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The Elegant Art of Falling Apart: A Memoir
by Jessica JonesInspiring, unflinchingly honest, and even at times laugh out loud hilarious, THE ELEGANT ART OF FALLING APART shows us how, sometimes, we have to lose everything to understand that the moment is all we have - and living that moment with style, grace and a damn good lipstick is all that matters. Jessica Jones had a complicated life - booze, cocaine, bad boyfriends, a rollercoaster ride of what self help writers call `opportunities for growth? - but she got way from all that. She rebuilt her career, became prosperous and, at last, found happiness in a wonderful, new relationship. Just when things were almost perfect she learned that she had breast cancer and so Jessica did what she?s always done, she got through it. After seven months of gruelling treatments she travelled from London to Sydney to begin a three-month holiday of a lifetime with her gorgeous man - only to find herself plunged into a different, and totally unexpected, life crisis. Jessica?s story of courage, friendship and laughter gives us all hope that, no matter what, we can always start again.
Elegy for Iris
by John Bayley"I was living in a fairy story--the kind with sinister overtones and not always a happy ending--in which a young man loves a beautiful maiden who returns his love but is always disappearing into some unknown and mysterious world, about which she will reveal nothing."So John Bayley describes his life with his wife, Iris Murdoch, one of the greatest contemporary writers in the English-speaking world, revered for her works of philosophy and beloved for her incandescent novels.In Elegy for Iris, Bayley attempts to uncover the real Iris, whose mysterious world took on darker shades as she descended into Alzheimer's disease. Elegy for Iris is a luminous memoir about the beauty of youth and aging, and a celebration of a brilliant life and an undying love.
Elegy for Mary Turner: An Illustrated Account of a Lynching
by Rachel Marie-Crane WilliamsA lyrical and haunting depiction of American racial violence and lynching, evoked through stunning full-color artworkIn late May 1918 in Valdosta, Georgia, ten Black men and one Black woman—Mary Turner, eight months pregnant at the time—were lynched and tortured by mobs of white citizens.Through hauntingly detailed full-color artwork and collage, Elegy for Mary Turner names those who were killed, identifies the killers, and evokes a landscape in which the NAACP investigated the crimes when the state would not and a time when white citizens baked pies and flocked to see Black corpses while Black people fought to make their lives—and their mourning—matter.Included are contributions from C. Tyrone Forehand, great-grandnephew of Mary and Hayes Turner, whose family has long campaigned for the deaths to be remembered; abolitionist activist and educator Mariame Kaba, reflecting on the violence visited on Black women&’s bodies; and historian Julie Buckner Armstrong, who opens a window onto the broader scale of lynching&’s terror in American history.
Elegy Landscapes: Constable And Turner And The Intimate Sublime
by Stanley PlumlyA sweeping look at the lives and work of two important English Romantic painters, from a Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning author. Renowned poet Stanley Plumly, who has been praised for his “obsessive, intricate, intimate and brilliant” (Washington Post) nonfiction, explores immortality in art through the work of two impressive landscape artists: John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. How is it that this disparate pair will come to be regarded as Britain’s supreme landscape painters, precursors to Impressionism and Modernism? How did each painter’s life influence his work? Almost exact contemporaries, both legendary artists experience a life-changing tragedy—for Constable it is the long illness and death of his wife; for Turner, the death of his singular parent and supporter, his father. Their work will take on new power thereafter: Constable, his Hampstead cloud studies; Turner, his Venetian watercolors and oils. Seeking the transcendent aesthetic awe of the sublime and reeling from their personal anguish, these talented painters portrayed the terrible beauty of the natural world from an intimate, close-up perspective. Plumly studies the paintings against the pull of the artists’ lives, probing how each finds the sublime in different, though inherently connected, worlds. At once a meditation on the difficulties in achieving truly immortal works of art and an exploration of the relationship between artist and artwork, Elegy Landscapes takes a wide-angle look at the philosophy of the sublime.
The Element of Surprise: Navy SEALS in Vietnam
by Darryl YoungIt used to be said that the night belonged to Charlie. But that wasn't true where SEALs patrolled. For six months in 1970, fourteen men in Juliett Platoon of the Navy's SEAL Team One--incuding the author--carried out over a hundred missions in the Mekong Delta without a single platoon fatality. Their primary mission: kidnap enemy soldiers--alive--for interrogation.From the Paperback edition.
