Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2015 brings lots of new and interesting books into your life!
As for me, the bar has been set extremely high with Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. What an amazing story this is! It is one you HAVE to read at some point this year.
I am never disappointed by Picoult and I rarely close one of her books without learning some sort of new information about a topic that I had never considered. This time, it's elephants. Yes, elephants. Leaving Time is the story of Jenna Metcalf, daughter of Alice and Thomas Metcalf, and her search for the truth about her mother's mysterious disappearance when she (Jenna) was only 3 years old. Jenna's parents are scientists who spend their lives researching and taking care of elephants. Alice specifically focuses her research on grief and how elephants show grief and she conducted much of her research in Africa, before meeting Thomas and moving with him to New Hampshire to work in the elephant sanctuary there. Jenna grew up in this sanctuary, watching the elephants, watching her mother take care of these amazing creatures, with all of the adults being extra careful not to let her ever get too close to the elephants, as one never knows exactly what these animals might do.
As is typical of Picoult's writing style, she tells the story through a series of alternating chapters: Jenna, Alice, Serenity (the psychic Jenna employs to help her find out what really happened the night her mother disappeared), and Virgil (the police officer who began the investigation into Alice's disappearance). Through their recollections, we also meet Thomas (Alice's husband and Jenna's dad), Jenna's grandmother (Alice's mother) as well as a few others who work in the elephant sanctuary: Giddeon, Nevvie, and Grace. And we also meet Maura and a number of other elephants that have been the subject of Alice and Thomas' research.
Before reading this novel, I will admit that elephants did not interest me in the slightest. OK...the little babies on the safari ride at The Animal Kingdom at Disney World are precious, but aside from seeing them once a year, I never really gave them much thought. After reading Alice's chapters, which always detail her elephant research (and which function to show the parallel lives of the elephants and the elephant caretakers), I find these creatures, specifically the females, to be fascinating. They really seem to be more evolved than humans. They show emotion, particularly grief, like no other animal I have ever learned about. Elephants never forget--they really don't. And they will protect those they love.
Aside from learning about elephants, which really was fascinating, I was personally touched by Jenna's determination to find her mother, or at least find out what happened to her mother. As one who grew up knowing very little about my father, I know what it's like to wonder. Although, Jenna was motivated by the hope of finding her mother, after all, her mother simply vanished one night. However, towards the end of the story when Jenna, convinced that her mother has died, declares
But the truth is, I don't have my mother. I never will. I don't get to rewrite my story; I just have to stumble to the end of it.
I felt a connection to her, to this character, that only a child who has lost a parent before their time ever could. It's absolutely heart-wrenching and I find myself starting to hope more than ever that Alice is found before the story is over.
I won't say anymore about the plot but I will say that I was very surprised by the outcome. I thought I had it all figured out (I mean, after all, Jenna tells us almost from the first chapter that some stories don't have happy endings), that I had been paying attention to Alice's details about the elephants enough to have connected the dots and filled in the gaps. I was very wrong. The story literally turns on a dime and gives you the "No Way!" moment we often hope for in books.
I am tempted to one day read this story again, now that I know what happened. I think I probably took a lot of details for granted that would make more sense now that I know the truth. Of course, it's hard to justify re-reading a book when there are so many books out there waiting for me to read them! :)
This is definitely a book that you need to read in 2015. I can already see this one being in my top 10, if not my #1 for 2015. Yes, it's that good!
Happy reading, everyone!
:) Dodie
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