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The Elephant Keepers' Children

by Peter Høeg, Martin Aitken (Translator)

3.37 of 5 stars 3.37 · rating details · 641 ratings · 165 reviews

From the author of Smilla's Sense of Snow, an epic novel about faith and the magic of everyday life.

Told from the precocious perspective of fourteen-year-old Peter, The Elephant Keepers' Children is about three siblings and how they deal with life alongside their eccentric parents. Peter's father is a vicar, his mother is an artisan, and both are equally and profoundly dev...more

Hardcover, 502 pages

Published October 23rd 2012 by Other Press (first published September 1st 2010)

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Sep 06, 2012 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-mt-bookpile

I'm giving this 2 stars even though this was a DNF - some readers will enjoy wading through the dense prose, the constant diversions and the overlong sentences more than I did. What I got out of the first 1/4 of the book was this was a world populated by slightly quirky people, with some sort of magical realism going on. Not paranormal, but more psychological magic.

Here's one reason for the DNF: all too often our hero/narrator says "I'll get to that in a moment" or "I'll explain that later" (in...more

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Jun 08, 2013 Buchdoktor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: familie

Peter ist vierzehn, sehr klein für sein Alter und wächst in einem protestantischen Pfarrhaus auf der dänischen Insel Finø auf. Damit Sie eine Vorstellung von Finø bekommen: die Insel ist so klein, dass dort alle Kinder gemeinsam in einen Kindergarten und in eine Schule gehen können. Viele der tatkräftigen Inselbewohner üben mehr als einen Beruf aus. Bermuda ist Hebamme und zugleich für die Beerdigungen zuständig, Peters Mutter spielt die Orgel und sorgt als Pyrotechnikerin auf der Insel für Feue...more Peter ist vierzehn, sehr klein für sein Alter und wächst in einem protestantischen Pfarrhaus auf der dänischen Insel Finø auf. Damit Sie eine Vorstellung von Finø bekommen: die Insel ist so klein, dass dort alle Kinder gemeinsam in einen Kindergarten und in eine Schule gehen können. Viele der tatkräftigen Inselbewohner üben mehr als einen Beruf aus. Bermuda ist Hebamme und zugleich für die Beerdigungen zuständig, Peters Mutter spielt die Orgel und sorgt als Pyrotechnikerin auf der Insel für Feuerwerkszauber. Fein ziselierte Spitznamen der Inselbewohner verdeutlichen, dass der Erzähler nicht der einzige fabulierfreudige Insulaner ist. Mit der Gelassenheit, die ein Pfarrerskind zum Überleben braucht, berichtet Peter von seiner 93-jährigen buckligen Urgroßmutter, die sich noch an den Ersten Weltkrieg und an die Spanische Grippe erinnern kann. Nach Meinung des jungen Erzählers sind er selbst und sein Hund die einzig Normalen in der Pfarrersfamilie. Einen Eindruck von Peters Talenten zum Spinnen von Seemannsgarn erhalten Sie auf www . tiltes-insel . de. Um den Tourismus anzukurbeln, erfanden Peter und seine Schwester Tilte für den Insel-Prospekt Tierarten, die es nirgendwo sonst auf der Welt gibt.