Elena
by Thomas H. CookA brother recalls the magnificent life of his sister, the greatest writer of her ageA launch party is underway for a hotly anticipated biography, the life story of Elena Franklin. As a young woman, Elena was one of the most promising literary talents of the 1920s, and over the years her legend grew. Her biographer, Martha Farrell, has combed through all the evidence of Elena&’s genius and passion, from her early years in New York to her expatriate life in Paris. The result is a monumental work – but among the party&’s crowd is the man who knows the book is an empty shell. Only William, Elena&’s brother, knew the truth about the famed author. Martha&’s flawed biography spurs his memory, and he recalls how the temperamental baby grew into a legend. He knew Elena&’s hidden pain, shared their family secrets, and draws his own portrait of the troubled soul that lay behind her artistic gifts.
Elena Vanishing: A Memoir
by Elena Dunkle DunkleSeventeen-year-old Elena is vanishing. Every day means renewed determination, so every day means fewer calories. This is the story of a girl whose armor against anxiety becomes artillery against herself as she battles on both sides of a lose-lose war in a struggle with anorexia. Told entirely from Elena's perspective over a five-year period and cowritten with her mother, award-winning author Clare B. Dunkle, Elena's memoir is a fascinating and intimate look at a deadly disease, and a must read for anyone who knows someone suffering from an eating disorder.
Eleni
by Nicholas GageIn 1948, in a Greek mountain village, Eleni Gatzoyiannis was arrested, tortured and shot. Her crime had been to help her children to escape from the Communist guerrillas during the Greek civil war who were abducting children and sending them to camps behind the Iron Curtain. Her son, Nicholas Gage, was then eight years old. Eventually he reached America and joined his father who was working there and sending money back to his family. In America Gage grew up to become one of The New York Times' best investigative reporters. He returned to Greece in 1977 as a Times correspondent and, gradually but increasingly obsessively, he began to reconstruct his mother's life and death. By the time he was finished he was ready to confront both his mother's executioners and his own memories. Eleni, an intensely moving and compelling book, is the fruit of his search for the truth.
Eleonora d'Aquitania (Le leggendarie donne della storia mondiale #13)
by Laurel A. RockefellerAliénor era la donna più desiderata nel Medioevo – e non solo a causa della sua bellezza. Figlia maggiore del duca Guglielmo X d’Aquitania, ne ereditò, a quindici anni, l’immenso patrimonio e nello stesso anno, venne incoronata regina dei Franchi. Ma la bella duchessa non ebbe molta fortuna in amore, nonostante due matrimoni e dieci figli. I trovatori ne cantarono ampiamente la bellezza e la dilettarono con le gesta di re Artù ed i suoi cavalieri della tavola rotonda. Segnò il destino di due imperi emergenti e fece dell’Aquitania un fedele alleato dell’Inghilterra. La sua legenda perdura fino ai giorni nostri, questo libro racconta la sua emozionante storia.
Eleonora d'Aquitania: Edizione per studenti e docenti (Le leggendarie donne della storia mondiale #13)
by Laurel A. RockefellerAliénor era la donna più desiderata nel Medioevo – e non solo a causa della sua bellezza. Figlia maggiore del duca Guglielmo X d’Aquitania, ne ereditò, a quindici anni, l’immenso patrimonio e nello stesso anno, venne incoronata regina dei Franchi. Ma la bella duchessa non ebbe molta fortuna in amore, nonostante due matrimoni e dieci figli. I trovatori ne cantarono ampiamente la bellezza e la dilettarono con le gesta di re Artù ed i suoi cavalieri della tavola rotonda. Segnò il destino di due imperi emergenti e fece dell’Aquitania un fedele alleato dell’Inghilterra. La sua legenda perdura fino ai giorni nostri, questo libro racconta la sua emozionante storia. L'edizione per studenti e docenti è corredata da domande d'approfondimento alla fine di ogni capitolo.
