Inconvenient Elephant: A Novel

By Judy Reene Singer

The delightful sequel to Judy Reene Singer’s Still Life with Elephant, which People magazine called, “a charmer,” An Inconvenient Elephant brings back Singer’s feisty and unforgettable heroine Neelie Sterling and introduces a whole new cast of pachyderms. Neelie’s quest to save an endangered elephant in Zimbabwe will enthrall fans of Water for Elephants and Hannah’s Dream, and anyone who loves animals and cares about their preservation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jul 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9780062005335

Judy Reene Singer

Judy Reene Singer is a dressage competitor, horse trainer, and all-around animal lover. She has written about the equestrian world for more than a decade and was named top feature writer of the year by The Chronicle of the Horse. She is the author of Horseplay and Still Life with Elephant.

Reviews for Inconvenient Elephant

[zoharlaor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disclaimer: I got this book as an Advanced Reader Copy for freeThe story is about Neelie Sterling, an American who has spent a year in Africa taking care of baby elephants and, due to the volatile political climate in Africa, is forced to come back home. Only that “home” is filled with past skeletons of ex-husband, ex-house, ex-horse, etc. On her way she meets Diamond-Rose, who is not a stripper as her name might suggest, but a 20 year veteran safari tour guide who is also being forcefully evacuated. Along the way, the ladies get enamored by an elephant targeted for execution and, once back in the US, make it their mission to save him.As many of us who have been absent from home for a long amount of time know, returning is a struggle. The mundane becomes the norm, the adventure subsides and you almost have to re-learn how to cope with life. Neelie and Diamond-Rose find work in an animal sanctuary and immediately start working on their new mission of saving another elephant as well as other animals. Their mission is made all that difficult by their lack of social graces and Neelie’s pigheadedness.This is a charming book; a quick read with likable characters even thought the plot is quite predictable and somewhat unbelievable. The narrative is entertaining, enjoyable and easy to follow The author, who seems to be very knowledgeable about animals (even though one gets the impression she is more of a horse lover) doesn’t try to ram any wildlife agenda down the reader’s throat or force a tearjerker – she just let’s the story roll along. Peppered with quirky, silly, purposefully lame and yes, funny jokes the book is never boring.This book is suppose to be a sequel to “Still Life with Elephant” which I haven’t read, and I haven’t noticed I was reading a sequel – so you can still read “An Inconvenient Elephant” independently of the first book.

[smits_52 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

part 2 of story of Neelie,but some new characters to add to the mangeree like Diamond- Rose and Gisha the Russian. Neelie rescues some horses and says goodbye to Margo and Abbie but we meet a new elephant named Tuskar who we meet in Africa.I think this book was better then the first," Still Life with elephant"

[memasmb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An Inconvenient ElephantBy Judy Reene SingerI received this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for a review.The beginning of the book and other sections were a somewhat difficult to follow. The story line of attempting to save elephants under unbelievable circumstances ran the gambit of irritating to hilarious.The author outlines her unconditional love of elephants and her determination to save these elephants from slaughter. She has previously written “Still Life with Elephant” about this devotion...but you do not need to read the prequel to enjoy her second book.Woven into this storyline is the unconventional new fearless girlfriend, Diamond-Rose and her past wealthy lover, Tom. Both bring much humor and sympathy to the engaging tale.I recommend this book to animal lovers and those people who are courageous enough to tackle those seemingly impossible endeavors. Enjoy this easy to read book that will fill your heart with hope and a happy ending.

[mcelhra · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An Inconvenient Elephant is the story of Neelie Sterling, an elephant rescuer who returns back to New York from spending a year in Africa working with baby elephants. Once in New York, Neelie and her friend Diamond-Rose try to raise enough funds to send for an elephant they had to leave behind in Zimbabwe. Her year in Africa is the subject of Still Life With Elephant. I haven't read that book but I didn't have any trouble jumping right into this book.I enjoyed this book for the most part but Neelie started to get on my nerves about halfway through. She behaves and thinks a lot like a thirteen year old girl and I had trouble understanding what her love interest saw in her. I'm an animal lover but her obsession with elephants was beyond my understanding as well.Overall this was a good story with elements of romance, adventure and humor.

[bibliophileofalls · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't easily "put down" a book I've started. I have a rule to read 15% of a book before making this decision to give the book a fair chance. I read almost 25% of this book before (reluctantly) putting it down. I felt no connection with any of the characters and especially the protagonist. Although I consider myself an animal lover, I really wasn't emotionally moved by this elephant tale. Some of the writing was quite good, but just not enough to keep me reading. I did give it two and a half stars for the writing. Perhaps someday I'll pick it up again.

