The Elephant's Journey - Jose Saramago

I never heard of this book till April this year. When i went to book sales i found this book ,as if calling me to take it . I started reading when i came home and within three days(read only 1 hour per day) i finished this short novel. I laughed loudly in many places specially when Subhro talks.

This books tells the story of Solomon , the elephant's journey from Lisbon to Vienna. This story is based on the real story which happened in 1551 . It was recorded  by many people through out the history. It all started when king of Portugal Joao III decided to gift his elephant to Archduke Maximilian of Austria for his wedding. Solomon , the elephant  and mahout Subhro were brought from India to Portugal and was in the pen for two years without doing anything.They travelled totally 3500 Kilometers to reach Vienna, where the Archduke Maximilan , the future emperor of Holy Roman Empire resides.

The past is an immense area of stony ground that many people would like to drive across as if it were a motorway, while others move patiently from stone to stone, lifting each one because they need to know what lies beneath. Sometimes scorpions crawl out or centipedes, fat white caterpillars or ripe chrysalises, but it's not impossible that, at least once, an elephant might appear

  The story was laced with humor specially the conversation between Subhro and others. "Sitting astride the part of the elephant where neck meets sturdy body and wielding the stick with which he steers his mount, Subhro is about to become the second or third most important character in the story, the first being the elephant Solomon." writes Saramago .

I really enjoyed the part where the priest blesses the elephant and the corresponding conversation between Subhro and priest.Hilarious!! And the episode of Solomon kneeling before the St.Anthony of Padua church. The real story of the journey was told satirically by the master story teller.This is my first book of the great writer. In the beginning i was overwhelmed by the use of long sentences, but once i passed couple of pages, everything was perfect and really enjoyed reading the book.

The Elephant's Journey is a tale of friendship and love . Saramago explains Subhro of feeling in these final lines beautifully and it  fits to every one  :

"There'll be a lot of applause, a lot of people crowding the streets, and then they'll forget all about him. That's the law of life: Triumph and oblivion." 

Wonderful read! I will definitely read more of his work.