Eleonora Duse: A Biography
by Helen SheehyA new biography, the first in two decades, of the legendary actress who inspired Anton Chekhov, popularized Henrik Ibsen, and spurred Stanislavski to create a new theory of acting based on her art and to invoke her name at every rehearsal. Writers loved her and wrote plays for her. She befriended Rainer Maria Rilke and inspired the young James Joyce, who kept a portrait of her on his desk. Her greatest love, the poet d'Annunzio, made her the heroine of his novel Il fuoco (The Flame). She radically changed the art of acting: in a duel between the past and the future, she vanquished her rival, Sarah Bernhardt. Chekhov said of her, "I've never seen anything like it. Looking at Duse, I realized why the Russian theatre is such a bore. " Charlie Chaplin called her "the finest thing I have seen on the stage. " Gloria Swanson and Lillian Gish watched her perform with adoring attention, John Barrymore with awe. Shaw said she "touches you straight on the very heart." When asked about her acting, Duse responded that, quite simply, it came from life. Except for one short film, Duse's art has been lost. Despite dozens of books about her, her story is muffled by legend and myth. The sentimental image that prevails is of a misty, tragic heroine victimized by men, by life; an artist of unearthly purity, without ambition. Now Helen Sheehy, author of the much admired biography of Eva Le Gallienne, gives us a different Duse--a woman of strength and resolve, a woman who knew pain but could also inflict it. "Life is hard," she said, "one must wound or be wounded." She wanted to reveal on the stage the truth about women's lives and she wanted her art to endure. Drawing on newly discovered material, including Duse's own memoir, and unpublished letters and notes, Sheehy brings us to an understanding of the great actress's unique ways of working: Duse acting out of her sense of her character's inner life, Duse anticipating the bold aspects of modernism and performing with a sexual freedom that shocked and thrilled audiences. She edited her characters' lines to bare skeletons, asked for the simplest sets and costumes. Where other actresses used hysterics onstage, Duse used stillness. Sheehy writes about the Duse that the actress herself tried to hide--tracing her life from her childhood as a performing member of a family of actors touring their repertory of drama and commedia dell'arte through Italy. We follow her through her twenties and through the next four decades of commissioning and directing plays, running her own company, and illuminating a series of great roles that included Emile Zola's Thérèse Raquin, Marguerite in Dumas's La Dame aux camélias, Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House, and Hedda in his Hedda Gabler. When she thought her beauty was fading at fifty-one, she gave up the stage, only to return to the theatre in her early sixties; she traveled to America and enchanted audiences across the country. She died as she was born--on tour. Sheehy's illuminating book brings us as close as we have ever been to the woman and the artist.
Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II
by Vicki Constantine CrokeThe remarkable story of James Howard “Billy” Williams, whose uncanny rapport with the world’s largest land animals transformed him from a carefree young man into the charismatic war hero known as Elephant Bill<P> Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character, and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became a gifted “elephant wallah.” Increasingly skilled at treating their illnesses and injuries, he also championed more humane treatment for them, even establishing an elephant “school” and “hospital.” In return, he said, the elephants made him a better man. The friendship of one magnificent tusker in particular, Bandoola, would be revelatory. In Elephant Company, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust, and gratitude.<P> But Elephant Company is also a tale of war and daring. When Imperial Japanese forces invaded Burma in 1942, Williams joined the elite Force 136, the British dirty tricks department, operating behind enemy lines. His war elephants would carry supplies, build bridges, and transport the sick and elderly over treacherous mountain terrain. Now well versed in the ways of the jungle, an older, wiser Williams even added to his stable by smuggling more elephants out of Japanese-held territory. As the occupying authorities put a price on his head, Williams and his elephants faced his most perilous test. In a Hollywood-worthy climax, Elephant Company, cornered by the enemy, attempted a desperate escape: a risky trek over the mountainous border to India, with a bedraggled group of refugees in tow. Elephant Bill’s exploits would earn him top military honors and the praise of famed Field Marshal Sir William Slim.<P> Part biography, part war epic, and part wildlife adventure, Elephant Company is an inspirational narrative that illuminates a little-known chapter in the annals of wartime heroism.
An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me About Love, Courage and Survival (Elephant Whisperer #2)
by Françoise Malby-Anthony Katja WillemsenTHE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER"Malby-Anthony offers a book of great inspiration and wide appeal to nature-loving readers." —Publishers WeeklyA heart-warming sequel to the international bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, by Lawrence Anthony's wife Françoise Malby-Anthony. A chic Parisienne, Françoise never expected to find herself living on a South African game reserve. But then she fell in love with conservationist Lawrence Anthony and everything changed. After Lawrence’s death, Françoise faced the daunting responsibility of running Thula Thula without him. Poachers attacked their rhinos, their security team wouldn’t take orders from a woman and the authorities were threatening to cull their beloved elephant family. On top of that, the herd’s feisty new matriarch Frankie didn’t like her.In this heart-warming and moving book, Françoise describes how she fought to protect the herd and to make her dream of building a wildlife rescue center a reality. She found herself caring for a lost baby elephant who turned up at her house, and offering refuge to traumatized orphaned rhinos, and a hippo called Charlie who was scared of water. As she learned to trust herself, she discovered she’d had Frankie wrong all along.Filled with extraordinary animals and the humans who dedicate their lives to saving them, An Elephant in My Kitchen is a captivating and gripping read.
