Review: Walking with Elephants by Karen S. Bell

Summary: Suze Hall is at a crossroads. Her nemesis at work, Wanda, has been promoted and now will be her boss. Her husband, Bob, is leaving her and the three kids for a six-month sabbatical down under. To top it off, her best friend, Marcia, is missing in action–playing footsie with some new boyfriend!

Adding to this disaster stew, David, the gorgeous hunk who broke her young-girl’s heart, has coincidentally popped back into her life and has something she desperately needs to keep her job.

Walking with Elephants, a lighthearted slice-of-life story, brings to the table the serious work/family issues facing women today. It explores the modern dichotomy of a workplace that is filled with homemakers who still must cook, clean, carpool on nights and weekends, shop for prom dresses, and “create” the holidays—such as Suze. But it also is filled with women who have the same drive as men, have no family responsibilities, and will do whatever it takes to get ahead.

So step into the shoes of Suze Hall and commiserate over workplace politics, titillate your sexual fantasies, ride the wave of a working mother, and fall-down laughing.

My Thoughts: I started reading this book, made it halfway, and ended up with the flu. I was out of commission for several days, but was able to finish once my brain had recovered from the flu. (Oh, yes, my brain. It took me a couple of days to feel up to reading much of anything after I was physically doing better.) Why am I telling you this? Well, because I am afraid it’ll affect my review in that the first half and second half of the book are somewhat disjointed in my head. It’s not the book’s fault, but the flu‘s fault! Fortunately, I did make some short notes, so hopefully that’ll make the difference in this review.

In short, there’s good, there’s bad, and there’s ugly. I think I’ll work backward – from ugly to good. Ending on a positive note is always good, right? The ugly: this was horribly, horribly edited. For some reason, quotes were the worst. More specifically, quotation marks often were MIA. There were other things wrong, but the quotes were the most frustrating and the most distracting. I found myself going back over several passages because I couldn’t tell at first (sometimes not even at second) if someone was talking still or not. These kinds of errors are just inexcusable in a finished product.

The bad is more story issues, not so much on the grammar. I felt like there were just too many dream sequences in this book. While it can be an effective tool, I thought the dream sequence was overused here. Another complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more of David. Not the David in Suze’s memory or dreams, but David as a character. David now. If he and Suze are working on a project together, shouldn’t there be more interaction? I thought he was just too absent from the narrative. Also, some things I felt were rushed. There were scenes in which Suze went to lunch with a friend, but rather than us getting to be there with them, we get a quick summary of what happened. It was pretty common for scenes that could have been good to be summarized and left behind all too quickly. I think the book would have been much more interesting. And finally, there was way too much repetition. For example:

If this were the French Revolution the word guillotine would pop into my mind; the Wild West, I’d think scalping; the sixties, I’d think drug bust. ~ page 168

This is not the only time when there are three examples to illustrate something. By the time I read this, I found myself annoyed. Just mentioning the French Revolution is sufficient. I get the point. I think it’s fair to say most readers get the point.

And now for the good. Despite the issues I had with the narrative, I did enjoy Suze’s story. I could feel for her – especially with her issues with her husband taking off for six months in Australia. She handled it much more gracefully than I would have – at least when she’s actually talking to her husband. But, leaving her and the three kids seems to overstate the issue – her oldest is in college. Her other two are teenagers. While, yes, it’s still hard (especially with working full time, too) at least he didn’t do it while they were in diapers. Trust me, it could have been worse. But, still, I did enjoy the book. I didn’t find too many “fall-down laughing” moments, but it did make me smile and chuckle a bit here and there. Plus, there were some really good quotes throughout the book. A good example:

Life is a journey that we start alone and end alone and whatever happens in between is not ours for the keeping. ~ page 146

So true of life. So very true. That is not the only nugget in there, so if you want more you gotta read the book!

My Rating: 3 stars

Source: Received as part of a blog tour promotion on TLC Book Tours.

Read It: You can get your own copy of Walking with Elephants HERE. (This is an Amazon link, and purchase through this link will result in my receiving a small commission. Your support is appreciated!)

About the Author: “Walking with Elephants is my first novel, although I am not new to writing. I was a theater critic and celebrity interviewer for a weekly tabloid in Jacksonville, Fl and I earned a Master’s in Mass Communication from Oklahoma State University. For 15 years I was an editor/writer at a major accounting firm. I also was a technical editor for an accounting magazine that published monthly. Inspiration for this novel came from my direct contact with the joys of Corporate America and the balancing act that comes with being a working mother.”

Tour Info: For the main page for this blog tour, including more reviews of this book on other blogs, visit TLC’s post.

Challenges: Counts for 100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2011.

FTC Disclosure: All items reviewed were either obtained by me for my own enjoyment or sent (from the author, publisher, publicist, via tour sites, etc.) in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation for my posts. All opinions expressed are my own.

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