight and becomes a mother of twin daughters at the age of thirty. Following the discovery of her husband Geoffrey cheating on her, Amanda ends their marriage but they still remain good friends and co-parents to their daughters.
After their divorce, Russell stops working as a safari guide then moves to London while Jean secretly battles brain cancer in Kenya. Despite being divorced, Russell returns to Kenya and becomes Jean’s primary caregiver until she dies at the age of fifty-eight.
Following Jean’s death, Russell and Amanda choose to remain in London and offer Kamau the job of running the orphanage with his wife Makena which he happily accepts.
Ishi adjust to life in the Sheffield Zoo through yearly visits from Russell and a relationship with Tatiana, a female elephant who previously worked at a Russian circus. While living at the zoo, Ishi becomes a father but after an incident involving a keeper, the family of three are separated.
After twenty years of life at the zoo, Ishi becomes depressed but excited when he has unexpectedly visited by Amanda and her daughters leading to a tearful reunion.
Russell enjoys a life of painting and companionship with a rich widow named Leslie but at age seventy-five experiences a stroke which affects the left side of his body.
At the age of fifty-nine, Ishi finally gets revenge for the murder of his family then returns to the orphanage in Kenya, reunites with old friends, then rejoins his mother and family clan in death.
The novel ends with an epilogue occurring in 2015 in which it is noted that every year, Kamau visits Ishi’s final resting place. Three years after Ishi’s death, Russell dies at the age of ninety and is buried next to Jean in Kenya. After Amanda’s daughter’s get married and move away, she moves to the home of her father’s companion and starts writing her first novel called “The Memory of an Elephant.”
As I finished the novel, it was interesting to read a novel from an animal’s perspective as he is sharing his life story with the person reader this novel with the awareness of black-skinned two-leggers and white-skinned two-leggers, differences between two-leggers and animals, and the cruelties of life. In addition, it was fascinating to consider the language and conversations of elephants through their feet and different personality traits in elephants.Overall, this is a novel showing the transformation of humans and animals, the development and depth of human-animal relationships, and how animal conservation can create a global change when supported by those with financial means or famous connections.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2026
I was not emotionally prepared for this book. Even though I knew from the first sentence how it would ultimately end I could not slow down my progress. I wanted to savor every journey and did not want it to end, yet devoured it in two days. Animal books are hard to read but this was beautiful and heartbreaking and heartwarming and everything in between. I have a feeling this will be my top book of 2026, even though it’s only January. If you need a rating based on tears instead of stars….I cried at least five times.
March 22, 2026
A great listen for a long drive. A beautifully tragic tale of many interwoven stories of both man and animal.
The Memory of an Elephant delves deep into the complexities and inner thoughts of animals in a way I’d never considered. All the while portraying interesting commentary on the paradoxical nature of wealth and poaching with heartfelt animal preservation and naturalism.
The Memory of an Elephant delves deep into the complexities and inner thoughts of animals in a way I’d never considered. All the while portraying interesting commentary on the paradoxical nature of wealth and poaching with heartfelt animal preservation and naturalism.
January 13, 2025
This is a very moving book about Ishi, an aging African elephant, as he nears his end days, making his way back home to say thank you to the family that raised him fifty years ago. It takes place from the 1960s through 2015. It shines a spotlight on poaching as Africa is fighting to get their independence from the British Commonwealth. It's an incredible story, highly recommended, especially on audio.
September 25, 2023
A tender, beautiful story about Ishi, a male elephant’s life story. We meet him near his birth and follow him through the ups and downs of his life. I loved this book and yet it is hard to read because of the tenderness of the scenes as well as the brutality that elephants of Ishi’s generation faced. Learning a plethora of details about elephants from their birth, intelligence, compassion, community, and communication abilities was largely new information for me. Hearing about aspects of poaching and the daily dangers for male elephants was heart-breaking. The book made me ponder what life was hardest for an elephant, to be in a circus, zoo or hunted in the wild. As a “two-legger”, it made me reflect on my experiences seeing elephants in captivity, my upbringing in a hunting family and the ivory that I saw and even still have in my possession. This book, is both breathtakingly beautiful and sad yet definitely worth reading. The relationships Ishi has with the kind two-Leggers as well as other elephants will stay with you for a long time and impact you in profound ways. One of my favorite aspects of the book are the chapters narrated directly from Ishi’s viewpoint. I hear the audio version is a real treat. I may reread this book via audio just to experience that.
November 10, 2021
I am trying to review this through the tears that just won't stop; disclaimer* I am neither a crier, nor is this my typical book of interest but how incredibly eye opening to step out of my comfort zone...From the first page I knew this would be a powerful and unforgettable journey, with so much emotion. The build up of pain, fear, compassion and love literally became a ticking time bomb and exploded at that last chapter. Ishi is a remarkable creature, and the elephant's way of life is one everyone should know about. Elephants are too good for this world and if people had the same compassion and empathy for each other, as elephants do, what a better life we could live. This story has changed a part of me forever. #savetheelephants #beautifulstory #lovestory #bookshelf #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks
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