The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man's Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America
by Tommy TomlinsonONE OF NPR&’S BEST BOOKS OF 2019 A &“warm and funny and honest…genuinely unputdownable&” (Curtis Sittenfeld) memoir chronicling what it&’s like to live in today&’s world as a fat man, from acclaimed journalist Tommy Tomlinson, who, as he neared the age of fifty, weighed 460 pounds and decided he had to change his life.When he was almost fifty years old, Tommy Tomlinson weighed an astonishing—and dangerous—460 pounds, at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke, unable to climb a flight of stairs without having to catch his breath, or travel on an airplane without buying two seats. Raised in a family that loved food, he had been aware of the problem for years, seeing doctors and trying diets from the time he was a preteen. But nothing worked, and every time he tried to make a change, it didn&’t go the way he planned—in fact, he wasn&’t sure that he really wanted to change. In The Elephant in the Room, Tomlinson chronicles his lifelong battle with weight in a voice that combines the urgency of Roxane Gay&’s Hunger with the intimacy of Rick Bragg&’s All Over but the Shoutin&’. He also hits the road to meet other members of the plus-sized tribe in an attempt to understand how, as a nation, we got to this point. From buying a Fitbit and setting exercise goals to contemplating the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, America&’s &“capital of food porn,&” and modifying his own diet, Tomlinson brings us along on a candid and sometimes brutal look at the everyday experience of being constantly aware of your size. Over the course of the book, he confronts these issues head-on and chronicles the practical steps he has to take to lose weight by the end. &“What could have been a wallow in memoir self-pity is raised to art by Tomlinson&’s wit and prose&” (Rolling Stone). Affecting and searingly honest, The Elephant in the Room is an &“inspirational&” (The New York Times) memoir that will resonate with anyone who has grappled with addiction, shame, or self-consciousness. &“Add this to your reading list ASAP&” (Charlotte Magazine).
Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family
by Cynthia Moss&“A style so conversational…that I felt like a privileged visitor riding beside her in her rickety Land-Rover as she showed me around the park." —The New York Times Book Review Cynthia Moss spent many years living in Kenya&’s Amboseli National Park and studying the elephants there, and her long-term research has revealed much of what we now know about these complex and intelligent animals. In this book, she shares a more up-close and personal perspective, chronicling the lives of the elephant families led by matriarchs Teresia, Slit Ear, Torn Ear, Tania, and Tuskless, including a rare look at calves and their development. This edition is also updated with a new afterword, catching up on the families, covering current conservation issues, and &“celebrating a species from which we could learn some moral as well as zoological lessons&” (Chicago Tribune). &“One is soon swept away by this &‘Babar&’ for adults. By the end, one even begins to feel an aversion for people. One wants to curse human civilization and cry out, &‘Now God stand up for the elephants!&’&”—The New York Times &“Moss speaks to the general reader, with charm as well as scientific authority…[An] elegantly written and ingeniously structured account.&”—TheWall Street Journal &“Any reader interested in animals will be captivated.&”—Publishers Weekly
Elephant on Main Street
by B A KilpatrickThis is this story of Eamon, a little boy growing up in Northern Ireland in the sixties, before he succumbed to Leukaemia, a few months short of his seventh birthday. The book describes specific aspects of his short but remarkable life, all written from his perspective. Each chapter has a footnote which charts the history of the conquest of childhood leukaemia which commenced during his lifetime. The book is based around actual events and things which Eamon said and did which have been passed down. Eamon has the benefit of perspective, so he can describe events that have yet to happen which have a bearing on the life of his family.
