EATING
THE ELEPHANT
by
ALICE
WELLS
THE
BLURB:
A shocking and
powerful story of a marriage torn apart by lies, bereavement and
abuse.
Alice, a dedicated doctor
and mother of two children, bravely tells the story of her marriage
to a man hiding a terrible secret- one into which he has drawn their
4-year-old daughter, Grace. As the shocking truth about their family
life unfolds at a heartstopping pace, Alice struggles to learn how to
survive the impact and piece together her shattered world. The
devastation of what Alice is forced to face when her life is hit by
catastrophic pain, and the trauma of wondering if she overlooked the
signs, is laid bare in a way that will stay with you for a long time
to come.
How do you eat an
elephant, one bite at a time?
THE
REALITY:
I chose this from a
reduced basket outside a part-new/ part-second-hand shop, for the
princely sum of 50p, intrigued by its title and the fact that it's
based on truth. I also bought it because a flick through led me to see the word Cairo (Alice and Mark meet there) and the novel I was reading at the time coincidentally featured a stay in Cairo. On opening the pages I found that it was a total
memoir, which I believe is written under a pseudonym (and I can see
why). The term “eating the elephant” relates to the elephant
in the room: something huge which needs to be addressed. It didn't
take me much of a read to realise that I was looking at a story about
a woman who finds out her husband has been dealing with pornography
online, and child porn- paedophilia- at that. Then he goes and
smashes his car up and dies, which is believed by all to be an
accident (although I'm not so sure about that).
This book clearly had
something going for it, as I read it in a day but... After finding
out what the story was about (and the fact that it's true makes it a
million times worse) I felt soiled by the content, and didn't want it
in my hands any longer than was necessary. Again, I sped through the
content (but not so much that I didn't understand what was going on)
but felt compelled to read it rather than put it down, and I think
that's because this is something that we all need to know about- how
these perverted people hide in plain sight. Mark comes alive on the
pages as a person, and we have to acknowledge the fact that not
everyone is “good” or “bad.” In fact, the average person
will have elements of both aspects in their character, and this is
sensitively approached. Here we see a woman with a very serious
profession- that of a palliative care consultant- which does seem a
depressing profession if ever there was one, but someone's got to do
it. You also see how she's torn between two cultures, that of the
USA and UK, and find out that her romance with Mark is far from ideal
and, to me, it comes across as being that way right from the
beginning. You do question why Alice married him, and also certain
signs (such as Mark liking Alice's teenage figure, and hating her
pregnant or post giving birth shape) pop up into her head and ours.
One thing that really
kept me compelled was the sheer coincidence of Mark dying on my
birthday!!!!! I found myself wound up by the sheer hoops Alice had to go
through to transfer her skills from US training to UK practice- I
know we are dealing with the serious profession of healthcare, but
does it really have to be that difficult? I was also concerned as to
whether Mark had got his daughter involved (he had) and whether she
was “moving on” (she seemed to be). The writing moved along but
a few paragraphs did come across as rather convoluted and confusing.
I did enjoy the elephant references, and do hope that Alice managed
to find happiness in real life, as her marriage was certainly doomed
from the start.
This is a book that no
one will want to read; but everyone should.
