EATING THE ELEPHANT by ALICE WELLS

 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.