Peters altkluge, bildhafte Erzählweise hat mich sofort gefesselt. (Der Übersetzer Peter Urban-Halle gibt Høegs jungem Erzähler eine charakteristische Stimme, die Peters nachdenklicher wie abenteuerlustiger Art entspricht.) Peter - nach Autor und Übersetzer der dritte dieses Namens - kündigt an, dass er als Erzähler nicht auf eine Tür zeigen möchte, die in ein Zimmer führt, sondern auf die Tür, die aus dem Gebäude herausführt. Peter bezeichnet seine Eltern als Elefantenhüter; denn im Leben des Pfarrer-Ehepaars gibt es Ereignisse oder Sehnsüchte, die selbst Eltern nicht unter Kontrolle haben. Peters Mutter hat zuletzt an einem Stimmerkennungsmechanismus getüftelt, mit dem sich Türen öffnen oder Lampen anschalten lassen. Nun sind beide Eltern verschwunden. Dass die Gemeindeverwaltung die kurzfristig elternlosen Peter und Tilte in Obhut genommen hat, passt den beiden gar nicht; denn sie wollen dringend mit Unterstützung eines weiteren Bruders eigene Ermittlungen zum Verschwinden der Eltern anstellen. Schwester Tiltes Interessen drehen sich alle um den Tod; Tilte hat in der Familie die Rolle der religiösen Zweiflerin übernommen, die mit Vater Konstantin Grundatzdiskusisonen über Fragen der Religion führte. In einer Nebenrolle der ältere Bruder Hans, Student der Astrophysik. Zu klären ist nun, ob Peters Eltern etwa religiöse Scharlatane sind, Anlagebetrüger oder sogar in eine weltweite Verschwörung verwickelt wurden? Mit ausgeprägt makabrem Humor erzählt Peter von der märchenhaften Villa Kalle Kloaks, des Kanalisations-Baumeisters, und schleicht sich schließlich als blinder Passagier auf die "Weißen Dame", bevor das Schiff in Richtung Kopenhagen ablegt. Als das Figurenarsenal Zuwachs durch eine saudische Prinzessin und eine gut gekühlte Leiche erhielt, hing meine Aufmerksamkeit kurze Zeit durch, doch Peter bekam die Sache schnell wieder in den Griff. Beim Verfassen des Touristen-Prospekt hatte der Erzähler ja gelernt, wie man sein Publikum fesselt und manipuliert.

Peter Høeg lässt seine abenteuerliche Geschichte von einem hinreissenden Erzähler mit Anspielungen auf Religion, Fundamentalismus und Hirnforschung untermalen. "Wenn ein Erzähler den Leser erreicht, öffnet sich eine Tür", teilt Peter uns aus seinem reichen Erfahrungsschatz mit. Peter erreicht seine Leser mit dem Bild von den elefantengroßen Geheimnissen, die seine Eltern zu verbergen haben. Høegs jugendlicher Ich-Erzähler kokettiert schamlos mit seiner Jugend und verkündet zugleich erstaunlich tiefgründige philosophische Gedanken. Der makabre Humor des Ich-Erzählers, verknüpft mit übersprudelnder Lust am Fabulieren, haben mich in Peter Høegs neuem Roman sofort in ihren Bann gezogen. Die enge Geschwisterbeziehung und die spürbaren Liebe der Kinder zu ihren exzentrischen Eltern holen den Leser aus den Höheflügen ins Absurde immer wieder auf den Boden der Realität zurück.

Wenn Sie auf groteske Ereignisse in protestantischen Pfarrhäusern empfindlich reagieren, sollten Sie diese temporeiche Geschichte meiden. Wer sich von Larsens Die Karte meiner Träume oder Chabons Die Vereinigung jiddischer Polizisten gut unterhalten fühlte, sollte dagegen unbedingt zugreifen. (less)

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Feb 02, 2013 Kylie Purdie rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-read

This is one of those books where I feel I should have got more out of it than I did. That's not say I didn't enjoy it, I'm just not sure what it was all about.
The elephants referred to in the title are not literal elephants, instead they are elephants that some of us carry inside, the things that elephant keepers have inside them that is much bigger than themselves and over which they have no control.
Peter and Tilte are concerned that their parents elephants have lead them to do something danger...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Danny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book

“I have found a door out of the prison.”

So begins this tale full of unexpected humor, adventure, intrigue, and the search for transcendence. Peter, Tilte, and Hans grew up in a rectory. Their father is the pastor of a church on the tiny island of Fino, and their mother plays the organ when she’s not busy inventing gadgets. Both of their parents are elephant keepers, by which the children mean that they “have something inside them that is much bigger than themselves and over which they have no co...more “I have found a door out of the prison.”

