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    The Elephant and the Kangaroo
    The Elephant and the Kangaroo
    The Elephant and the Kangaroo
    Ebook241 pages5 hours

    The Elephant and the Kangaroo

    By T.H. White

    2.5/5

    ()

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    About this ebook

    “THERE’S AN ANGEL IN THE CHIMNEY!”

    Mrs. O’Callaghan had come up with some pretty farfetched notions, but when she came running to Mr. White with this announcement, he was convinced she’d lost all touch with reality. Yet when the sensible English writer—whose only mistake had been to set up his workshop on the O’Callaghan’s rundown Irish farm—ventured into the kitchen to see what had so upset his landlady, he was shocked to discover that the Archangel Michael had come down the chimney and was hovering there, waiting to pass on a message of deep significance: There was going to be a Flood, and it was up to the O’Callaghans and Mr. White to build an Ark just the way Noah had. Well, maybe not exactly the way Noah had. After all, Mr. White didn’t have the same kind of help to work with. Still, he’d find a way to manage, and a way to start the world again too—even though he’d always been a confirmed bachelor. He’d do it all—as long as he didn’t have to save the elephants and the kangaroos!

    From T. H. White, best-selling author of The Sword and the Stone, The Once and Future King, and The Book of Beasts, comes this long unavailable satirical fantasy of twentieth-century Ireland. First published in 1947, The Elephant and the Kangaroo is something of a modern-day Gulliver’s Travels, exploring an English writer’s journey through a land at once familiar and alien, as he answers an Almighty challenge to save a world which he’s not sure is really worth preserving. And it doesn’t take him long to find out that building an ark just isn’t as easy as it used to be....

    “A STINGING COMMENTARY...A MAD FLIGHT OF FANCY.”—Kirkus

    “HILARIOUSLY FUNNY.”—Library Journal
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMuriwai Books
    Release dateJun 28, 2017
    ISBN9781787205536
    The Elephant and the Kangaroo

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    Reviews for The Elephant and the Kangaroo

    2.5/5

    16 ratings2 reviews

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    • 1/5
      If you want to maintain a good opinion of T.H. White and are not a complete Hibernophobic (phobic doesn't seem accurate, but mishibernic is just weird) DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. Mr White, an Englishman living in Kildare country, is instructed along with his hosts. Mrs an Mr (Mikey) O'Callaghan to build an Arc by the Archangel Michael hanging before chimney. What follows is every anti-Irish slur imaginatively elaborated with occasional sly digs at the English and every one else.
    • 2/5
      I never thought I would give such a low rating to a TH White book, especially a humorous fantasy, which earns 1/2 point from me without any further claim to quality at all. The Archangel Michael comes down a chimney in a cottage in Ireland and tells the inhabitants to build an Ark for the second Flood. Despite the cover on one of the paperbacks, what Michael looks like, beyond the presence of a nimbus, is never given, nor are any words recorded by him (or her, according to Mrs. O'Callaghan). The remainder of the book primarily follows Mr. White (no first name given that I recall), the former atheist, and his plans and efforts to build an Ark out of the corrugated barn, and the obstacles that arise, primarily from the absolute stupidity and meanness of the Irish. And therein lies the problem. For about half the book, the author's fine use of the English language and sense of humor carries things forward. Mr. White is a comic figure, constantly frustrated, constantly distracted by minor details, but still capable of moving the project forward. The synergistic dysfunctionality of Mrs. O'Calaghan and her husband is nuanced and funny. There's even an exciting adventure at the end when the Ark is swept down the river. But by then it has become clear to even this dense reader that the author's primary intent was to devise as many ways to have every single Irish character behave as idiotically, lazily, cowardly, and murderously as possible. Innocent humans and animals die left and right at the hands of the Irish in this story. The only reason Mr. White escapes death (several times) at the hands of the Irish is because they can't make ammunition that works and they can't hit the broad side of a barn. I've heard this book promoted as satire but the only target is the Irish -- not business, not clergy, not the religious, not the poor, not the rich, not the military, but all Irish except perhaps those that emigrated. That's not satire any longer, but simple bigotry.

    Book preview

    The Elephant and the Kangaroo - T.H. White

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