I Saw The Elephant by Elizabeth Iola Loveless

 

I Saw The Elephant

Elizabeth Iola Loveless

Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher's Blurb

—A wry satire of the Mormon church—past and present.

Back in my time, everybody knew what seeing the elephant was all about—experiencing and, better yet, surviving new and often horrific situations. All us brave emigrants who traversed the Oregon Trail saw the elephant at least once during our overland journey.

In July of 1852, I called upon my friend Polly but never made it to her family’s farm. Instead, I encountered the all-fired pachyderm in all his monstrosity. Quicker than a power of lightning, I went from farm girl on the Oregon frontier to the new kid at Forestview Middle School. Of course, there’ll be naysayers who claim that I fabricated my memoir, but I most certainly did time travel from 1852 to 2015. Habituating myself to iPhones, automobiles, computers, and other such-like things was disquieting and arduous in and of itself. However, just when my life had settled down, I discovered Mormons had festered out from their stronghold in Utah. Sakes alive! Exactly like when I lived in the 1800s, I once again suffered the inspired idiocy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Elizabeth I. Loveless

338 pages, Paperback

Published September 9, 2021

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My Review

13 year old Betsy Loveless is mysteriously flung forward in time from the mid 19th Century to the present day and is taken in by her descendants.

The book is set out as a diary of young Betsy’s adventures as she tries to fit in with all of the modern technology and language when she is enrolled in the local school.

I found the book very easy to read and it was nice to have something that wasn’t full of plot twists and turns – just a witty commentary on a soul over 150 years out of her time. Don’t get me wrong, it has plenty of surprises along the way and was a joy to read.

At the beginning of the book is a list of translations of unfamiliar words that Betsy uses throughout the book and I envisaged that I’d be flipping back and forth to look thing up – but this was not the case. The language is so well written that you instinctively know exactly what Betsy means and that’s no flap-doodle.

The book is split in half with the first part dealing with Betsy’s integration into modern life and the second with her dealings with the local Mormons.

My only previous knowledge of Mormons is that they all live in Utah (not true) and The Osmonds are their most famous followers (probably true).

Without any spoilers, this book has made me want to read more on the Mormons and also the Oregon Trail (I’m from the UK so this is not something that crops up in history class) so I can decide for myself if the portrayal in the book is accurate (I’m sure it is as the author has clearly done a fair bit of research).

Although perfectly self-contained the story ends on a hook to continue Betsy’s adventures so hopefully they’ll be a sequel at some point.