So begins this tale full of unexpected humor, adventure, intrigue, and the search for transcendence. Peter, Tilte, and Hans grew up in a rectory. Their father is the pastor of a church on the tiny island of Fino, and their mother plays the organ when she’s not busy inventing gadgets. Both of their parents are elephant keepers, by which the children mean that they “have something inside them that is much bigger than themselves and over which they have no control.” This has led, in the past, to the concoction of fake miracles and at least one brush with the law. When their parents disappear, the children know that the elephants inside them must be driving them to do something desperate.

Peter tells the story, though he is largely dragged along by his older sister, Tilte, who says that teachers only complain about her “because they feel squeezed by the breadth of my personality.” This personality and her ability to turn every situation on its head with a few words add a sense of madcap hilarity to the proceedings as the children escape from the authorities, search for clues to their parent’s plans, and enact a rescue mission.

The story is told conversationally, and with multiple digressions per chapter, so that at times the whole thing can seem like a labyrinth of words. But the tangents are rarely pointless, even if the point is something more philosophical than immediately relevant to the plot. Be prepared to go along for the ride, even when it’s unclear where you’re heading.

As they travel in search of an answer to their problem, they meet characters from a variety of religious backgrounds, the island of Fino being a virtual paradise of religious diversity. Most of the people they meet end up helping them, willingly or not, because these children are difficult to deny.

“There is a verse of the Koran,” says one character. “It says that small devils are often the worst. And yet they require the greatest mercy.”(less)

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Nov 20, 2012 Francoise rated it 4 of 5 stars

The narrator of this romp through the bracing terrain of spiritual enlightenment and madcap action-adventure shares with me a love of the convoluted, beautifully constructed sentence that provides a long-winded, gently mocking indirect introduction to a short declarative fact. If I didn't live with 14-year olds I would probably have added that the boy seems precocious. His sister is the best character -- a force of nature who persuades everyone to her view and puts friends in a coffin to help th...more

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May 12, 2012 Rebekka K. Steg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, denmark, fiction, magical-realism

This week I've been reading a book in Danish, by the Danish writer Peter Høeg (author of Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow, The Quiet Girl, Borderliners). I especially loved Borderliners, it's actually one of my favourite books. The Elephant Keepers' Children (my translation, there's no official translation yet) is in the style of mystical realism, similar to Haruki Murakami. The philosophical idea behind the novel, is the thought that some of us have "elephants" inside of us, that we need to be ke...more

