Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 01, 2016 Kay rated it liked it

Shelves: e-book, natural-histry, world_war_ii, nonfiction, book-clubs

I kept thinking, as I read this book, that the author had gotten too close to her subject’s family and perhaps lost some objectivity as a result. Her acknowledgements at the end of the book, along with the notes, make it clear that she relied heavily and primarily on her subject, Billy Williams’, memoirs, books, notes, letters, and the remembrances of his family. There is nothing wrong with this, really, but she didn’t seem to balance it out with much else.

In particular, I was struck by how lit I kept thinking, as I read this book, that the author had gotten too close to her subject’s family and perhaps lost some objectivity as a result. Her acknowledgements at the end of the book, along with the notes, make it clear that she relied heavily and primarily on her subject, Billy Williams’, memoirs, books, notes, letters, and the remembrances of his family. There is nothing wrong with this, really, but she didn’t seem to balance it out with much else.

In particular, I was struck by how little overall context there was for the story. There is some cursory background on the company Williams worked for, and on colonial Burma what went on there during the long, turbulent war. But this information lacked vigor, or at any rate I would like to have had more background and less of Williams’ recollections.

At times the lack of background drove me to seek out information on the internet. I was baffled, for example, about why Williams’ servants were prohibited from accompanying him into India when he and his family fled there after the Japanese invasion. While Croke makes no mention of this, I found that in fact that during the retreat into India led by Lt. General William Slim, “tens of thousands of wretched Indian refrugees [were] harassed and murdered by the Burmese population as they struggled to gain Indian soil.” [BBC website on Burma campaign] No wonder, then, that the Indians were reluctant to allow Burmese into India. Yet not a word about the longstanding animosity between the Burmese and Indians appears in Croke’s account.

Instead, the reader learns a great deal about Elephant Bill’s living arrangements, and his thoughts about the elephants, his surroundings, his courtship of his wife, what he had for breakfast and dinner, and so on. Of course, this book is about him, so that’s understandable, but some of the material seems rather pedestrian, particularly in the long first half of the novel in which Bill learns the ropes as an “elephant wallah.” I wondered when the central event, the rescue of refugees and work of the elephant brigade, would begin. And, in fact, once that portion of the tale began, I became more interested in the book.

Still, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the author’s handling of an exotic and compelling story. From what I could tell, she hews fairly closely to Bill Williams’ accounts, and I got the feeling that these accounts, so myopically focused on elephants and Williams’ own life, missed out on the bigger picture. Unfortunately, the author didn’t seem to be able to step back from the subject and seems instead to be in his thrall. Her account falls just short of hagiographic, and a rather leaden hagiography at that.

There was, peculiarly, more about elephants than I would have liked in this book, and at the same time, paradoxically, there was less about them than there could have been. Let me explain. There was a great deal about Billy Williams’ special bond with the elephants, how he felt about them, what he thought about them, and his observations about them. Some of this material was a little amorphous for my taste. At various points in the story, Williams claims (or the author claims on his behalf) to have an almost mystical bond with elephants and other creatures, such as dogs. And while I do feel that there are indeed deep, wordless bonds that can transcend species, and I have felt this bond myself, the way the author depicted it seemed lifted entirely from Williams’ memoirs and books, plus his voluminous letters, articles, and notes, but she doesn’t take the matter much further than that.

Recent research into animal intelligence, communication, and abilities has shed new light on our relationships with species as varied as dolphins and parrots, and no doubt a good deal of research has been done on elephants as well. But there is no inkling of this here, which is somewhat surprising given how much time Croke spent among elephant caretakers and specialists. Although this information would take the reader out of the WWII era, I wouldn’t have minded hearing less about Williams’ elephants specifically and more about elephants in general.

Finally, (view spoiler) Again, she just never seems to step back from her subject, which is a pity, as a more even-handed portrait of Williams, warts and all, would have been more interesting, not to mention that putting him in a broader context of colonial Burma and World War II would have given the reader a greater appreciation for the time and the man.

Read for "Pot Luck and Prose book club meeting in April 2016. This was my first-ever attendance at a book club. ...more

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Jul 03, 2022 Andy Plonka rated it really liked it

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I was not aware of the role that working elephants played in WWII. It was amazing how well they did their jobs and bonded with their human counterparts.

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