The Elephant Scientist
by Caitlin O'Connell Donna M. JacksonIn the sprawling African scrub desert of Etosha National Park, they call her "the mother of all elephants." Camouflaged and peering through binoculars, Caitlin O'Connell--the American scientist who traveled to Namibia to study African elephants in their natural habitat--could not believe what she was seeing. As the mighty matriarch scanned the horizon, the other elephants followed suit, stopping midstride and standing as still as statues. The observation would be one of many to guide O'Connell to a groundbreaking discovery!<P><P> Winner of the Sibert Medal
The Elephant to Hollywood: Michael Caine's most up-to-date, definitive, bestselling autobiography
by Michael Caine'Uproarious and unflinching' Mail on Sunday'A truly incredible life story' The Sun'Most memorable . . . told in a voice as distinctive as his spoken one' Independent'Brims with his gift for genial anecdote'The Sunday Times* * *From the author of the bestselling Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, the original, definitive autobiography of British screen icon and legend Sir Michael Caine. It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood. With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all. Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven. Hollywood has been his home and his playground. But England is where his heart lies. And where he blames the French for the abundance of snails in his garden. A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate the hallowed pavement outside that mecca of Hollywood stars, Grauman's Chinese Theatre. A very British star, The Elephant to Hollywood is the remarkable full circle of Michael Caine's life.
The Elephant to Hollywood: Michael Caine's most up-to-date, definitive, bestselling autobiography
by Michael Caine'Uproarious and unflinching' Mail on Sunday'A truly incredible life story' The Sun'Most memorable . . . told in a voice as distinctive as his spoken one' Independent'Brims with his gift for genial anecdote' The Sunday Times* * *From the author of the bestselling Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, the original, definitive autobiography of British screen icon and legend Sir Michael Caine. It's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood. With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all. Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven. Hollywood has been his home and his playground. But England is where his heart lies. And where he blames the French for the abundance of snails in his garden. A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate the hallowed pavement outside that mecca of Hollywood stars, Grauman's Chinese Theatre. A very British star, The Elephant to Hollywood is the remarkable full circle of Michael Caine's life.
The Elephant to Hollywood: Michael Caine's most up-to-date, definitive, bestselling autobiography
by Michael CaineIt's been a long journey for Maurice Micklewhite - born with rickets in London's poverty-stricken Elephant & Castle - to the bright lights of Hollywood.With a glittering career spanning more than five decades and starring roles which have earned him two Oscars, a knighthood, and an iconic place in the Hollywood pantheon, the man now known to us as Michael Caine looks back over it all.Funny, warm, honest, Caine brings us his insider's view of Hollywood (where there's neither holly nor woods). He recalls the films, the legendary stars, the off-screen moments with a gift for story-telling only equalled by David Niven.Hollywood has been his home and his playground. But England is where his heart lies. And where he blames the French for the abundance of snails in his garden.A plaque now celebrates him at the Elephant in London. His handprint is one of only 200 since 1927 to decorate the hallowed pavement outside that mecca of Hollywood stars, Grauman's Chinese Theatre.A very British star, The Elephant to Hollywood is the remarkable full circle of Michael Caine's life.(P)2010 Hodder & Stoughton
The Elephant to Hollywood
by Michael CaineCharming, engaging, and surprisingly forthright, Michael Caine gives us his insider's view of Hollywood and the story of his brilliant second actWhen he was in his late fifties, Michael Caine believed his glamorous, rags-to-riches Hollywood career had come to an end. The scripts being sent his way were worse and worse. When one script really disappointed, he called the producer to complain about the part. The producer said, "No, no, we don't want you for the lover, we want you for the father." Salvation came in the unlikely form of his old friend Jack Nicholson, who convinced him to give acting one more shot. What followed was not only an incredible personal transformation but also one of the most radical comebacks in film history. Learning to accept his new role both on camera and in his own life, Caine went on to win his second Oscar, be knighted by the queen, and deliver some of his best performances to date. Now he shares the spectacular story of his life, from his humble upbringing in London's poverty-stricken Elephant and Castle, his military service, touching marriage and family life, and lively adventures with friends, to legendary meetings with fellow stars, forays as a restaurateur, and hilarious off-screen encounters from his glittering five-decade career. Caine's The Elephant to Hollywood brings his gift for storytelling and his insider's view to a tale that is funny, warm, and deeply honest.