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Mar 10, 2013 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think it took a genius to write this book and make it readable, likeable and fun. It could easily have been a book tossed into the dustbin. The story mocks every convention of modern society in tongue-in-cheek ways with hilarious plays on words even with the names of characters and places, some almost unintelligible in the audio addition because they are so foreign sounding.
The book is unusual in that it is not addressing the reader at large, but is supposed to be a private conversation betwee...more I think it took a genius to write this book and make it readable, likeable and fun. It could easily have been a book tossed into the dustbin. The story mocks every convention of modern society in tongue-in-cheek ways with hilarious plays on words even with the names of characters and places, some almost unintelligible in the audio addition because they are so foreign sounding.
The book is unusual in that it is not addressing the reader at large, but is supposed to be a private conversation between Peter (Petrus), the narrator, and the reader, you, and it feels that way, as well. You are engaged in a private conversation, almost outside the boundaries of the book.
The Fino children, Hans, Tilte, Peter (in order of their age), and Basker III (the dog), all reside on the island called Fino, in Denmark. The children are pranksters who have mastered the art of deception. They come from a strange background of characters, a hump-backed great-grandmother and parents who could easily be considered good-natured charlatans, who have been leaders in their Church. Their Father is the “miracle-making” pastor who leads services in which there are magical occurences and mother plays the organ and is a craftswoman, as well. She is multi-talented. All residents have many jobs since they live in a very small town, and she is no exception. Their jobs are often contradictory in nature, making the reader chuckle under their breath, as the thief may be the one in charge of the alarm systems and the person of religion may be dispensing advice on debauchery.
The head of the school is Alexander Beastly Flounderblood, aptly named, as is Leonora Ticklepalate who in Tibetan nun’s habit, lives the life of a monk while giving telephone advice about various sexual exploits. Basker III is the third in a line of hounds named after the supernatural hound in the book, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Tilte is the 16 year old sister of Petrus and Hans, whose spiritual nature and cleverness can have a mesmerizing effect on everyone, in essence tilting the world her way. She discovered that there is a door that exists within everyone that leads to freedom.
There are so many characters and their names are double entendres that also indicate their background. The reader will simply smile as Polly Pigonia comes to life on the page. She had a pig farm which she has turned into an ashram. Finn Flatfoot is the local policeman, Svend Sewerman was a builder of sewers, Pallas Athene is a goddess who runs a brothel. Is Peter the rock and is Hans a metaphor for Jesus, with Pallas Athene, his Mary Magdalene? Within the witty dialogue and the use of sleight of hand in this fantasy, there is also a serious message hidden, and it is apparent at the end, more than anywhere else, in Peter’s final words.
Peter wants to tell you, the reader, about the door to the room. “The self is a room inside the prison”. He wants to show you how to escape the prison which is our self. Within us there are rooms of joy and sorry, pain and pleasure. If we move outside the room, through the door, and we don’t think, we can let go of our baggage and become free. Within each of us is also an elephant which can be a dream, a burden an unfulfilled hope, both good and bad. Sometimes we have to let go of that elephant as well. Peter can see the elephant within. Does the reader also see the elephants people carry with them? When we stop thinking and walk through that door, is that the meaning of life or the end of it? What is the true escape?
This is not a book for everyone. Reading this is a trip into a world of madness, nonsense, mystery, romance, subterfuge, silliness, crime, religion, right and wrong, terrorism and bravery, and they are all mocked by the author. The book arouses so many conflicting thoughts in the reader, but the book is never overbearing. It turns all trials into triumphs, all tragedies into happy endings. The reader will wonder if it is not, perhaps, really about the meaning of life, on its serious level, even as it mocks all of society’s conventions, all of the religions, all of the mores, all of the people in power. One has to take the time to ferret out the true meaning of the tale and of each word, sentence and name, in order to discover the inner message of the author and not just be influenced by the lightness of the plot through the use of trompe l’oeill. There is much more to the story than meets the eye. Is everyone flawed, in a prison of their own making, or has the world created the prison for them?
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(less)

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Jan 30, 2013 Anna rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, apl, audiobook

Not bad writing, but also not much happening.
A story told as a 14 year old boy from a fictional somewhat remote island of Finø in Denmark (pronounced Fiina on the audiobook for some reason. Maybe the differences between a, o, ä and ø are not that clear... a = like u in English word hut, ä = like in English word man, o = like au in naughty, ø = like i in bird). The inner voice did not remind me of a 14 year old boy who's grown in a remote area. There was just too much academic wisdom in his ramb...more

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Jan 19, 2013 P.d.r. Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: the-not-sure-shelf

With books written in another language one has to hope that the translator knows their stuff and has the soul of a writer. Peter Hoeg's translator deserves a medal for maintaining the flow and Danish feeling of 'The Elephant Keeper's Children, and getting idioms which feel right but are not familiar English ones. Hoeg is a fine writer and his translator turns his words into a fine English prose.

I am not sure about the plot. I am sure about the excellent writing and dialogue but I found the adole...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Vicki rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I had a hard time getting into this, and it took me a long time to finish. I think I may have lost some of the subtleties of the original Danish. Often I would find myself not really understanding the point the author was trying to make, and generally I felt like it was due to the translation. The story was complex and had a lot of twists and turns, which I typically like, but I never found myself really enjoying the story. Oh well.