[bookventures · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An Inconvenient Elephant is a touching tale about discovering one’s self and the importance of family. Ideally the use of elephants as the central figures in the story was also used to emphasis this theme since elephants are phratric animals and their units are developed in unconventional ways. Similarly, the main characters formed these family units emphasizing the notion that family does not necessarily mean blood related. Other themes that rose from the story were the modern debate about rehabilitation of animals and striking a balance between your professional goals and the goals that are set for you by society. The latter theme is more prevalent among women in this decade who seek to fulfill their career dreams and strive for independence as oppose to starting a family. All of the themes were integrated into the story very well and made it a real joy to read.The story is also lightly coloured with humor which contributed to its ‘unputdownable’ factor. There were many times when I found myself laughing out loud at Diamond teaching a Cockatoo to swear or the lovable but seriously neurotic Mrs. Wycliff. The humor is very witty and grown-up but relevant and totally unexpected which made me enjoy the story even more. An Inconvenient Elephant was also touching because you got a first-hand view into the perils that wild animals face and how these animals are rescued. I certainly became more appreciative of all the work done by animal activist around the world.Many of the reviews that I have read so far state that the plot was a bit obvious but I have to disagree. Perhaps I wasn’t paying much attention but I found that there was an element of uncertainty to the story especially when it came to rescuing the elephants. I also appreciated the linguistic artistry in many of the chapters by the author. Often times she started them with literal devices and then meshes them with the overall story and plot. I think that by employing this tactic, the author gave us another level in which to understand the difficulties that the characters were facing and it sort of forces you to think about how you would cope if you were in a similar situation.The characters were like a mixed bag of nuts if you look at them closely. Neelie, the Jane Goodall of Elephants is a nice character though sometimes I found that she was a bit erratic and just too sensitive. She is the main character who ironically is learning some of life’s most important lesson from elephants. Diamond was a great character to get to know. She draws a constant reference to her life in Africa which shows up the rich culture that exists there. One might argue that there were some characters who were a bit stereotypical such as Jungle Jim ( a representation of many of the male animal activist we see on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel) yet there presence in the story was really overshadowed by the animals and their daring rescue.Animal lovers and non-animals lovers will enjoy this story because of its overall themes, good plot and storyline and its wit and humor. And I look forward to hearing more from Judy Reene Singer.

[sugarcreekranch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An Inconvenient Elephant is a fictional story about a young American woman who meets a "troublesome" bull elephant in Africa, and strives to save him from being destroyed. A great premise. But the novel is "light" to the point of being slapstick silly. And the main character is not believable -- she is supposedly a true animal lover who is extremely passionate to save the bull elephant she's seen a few times; yet her actions show weaker feelings toward the horse, dog, and other elephants that she has shared much more of her life with. The book does have its funny moments, though.

[sharn_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like some of the other reviewers, I had no idea this was a sequel to a book. I read it anyhow. It was good but I've read better. I felt it was a bit predictable (I hate predictable) so maybe that was my problem, I don't know, maybe it was just my mood. Anyhow, I liked how it ended and I definitely would suggest to anyone who likes to read stories with animals.

[novelnympho · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story and its characters was captivating from the first pages as we look into the life of Neelie who has been an elephant caretaker in the wild in Kenya. The setting is described beautifully and the main character is just "off" enough to be interesting and loveable. It is apparently a sequel to a previous novel but it reads independently of that sequel...I was able to read it and follow along even without having read the first novel prior. If you liked Hannah's Dream, or The Art of Racing in the Rain...you'll appreciate the animal and human love affair contained within these pages. A VERY GOOD read which I would recommend. I now am going to read the prequel to see what I missed!

[paperbackpirate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Upon receipt I discovered that this is actually the sequel to another book called Still Life with Elephant. I decided to go ahead and read it without the prequel and had no problem understanding the story.Neelie is a woman who has been caring for baby elephants in Kenya for the last year. On her way home to the United States she meets Tusker, a bull elephant with a death sentence because he likes to share campers' food, just like the raccoons in Grand Canyon but bigger. She feels compelled to save the magnificent creature but there are a few minor details she needs to take care of. First, raising $35,000 as a pay-off, second, getting him and his best friend Shamwari (which means My Friend in Zulu) to the U.S., and third, convincing her ex-boyfriend to allow them into his elephant preserve.There was some corny dialogue in the first chapter which made me feel like I was going to be in for a long ride, but it picked up from there and only got better. I loved the numerous African proverbs sprinkled throughout the story such as, "As they say in Swahili, It can rain on your head all day but it won't grow a banana tree."This is a great book for animal lovers and environmentalists alike. And now I want to read the prequel...

[mtgirlatheart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read the prequel to this book, Still Life With Elephant, so I wasn't sure what to expect. An Inconvenient Elephant turned out to be a really enjoyable book! I especially liked that the story began in Kenya and Zimbabwe, which really helped me to understand who the characters are and why they do what they do. Once I started reading, I had a hard time putting the book down. I'll definitely be on the lookout for the prequel now!

[readermom68 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book well enough. I wasn't as thrilled with it as some of the other readers, but perhaps if I had read the first book I would have like it more. My biggest problem was that I did not really connect with the main character. She was the source of most of her problems; her choices of action and her reactions to situations for me were hard to understand. I also felt that the supporting characters could have been developed better. The story was easy to follow and even though it was fairly predictable, the ending was still satisfying.

[dudes22_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

[An Inconvenient Elephant] is the story of Neelie Sterling's try to resue 2 elephants from Africa. At the beginning of the book, she is trying to leave Kenya which has fallen into political chaos. Along the way, she acquires a friend Diamond-Rose , a safari operator, who is also trying to get to the US. In the course of their escape through Africa to get out, they come across an elephant who is destined for execution. They decide that they need to save this elephant.I found the beginning of the book and places here and there a litlle confusing. I think probably because the author did not spend a lot of the book on the back story. Maybe if I had read the first book, the background of the people and Neelie's story would not have confused me. But, I eventually got most of the drift of her story and I can't say that it interferred with my enjoyment of the book.I also felt that Neelie is the same type of heroine as Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum - slightly kooky with an odd way of looking at things sometimes. Overall, a very enjoyable, light read. I'll probably try to go back and read the first book sometime.