Book Review: "The Elephant's Journey" by Jose Saramago

Jose Saramago is one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and his prose has often conjured overwhelming emotions within me. This book is no exception. Even though the book is supposed to be a bit witty and a bit odd, I found it also very emotional because it still contains these moments within Jose Saramago's novels that characterise them for the reader: these moments of pure emotion, these philosophical introspective thoughts, this moving storyline that normally involves growth of being.

The book is about an elephant who is owned by one rich guy. The elephant is becoming a wedding present for a woman and the only way the elephant can get there is to walk. Of course, we are following the elephant through this incredible narrative of both a physical and emotional journey.

One thing I have personally always loved about Jose Saramago's novels is the way they are written. No matter if it is trying to be witty, dark, overwhelming, strange, detached etc. it always ends up containing some of these truths and facts of life that are pondered on throughout the novel's tense moments. It is like reading into someone else's deepest thoughts:

"The past is an immense area of stony ground that many people would like to drive across as if it were a motorway, while others move patiently from stone to stone, lifting each one because they need to know what lies beneath. Sometimes scorpions crawl out or centipedes, fat white caterpillars or ripe chrysalises, but it's not impossible that, at least once, an elephant might appear…"

But there are these moments also of satire, irony and laughter. Something I do not see commonly in novels by Jose Saramago. I have read novels such as "Blindness" and "Raised from the Ground" and also novels like "Cain". I cannot say that these novels have a ton of moments of satire and laughter. I'm honestly quite surprised that I enjoyed this book because of the way the two atmospheres of great emotion and satire went together perfectly. I consider that a pretty good skill:

"It's a shame that photography had not yet been invented in the sixteenth century, because the solution would have been easy as pie, we would simply have included a few photos from the period, especially if taken from a helicopter and readers would then have every reason to consider themselves amply rewarded and to recognise the extraordinary informative nature of our enterprise."

When I first heard about this book however, I was a lot younger than I am now and to this day, I do not understand why I waited so long to read it. I think it is my own prejudices about not really enjoying novels that are funny and satirical. However, I have learnt a valuable lesson from this to not judge a novel by the genre or what is considered to be the genre. After a while of reading Jose Saramago’s novels, it was only natural that I moved on to “The Elephant’s Journey”. I also want to say that when you initially read a book you should never assume that there is only one main genre.

In conclusion, “The Elephant’s Journey” showed me that Jose Saramago can not only play his cards normally and write these amazing overwhelmingly emotional narratives, but he can also interweave these moments of satire, these ironic pieces and adventures and friendships really well. Saramago has not only proved that he can write in many different genres, he has also proved that his writing spans across the animal world as well. I am honestly very surprised that I didn’t read this earlier.