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Jun 11, 2013 Margaret Carmel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this book. There were two general main ideas that I really identified with. First, was the idea of everyone having elephants. "Elephants" in the book are the idea that everyone has demons or uncontrollable bad things inside of them that cause them to do negative things or things that don't make sense. Basically, no one is perfect especially adults. The children in this book are dealing with their parents "elephants" in this story. I like the idea of children discovering that their...more

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Oct 22, 2012 Alice marked it as to-read · review of another edition

I found this book description on Amazon since there isn't one on here:

Told from the precocious perspective of fourteen-year-old Peter, The Elephant Keepers' Children is about three siblings and how they deal with life alongside their eccentric parents. Peter's father is a vicar, his mother is an artisan, and both are equally and profoundly devout. The family lives on the (fictional) island of Finø, where people of all religious faiths coexist peacefully. Yet, nothing is at it seems.
When Peter'...more

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Nov 05, 2012 PAPER/PLATES rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

People who know me well know that one of my least favorite topics of conversation is religion. It varies in importance from person to person, so I find it impolite to probe into the religious workings or non-workings of the majority of individuals. Perhaps this has something to do with the extremes to which faith is wielded by a variety of people; why is it that talk of God is so frequently usurped as a means to an end rather than a means to improvement? It is this question that is poised so pla...more People who know me well know that one of my least favorite topics of conversation is religion. It varies in importance from person to person, so I find it impolite to probe into the religious workings or non-workings of the majority of individuals. Perhaps this has something to do with the extremes to which faith is wielded by a variety of people; why is it that talk of God is so frequently usurped as a means to an end rather than a means to improvement? It is this question that is poised so playfully at the center of The Elephant Keepers’ Children by Peter Høeg.

Skip straight to the recipe inspired by this book.

Fourteen-year-old Peter Finø is brokenhearted. His dream girl, Conny, has been whisked away from their fictional Danish island, Finø, by stardom. His parents work in the church as pastor and organist and have a history of, shall we way, overdoing it in an effort to boost church attendance. Peter’s older sister Tilte is obsessed with death and, as such, constantly thinking of ways to prepare herself and others for that eternal eventuality. His brother Hans is an oblivious stargazer whose infrequent gear shifts into rage could kill a man. The motley crew of characters is somewhat jumbled and happy, as families are, but let’s not forget Basker III, the Finø family’s pet dog who is always around but somehow never a burden.

Faith, or rather, a variety of faiths is one of Finø’s defining factors – along with its mix of churches, 18th century abodes and a deep, dark forest. On Finø, Christianity is king, but many other religions exist peacefully alongside it and that means the children, more than anyone, are accepting of differing perspectives. This attitude is put to the test when a vast gathering of all the world’s religions, The Grand Synod, takes the stage in Copenhagen, and a dismal plan is set in place to derail this global expression of religious collaboration and tolerance. As Peter, Tilte and the others slowly unravel the mystery of what threatens the Grand Synod, they must face their own fears, challenge authority and, worst of all, figure out their parents’ role in the whole thing.

The Elephant Keepers’ Children is a sort of meandering romp through a series of serious topics such as religion, death, drugs, crime, and sex. With little Peter at the helm, though, that which would feel heavy around the dinner table is surprisingly light and enjoyable through the eyes of a precocious teenager. Snarky, self-contradictory, soul-searching and unexpectedly wise, Peter is a lovable hero, whose bravery exceeds his size and whose deadpan criticism is so funny, it makes you wish you would be the subject of it sometime.

Classically speaking, detectives are not 14-year-old footballers and their 16-year-old aspiring therapist sisters. But Peter Finø and company lay that slow, clue-based, methodical investigator archetype to rest. Despite numerous flashbacks, asides, and ostensibly irrelevant details, The Elephant Keepers’ Children keeps a steady pace, tackling at once the notion that children are less wise than adults, as well as many of the social issues that worry society today.

