Myrtle Bailey’s death in the circus ring clouds the lives of 5 people and one elephant: Hazel (her daughter, chief elephant handler); Brown E (a clown, once Hazel’s lover); Dinty (her husband, once a contortionist); Jonas Frank (proprietor of the circus); Spike (her son, ghost narrator of the story); and Hero (blackest elephant in the world, oiled to blackness during the dreary years of the Depression). Their fortunes are tied with those of the Blues, a black family: mother Maudine; Royale (the oldest, the favorite, hair of ginger, skin of peach); Elbo (born elbowfirst); and Prize (for Surprise, Elbo’s unexpected twin who came tumbling after). Amid the sawdust and spangles, the jitters and jangle, erupt scenes both horrific and exotic: a king cobra loose in a Chicago penthouse; a black boy trampled to death in a Toledo citysquare; slaves riddled with smallpox left on West African riverbanks awaiting crocodiles; a white elephant in musth (testosterone overdrive); a striptease on elephantback. Multiple thrills and zaniness mingle with meditations on slavery, circusing, the afterlife, and the ivory trade as Spike learns that karma is a killer as much as a deliverer. A Moby Dick for elephants, THE ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD is as rich with elephantalia as its predecessor was with whalology, and as informed by Melville’s incantatory prose and philosophical concerns, as it attempts to understand why bad things happen to good people.
Desai's exuberance for elephants and circuses shines through the affluence of curious trivia he infuses into the narrative. He illuminates the dark side of the sparkling mid-century circus world–the complete lack of care for human and animal lives for the sake of others profit and entertainment - and offers a new perspective on it by linking it to the intertwined bloody trades of slaves and ivory that have cost Africa, and the world, so much for the sake of filling some pockets.
The stunning and often changing background, the paranormal elements, the big cast and even bigger drama, contribute to an atmosphere of mystery and operatic scope and feeling. But this abundance comes, at times, at the expense of depth, especially of motive and character. Some readers will be alienated by Desai's frank usage of racial slurs. Nevertheless, Desai strongly captures the milieu, both its dusty grandeur and its horrors, as well as a deep yearning to belong that almost anyone can relate to: “...certainly for Siri who was family but needed to be among his own kind as well (elephants as much as other Indians),” and the confusion and hurt disconnection can bring. Readers fascinated by the circus, elephants, and social issues will find much of interest here.
Takeaway: An intricate tale about human greed prejudices, and the need to belong.
Great for fans of: Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Sanjena Sathian’s Gold Diggers.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: B
