The Tusk That Did the Damage
A novel
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3.7 • 24 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A wrenching exploration of love and betrayal, duty and loyalty, and the vexed relationship between man and nature—from the acclaimed author of Atlas of Unknowns. • “Impressive … captivating.” —The New York Times Book Review
The Tusk That Did the Damage is an utterly contemporary story about an ancient and majestic elephant, and his dangerous connection to the land and the people around him. Orphaned by poachers as a calf and sold into a life of labor, Gravedigger has broken free of his chains and is terrorizing the South Indian countryside. Caught up in the violence are the studious younger son of a rice farmer drawn into the sordid world of poaching; and a young American documentary filmmaker engaged in a risky affair with the veterinarian who is her subject. In three intertwined storylines—one of them narrated by the elephant himself—Tania James crafts a heartbreaking tale of the ivory trade, exploring the porous boundary between conservation and corruption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This ambitious but uneven novel by James (Atlas of Unknowns) tells three intersecting stories involving a murderous elephant on the loose in an Indian jungle. Part of the novel follows the elephant, Gravedigger, and does a stunning job evoking an animal's sensory world, as when he remembers "the bark of soft saplings, the saltlicks, the duckweed, the tang of river water, opening and closing around his feet." These sections also heartbreakingly capture the elephant's terror and confusion in the face of human cruelty: the scene of the murder of Gravedigger's mother, and his subsequent mistreatment as part of a traveling show, are almost unbearable to read. This narrative is a tour de force, and the other sections in the book pale by comparison. The chapters dealing with a love triangle involving two American documentarians and their subject, an Indian elephant veterinarian, seem to be from a lesser moral universe and are ultimately forgettable after the life-or-death stakes of Gravedigger's sections. The story line about Manu, a would-be poacher, fares better by evoking the crushing economic and social realities of rural life in India, but is diminished by heavy-handed plotting. Having already killed one member of Manu's family, Gravedigger pounces from the shadows to maim a second in a misguided scene that comes off like grim parody. Still, the Gravedigger sections are so original and moving as to tower over the novel's less successful elements.