This is the sort of book that you want to see as a movie, if only to fall in love with the boy Peter and witness his hijinks as he goes from discovering his parents’ disappearance to preventing a catastrophe. Then you realize that without the side trips into Peter and Tilte’s pasts, without the history and the anecdotes, this story would be flat, uninteresting, and typical. But each of Peter’s digressions comes full circle, and it is the mastery of weaving in Høeg’s storytelling that makes The Elephant Keepers’ Children pure magic.(less)

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Mar 24, 2013 Allyson rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of my favorite books which I reread is his Smilla's Sense of Snow, but I only just tolerated this book.
I am always suspicious of translations as feel they cannot represent the author's true voice, but since I do not read Danish, have no choice. The faults in this book I will therefore blame on his translator, chief among them the stupidly distracting character names. The plot is fantastical, but I might have accepted it were the names reasonable. They were ludicrous, unnecessary, and dimini...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Susanna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-look, just-kinda-weird

I loved, loved, loved Hoeg's writing style. Quirky, ironic, hilarious - all the things that can combine to make an immensely enjoyable read. The plot was slow and meandering, but the writing made the pages fly by fast, still feeling fun. The characters were great, too, each one unique and interesting. It was difficult to predict what crazy plan or twist they would come up with next!

Though this was a fun read, I felt like the deeper ideas didn't come through. There's a lot about religion, especia...more

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Nov 20, 2011 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: funny

Well I read this in Swedish. Started a little nervously as sometimes Peter Hoeg uses such subtle language that I might miss something in Swedish that I would have got in English. But as niether the English or Swedish paperjackets are available here you get the nice picture from Denmark.

Anyway, yes the book is subtle but you can read it at the top level and have a heck of a good time. Stacks of irony and sarcasm and slapstick. In parts there is a little bit too much action (yes I said action in a...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I read reviews of this book describing it as a "young adult novel" I didn't quite understand or agree. Sure, the protagonists are teenagers, but is that all it takes to qualify? The story of two children trying to uncover the disappearance of their parents has immense potential, especially when the children are extremely self possessed and bright. The writing is very much conversational... meaning, Peter narration is written as if he is speaking to you. From the start, I felt that I was a p...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Quirky, but my kind of quirky. Peter, Tilte, and their dog Basker are searching for their parents who have disappeared and maybe involved in some shady dealings. They have an older brother Hans who does not really play a huge role in the novel. Their father is the rector of the Fino church and their mother is an inventor, highly skilled at making things, and plays the organ on sundays. The children suspect that their parents may have acquired a taste for the finer things in life like mink coats...more

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Nov 09, 2012 Xxendlessautumnxx rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I regret to say that I didn't really enjoy this book, The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Hoeg, that I won on Goodreads, and I'll tell you why:

-the prose was overwrought and overcomplicated, and it made me feel like I was stupid, and keep in mind, the narrator is a fourteen year old boy, and shouldn't sound like he is a Rhodes scholar
-there are far too many characters to keep track of and I kept getting confused
-because the prose was so confusing to me, I barely even absorbed what was happen...more

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Apr 01, 2013 John Bellinger rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read 150 pages and went back to the beginning. This is a wonderful author, or it is a wonderful author/translator combination, as the author is Danish. I marvel at the complexity of translating straightforward prose alone, but Hoeg is a very funny and very quirky author, and there are a lot of subtleties of language in a deceptively simple style. There is more than a bit of Vonnegut in here, and I enjoy that.

I feel that the quirkiness kept me from paying better attention to the narrative, and...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Estibaliz79 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3 1/2... y hay que decir que del dicho al hecho, va un buen trecho; o, traducido, que poco tiene que ver en realidad lo que uno puede imaginar que es esta historia, por la sinopsis de la contraportada, con lo que realmente se encuentra en sus páginas. Al menos, ese ha sido mi caso, y para bien; pues donde esperaba la "típica" historia de familia disfuncional, con tragicómicos resultados para la infancia narradora, lo cierto es que me he topado con una aventura un tanto disparatada y muy entreten...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Spock rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

ho pensato a lungo prima di esprimere un giudizio cos�� severo sul nuovo libro dello scrittore responsabile del successo planetario di "Smilla". Non sarebbe corretto usare come metro di paragone quel libro, tanto pi�� questo, per argomento/struttura/tipologia, niente ha a che vedere con quello. Ma proprio qui sta il problema: non riesco a inquadrare il libro in alcun modo. Vorrebbe essere spumeggiante, con un pizzico di thriller, disseminato qua e la di trovate umoristiche (nel senso scandinavo...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a beautiful, well-written book that makes some interesting points about family relationships and organized religion. However, it's sort of a fantasy and there are a few too many characters - it's tough to follow in places (which is generally true for Hoeg). And while this is a great book, it's tough to get through - the pacing isn't even, and while you care about the characters, you don't really believe that anything bad is going to happen to them.