Elephants: Birth, Life, and Death in the World of the Giants
by Hannah MumbyWhat Jane Goodall did for chimpanzees, international ecologist and conservation scientist Hannah Mumby now does for elephants in this compelling, eye-opening account that brings into focus this species remarkably similar to humans—and makes a persuasive argument for saving them.From early childhood, Dr. Hannah Mumby has loved wildlife, especially elephants. Her first wild elephant sighting at twenty-four changed the course of her life. Since then, she has devoted herself to studying these incredible animals and educating humanity about them. Hannahs field work has taken her around the world, where she has studied many elephant groups, including both orphaned elephants and the solitary elephant males.These remarkable animals have so much to teach us, Mumby argues, and Elephants takes readers into their world as never before, revealing a society as complex as the chimpanzees, maybe even humans. Mumby's exploration of elephant culture provides an empathetic, humanistic portrait of these majestic animals, illuminating their personalities, memories, and rich emotional lives. Mumby explains how elephants communicate with one another and demonstrates the connection between memory and trauma—how it affects individual elephants and their interactions with others in their herd. Elephants and humans, Mumby makes clear, are not very different. From emotional bonding to communication, human and elephant experience similarly nuanced lives, and the commonalities she uncovers are both surprising and heartwarming.Featuring a 16-page color insert of original photography, Elephants is a captivating, deeply moving exploration that offers a new way to look at these pachyderms and ourselves and a persuasive, passionate argument for rethinking our approach to animals and their conservation.
The Elephants in My Backyard: A Memoir
by Rajiv SurendraRajiv Surendra was filming Mean Girls, playing the beloved rapping mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, when a cameraman insisted he read Yann Martel's Life of Pi. So begins his "lovely and human" (Jenny Lawson, author of Furiously Happy) tale of obsessively pursuing a dream, overcoming failure, and finding meaning in life."This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I found myself standing dangerously close to the edge of a cliff. Far below me was an incredible abyss with no end in sight. I could turn back and safely return to where I had come from, or I could throw caution to the wind, lift my arms up into the air . . . and jump." --From The Elephants in My Backyard What happens when you spend ten years obsessively pursuing a dream, and then, in the blink of an eye, you learn that you have failed, that the dream will not come true? In 2003, Rajiv Surendra was filming Mean Girls, playing the beloved rapping mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, when a cameraman insisted he read Yann Martel's Life of Pi. Mesmerized by all the similarities between Pi and himself--both are five-foot-five with coffee-colored complexions, both share a South Indian culture, both lived by a zoo--when Rajiv learns that Life of Pi will be made into a major motion picture he is convinced that playing the title role is his destiny. In a great leap of faith Rajiv embarks on a quest to embody the sixteen-year-old Tamil schoolboy. He quits university and buys a one-way ticket from Toronto to South India. He visits the sacred stone temples of Pondicherry, he travels to the frigid waters off the coast of rural Maine, and explores the cobbled streets of Munich. He befriends Yann Martel, a priest, a castaway, an eccentric old woman, and a pack of Tamil schoolboys. He learns how to swim, to spin wool, to keep bees, and to look a tiger in the eye. All the while he is really learning how to dream big, to fail, to survive, to love, and to become who he truly is. Rajiv Surendra captures the uncertainty, heartache, and joy of finding ones place in the world with sly humor and refreshing honesty. The Elephants in My Backyard is not a journey of goals and victories, but a story of process and determination. It is a spellbinding and profound book for anyone who has ever failed at something and had to find a new path through life.
The Elephants in My Backyard
by Rajiv SurendraRajiv Surendra (the rapping mathlete from Mean Girls) read Life of Pi, discovered it was being adapted into a major motion picture, and embarked on a ten-year journey to land the role of a lifetime--but this is not a journey of goals and victories, this is a story of obsessively pursuing a dream, overcoming failure, and finding meaning in life.n 2003, Rajiv Surendra was acting in Mean Girls, playing the beloved rapping mathlete Kevin Gnapoor, when a cameraman on set gave him a copy of Life of Pi, inadvertently changing the course of his life. Rajiv dove into the novel, mesmerized by all the similarities between Pi and himself--they are both five-foot-five, with coffee-colored complexions; both share a South Indian culture; Pi lives in a zoo, and Rajiv grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, right beside the Toronto Zoo. When Rajiv learns that Life of Pi will be made into a major motion picture, he is convinced Pi is the role he is destined to play. To land the role he knows he must embody the spirit of the sixteen-year-old Tamil schoolboy. In a great leap of faith, he quits university and buys a one-way ticket to India. Thus begins his enchanting and bumpy years-long journey from Toronto to the sacred stone temples of South India and the actual private school in Pondicherry that the fictional Pi attended, to rural Maine where Rajiv befriends a real-life castaway, and culminating in the most unexpected of places--the cobbled streets of Munich. Poignant, funny, colorful, and absolutely unforgettable, The Elephants in My Backyard is an inspiring tale of taking risks and following one's dreams, of process and determination, and looking back on one's endeavors--be they successes or colossal defeats--with new appreciation and meaning.