Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived

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Doreen, January 16, 2012 (view all comments by Doreen)
Best "Feel Good" book of the year! I had enjoyed his first book "The Beauty of the Beasts", so I knew his writing style. It is a wonderful testament to the human animal bond.

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rlorber13, January 1, 2012 (view all comments by rlorber13)
It had me near tears several times and weeping at the end. It is such a beautiful story, one I'm sure I will read over and over!

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bdm, December 1, 2011 (view all comments by bdm)
In spite of the ham-handed quality of the writing (okay, I thought at first, the author is an animal trainer so the book's awkward style can be forgiven), I found the story at first engaging. Soon, though, inconsistencies, omissions, and implausibilities began cropping up so frequently I became more and more convinced that, far from being a "true story of the greatest elephant that ever lived," the book is a work of fiction, misleadingly (and unethically) labeled as fact, no doubt to improve sales.

Take the chronology. Except for an early mention of Bram (and thus Modoc's) age as sixteen when they left their native Germany and a reference at the end to their being at least 70, the lacks any mention of dates and historical context (not even WWI or the rise of Nazism and WWII in Germany, where Bram's Jewish mother, we are led to believe, continues to live unaffected). Events in the lives of Modoc and Bram simply cannot be reconciled with the internal timeline of the book or the external timeline of history.

There are other ways in which the account simply doesn't add up. At the center of the book the author publishes a meager number of photos telling us that they are ones he has been able to collect over the years from the few that exist of Modoc. One has to wonder why are there so few photos? If Modoc was the huge attraction in New York and throughout the country that the book purports, and if she was so hyped by her owner, wouldn't there be photos of her in newspapers or at least articles and advertisements that would help document the story? Given the sensation Modoc was said to have created when she was rescued from the shipwreck in India and the press coverage she supposedly received there, is it odd that not one of these is cited or shown in the book? The book describes Modoc as particularly large, but the elephant/elephants in the book's photo collection are all relatively small, certainly not the height the author describes. In the last hundred pages or so, there is periodic mention of gold tips placed on Modoc's tusks during performances, but Modoc was a female Asian elephant -- female Asian elephants do not have tusks. And does it not strain credulity that Mr. North, Modoc's wealthy, mean-spirited, money-hungry purchaser would just happen to pop up, inexplicably, exactly at the unlikely time and place where Bram and Modoc emerged from a mountain pass believed to be impassable by elephant?

These are just a few of the many, many inconsistencies and improbabilities that pepper this account. It is at best a composite of incidents from the lives of a number of different animals and trainers. More likely it is pure fiction with a story and character from real life thrown in. In either case, its dishonesty is a disservice to readers and to the truly remarkable creatures it pretends to celebrate.

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780060929510

Author:

Helfer, Ralph D.

Publisher:

Harper Perennial

Author:

by Ralph Helfer

Author:

Helfer, Ralph D.

Location:

New York :

Subject:

General

Subject:

Essays

Subject:

Mammals

Subject:

Circus

Subject:

Elephants

Subject:

Circus animals

Subject:

Modoc

Subject:

Animals

Subject:

Modoc (Elephant)

Subject:

Animals - Mammals

Subject:

Biology-Reference

Copyright:

1998

Edition Description:

Trade PB

Publication Date:

19980831

Binding:

TRADE PAPER

Grade Level:

General/trade

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Yes

Pages:

352

Dimensions:

8.00x5.34x.84 in. .57 lbs.