This is kind of a slow, philosophical bo...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Jeanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

With their parents missing, three siblings and their dog embark on an adventure to find them. Their father is an all-denominational vicar on the small island, and their mother is an artist/inventor who uses music as a remote control on household appliances. An unlikely couple to have disappeared, or so it would seem. So when the kids go looking for their parents, they are helped by and or hindered by the oddest bunch of people with some of the wackiest names ever to inhabit a page. These resourc...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Sam rated it 2 of 5 stars

Abandoned ship 7/8ths of the way through. I wanted it to be better than it was. In the end, I couldn't justify giving it a 300th chance. It's confusing, absurd, and in the end, kinda dumb ....

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Apr 11, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Elephant Keepers Children- Mary Austin
By Peter Hoeg
The setting is the imaginary island of Fino off the coast of Denmark, where the world’s religions live together peacefully. Father is a vicar and Mother is a fine artist. For the second time in the lives of the three siblings, Hans, Tidle and Peter, their very eccentric parents disappear. The youngest, fourteen year old Peter is the narrator. From his precocious view point he describes the weird circumstances and incredible adventures they have...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Elephant Keepers Children
By Peter Hoeg
The setting is the imaginary island of Fino off the coast of Denmark, where the world’s religions live together peacefully. Father is a vicar and Mother is a fine artist. For the second time in the lives of the three siblings, Hans, Tidle and Peter, their very eccentric parents disappear. The youngest, fourteen year old Peter is the narrator. From his precocious view point he describes the weird circumstances and incredible adventures they have finding t...more

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May 30, 2013 Michael Jenkins rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had a very difficult time rating this book. The writing style was magnificent but the story fell flat on content and development. It was one of those novels that could have been much better if it was a little more consistent and not all over the place. Peter was probably the only memorable character in the story, the rest were just fillers and their story was not really told. I also believe that the idea of his parents disappearing did not really say anything. I was sligthly confused how the p...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Rosemary Ellis rated it 4 of 5 stars

You have heard of the "elephant in the room." Well, this book is more about the elephants inside each of us and those we love, as told from the perspective of a 14 year old boy. The story takes place in Denmark and focuses on the narrator and his 16 year old sister, both very precocious, and a bunch of eccentric characters.

As I was reading this, I kept thinking about what a great movie it could be. Action, adventure, young love, mystery, family dynamics, spirituality, religion, magic, comedy and...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Pavlína rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jsem naprosto unešená. Při četbě byly chvilky, kdy jsem se smála nahlas. A taky chvilky, kdy jsem jihla dojetím nad moudry, kterých je dost na to, aby se člověk mohl zamyslet. Navíc je vše popisováno z pohledu 14 letého chlapce - takže všech naprosté neskutečnosti a nepravděpodobnosti jsou najednou zcela normální. Takhle to prostě je, protože v tomhle věku lze uvěřit všemu.
Takže i když je celý děj prošpikován situacemi, za které by se nemusel stydět ani Ch. Chaplin, věřila jsem prostě všemu :)
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About Peter Høeg

Peter Høeg was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Before becoming a writer, he worked variously as a sailor, ballet dancer, and actor. He published his first novel, A History of Danish Dreams (1988), to positive reviews. However, it was Smilla’s Sense of Snow (1992), a million-copy best seller, that earned Høeg immediate and international literary celebrity. His books have been published in more than th...more

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“We who are profoundly joined in soul can only but heal the ruptures of the cosmos.” — 1 person liked it

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