2.5 stars

This book follows an elephant, two filmmakers at a sanctuary(?) in India doing a story on a vet, and a poacher. The chapters alternate between the three. The elephants mother was killed when he was a baby and he was stolen, raised to perform.

I didn’t really like this (surprisingly since it’s an animal book). I didn’t care about the humans and those chapters (mostly) bored me. I liked the elephant chapters at first, but they went downhill because they weren’t all from the elephant’s point of view (as I’d expected), but some of those chapters followed the “handlers” more and there was a bit of elephant mythology (which often would interest me, but in this case, I was bored). Overall, though, the book did pick up in the last 1/3 or so and I was more interested, but it was only enough to bring my rating up by a ½ star. Although I’m not even certain what happened at the very end, and although I see other reviews say the three stories came together, I completely missed where the filmmakers’ story fit in. ( )

Am imaginative weaving of three different viewpoints: an elephant, a poacher, and a film crew. Highly recommended. ( )

A brilliant little book by a great storyteller. This the story of Gravedigger, the elephant and the poachers and innocents who work in the poaching rings whose lives are torn apart by the trade and also of a young filmmaker who tries to make sense of it all. Atmospheric and exciting. ( )

My feelings about poaching are pretty one-dimensional, in the sense that I loathe it in every way possible. Being one-dimensional isn't the best way to go about writing a book, so Tania James told the story of elephant poaching from multiple perspectives, in an attempt to offer different outlooks on something most people feel universally the same about.

The first perspective is through the eyes of an Elephant, who experiences tragedy as a calf and is raised in captivity. Then there are two film makers shooting a documentary and interviewing the man who works with captive elephants. Finally there is a boy who lives in a poor village, with his brother who poaches elephants to make ends meet.

Initially, I thought it seemed pretty obvious how I would feel about the book. The elephant's experience would be heartbreaking, and I would hate the poachers every time I had to read their chapters. In that regard, the author did a great job of actually making me feel sympathy for the poachers. While it didn't change my stance on the subject, what is important that the book has depth, which is hugely important for readability!

Ironically, the elephant chapters really started bogging down about midway through the book for me. I also wasn't super enthusiastic about the film makers either, which doesn't add a lot to the story until the very end and is mostly just used for relationship drama. Fortunately the 3 separate plot lines do all come together in the end, but there was a point about 100 pages into the book where I was really only interested in 1 of the 3 groups.

I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading this, and anyone who feels the same way as I did halfway through the novel should definitely push themselves to finish it because it is satisfying in the end, but overall only 1/3rd of the book and the end is really memorable. ( )

The Tusk That Did the Damage by Tania James is a highly recommended novel set in southern India, that covers the illegal poaching of ivory through three unique viewpoints. These three viewpoints are presented in alternating chapters.

The first viewpoint is that of the elephant which the villagers now call the Gravedigger. He witnesses the killing of his mother, after which he is captured, loved, trained, and abused. He later escapes, which is when he becomes The Gravedigger and is a source of fear and hatred.

The second viewpoint is the poacher, Jayan. This section is narrated by his younger brother Manu, who has been asked to look after his older brother. Jayan is attracted to the money he can make through poaching, although he tries to hide his illegal activities from his family at first. They would prefer he worked hard at farming. Gravedigger has already killed one member of their family.

The third viewpoint is that of the filmmakers, specifically Emma. Emma and Teddy are Americans in India to film a documentary about a vet named Ravi at an elephant sanctuary. They are trying to capture on film his technique for reuniting baby elephants with their mothers, who are known to disown babies who smell of human contact. A love triangle develops between the three.

James succeeds admirably in the chapters told through Gravedigger's point of view. I was sobbing like a baby over some of these sections, which are gruesome and heartbreaking. She brilliantly captures how a sentient being would react and be traumatized by seeing their mother killed, and then being captured and trained by the same kind of beings who did the act. She also evokes the sensory world of an animal and the resulting confusion his capture would cause. These are the strongest chapters in the book.

Although not quite as compelling, the chapters told through the poachers point of view are certainly enlightening. The financial reality of poverty and the money that can be made through poaching is brought out, as well as the problem of elephants destroying the farmer's crops. Certainly the actual poachers are low on the list of those who benefit from their illegal acts. The least successful chapters are those of the filmmakers.

James is an excellent writer and the prose flows beautifully, managing to portray each individual, their struggles, pain, and confusion, along with the questions of morality the narrative begs we ask. She manages to capture the clash of man and nature in an individualized way, but, in the end, it is also a rather depressing tale.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes. ( )