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Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived (0060929510)
Description
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| Modoc is the joint biography of a man and an elephant born in a small German circus town on the same day in 1896. Bram was the son of an elephant trainer, Modoc the daughter of his prize performer. The boy and animal grew up devoted to each other. When the Wunderzircus was sold to an American, with no provision to take along the human staff, Bram stowed away on the ship to prevent being separated from his beloved Modoc. A shipwreck off the Indian coast and a sojourn with a maharajah were only the beginning of the pair's incredible adventures. They battled bandits, armed revolutionaries, cruel animal trainers, and greedy circus owners in their quest to stay together. They triumphed against the odds and thrilled American circus audiences with Modoc's dazzling solo performances, only to be torn apart with brutal suddenness, seemingly never to meet again. Hollywood animal trainer Ralph Helfer rescued Modoc from ill-treatment and learned her astonishing story when Bram rediscovered her at Helfer's company. His emotional retelling of this true-life adventure epic will make pulses race and bring tears to readers' eyes. --Wendy Smith Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
Reviews
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Author: Guest
This account of Modoc and Bram's life together is more passionate than scholarly. Those who expect "true" to mean factual may be dissatisfied, while those who are empathic and therefore content with verisimilitude may be deeply moved by the more profound connotation of "true" found in this story. Despite the occassional distractions well documented below, I found myself to be among the latter group. The mystical elements, I must say, could not possibly offend, except perhaps those coming from a most severely constrained belief system. The adolescent male sexuality would offend my 10-year-old daughter,and the mating scene of the Maharaja's elephants would horrify her, but there is an abridged version of the story for children. Of great value is the model of patience in these two characters. Bram exhibits initiative without aggression, and consistently waits for the right moment to act. Modoc seems to me the embodiment of deep faith in life. These are rare qualities in a modern adventure story. I was left whole-heartedly embracing the spirit of Modoc, and have since been moved to explore the extensive website of the Hohenwald Elephant Sanctuary for retired and ill circus and zoo elephants. The emotional impact of this story made a passive stance impossible for me in feeling the plight of captive elephants.
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Author: Guest
Let me start off by saying that I do love this book. It's a beautiful story that is well written and filled with emotion. Admittedly, this book had me in tears a few times. It is definitely aimed at tugging the heart strings.
What disappoints me about this book is that it claims to be a true story, when it is indeed mostly fiction. There are only tiny bits of fact in there, and those facts are mostly exaggerated. Things that started tipping me off:
1. The author describes most of the Indian elephants (aka Asian elephants) as having tusks. In reality, tusks on Asian elephants are pretty uncommon.
2. The author describes Modoc as having tusks, even to the end of the book soon before she died. Yet in the pictures in the book, the elephant shown has no tusks at all.
3. A circus owner on the hunt for *years* in a foreign country all for one elephant? I doubt that seriously.
4. No dates are given, and for being a work of "fact", I found it odd that no sources are ever listed except for very vague comments (i.e. saying that newspapers wrote articles, but never naming any specific paper)
5. Most information cannot be found except in reference to this particular book.
6. There is an act of a bull's mating with a cow (bull=male elephant, cow=female elephant) that seems way over the top and incredibly ferocious, quite unlike actual mating "rituals" among elephants.
After some extensive research, including research with the Circus Historical Society, I discovered that many elephants were named Modoc, the most famous being "Big Modoc" owned by the Ringling Bros Circus. In fact, Ringling Bros owned 3 elephants named Modoc, the youngest eventually being owned by Helfer, only years after being passed around from circus to circus. Helfer only owned this elephant for 3 years before she was passed onto another place, where she died at the age of 55, not 70 as the book claims. The elephant pics of one performing in the circus is that of Big Modoc, the elephant Helfer did *not* own. While a wonderful story, the bottom line was that Helfer made up most of what was going on. There is no elephant that went through the life that this fictional Modoc went through, there is no Bram Gunterstein...this is a story made up by a man who took an elephant he owned for three years and greatly exaggerated her life.
I also did take issue with the absolutely unnecessary writing style towards human sexuality. It was too graphic, and served no purpose except to throw in sex. The graphic details could have easily been left out without compromising the tenderness of the romantic relationships described in the story.
As I said, I do love this book. But I love it as a work of fiction, not as one of fact. I do not understand why Helfer would choose to make up a story and then call it true, because in my opinion, that greatly hurts his credibility. Unfortunately most people simply take him at his word without actually researching the truth behind the book. I believe the actual plot, writing style, and emotional depth make it a five star book. However, after my extensive research proved that Helfner fabricated almost all of this yet claimed it to be true, the credibility made me think "three star". Yet I couldn't justify rating such a lovely and romantic story so low, so I compromised and gave it four stars.
Please, do read and enjoy this book. But read it with the thoughts that the "greatest elephant whoever lived" merely lived in someone's imagination. It is a great love story that ultimately teaches that it's love, kindness, and affection that prove to be the best way to care for ANY animal. And even for a work of fiction, that is a lesson that is definitely applicable to real life.
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Author: Guest
In excellent condition and a truly inspirational story and example of how life SHOULD be lived with love.
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Author: Guest
One of the most heart wrenching love stories between a human and an animal I have ever read. Couldn't put it down and have a whole different outlook on elephants now-really quite gentle loyal beasts.
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Author: Guest
Before there was Dumbo, before but not quite before there was Toomai of the Elephants, there was Modoc and there was Bram, the boy who loved her. Boy and elephant, born on the same day, in the same hour, two souls intertwined throughout a lifetime.
This true story starts out in Germany, but soon travels the world. More adventures than you can count, a fearsome storm and shipwreck that rival (or maybe inspired) Life of Pi, life with princes in India, not to mention the legendary Mahout elephant trainers in the teak forests, a white elephant spiritual guide, circus time, love, loyalty...it's got it all! Bram and Modoc certainly seem to be soul mates of a sort, though Bram was lucky enough to find women who understood his love for an elephant as well as good and true friends in his lifetime. I loved the way Bram developed his on personal philosophy/spirituality that combined what he knew and what he learned from the elephant and mahouts.
Ralph Helfer's style is a little stilted, but serves him well enough. He is best known as the Hollywood animal trainer who was one of the first to use affection and kindness to train the wild animals we see in movies and on TC. (Clarence the Cross_Eyed Lion is one of his most famous friends.)
I'd actually rate this one 3.5 stars (mostly because of my reaction to the writing style), but couldn't figure out how to get the system to do that.
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