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    The Elephant Mountains
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    The Elephant Mountains
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    The Elephant Mountains
    Ebook167 pages2 hours

    The Elephant Mountains

    By Scott Ely

    3/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    An unprecedented series of hurricanes has swollen the Mississippi River to unheard-of levels and is threatening to put New Orleans and most of the low-lying areas of the South under water. Fifteen-year-old Stephen is spending the summer with his father near a small town north of Lake Pontchartrain when another powerful hurricane arrives and the levees on the Mississippi River completely fail. In the anarchy and chaos that results, Stephen's father is killed, and the boy is left to fend for himself. Stephen soon encounters Angela, a college student whose parents have also been killed. Navigating the labyrinth of flooded fields and towns in an airboat, the two set out in search of Stephen's mother and higher ground.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOrca Book Publishers
    Release dateOct 1, 2011
    ISBN9781459800915
    Unavailable
    The Elephant Mountains
    Author

    Scott Ely

    Scott Ely (1944–2013) served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. After the war, he received an MA from the University of Mississippi and an MFA from the University of Arkansas. He taught at Winthrop University in South Carolina and other schools. He wrote five novels and four collections of short stories.

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    Reviews for The Elephant Mountains

    3/5

    14 ratings13 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.My Summary: Stephen was raised by his mother - a flighty socialite who has a new man in her bed every other week. Tired of living the life his mother has planned for him, Stephen finds freedom when he goes to visit his father in New Orleans. Over the course of the summer, Stephen's father teaches him a wide variety of survival skills; Stephen wishes he could remain with his father forever, but his mother wants him back.Then a series of hurricanes strikes, and Stephen and his father are left stranded. Content with waiting out the rest of the storms with his father, Stephen is horrified when strange men arrive at their little cottage and proceed to murder the only parent who ever cared what he wanted.Now, all alone in the swamps of New Orleans, Stephen must put into practice the skills his father taught him and survive the dangers of the city he used to call home.My Thoughts: This was a fairly short but enjoyable read. I liked the element of not-so-far-off dystopia, and the 'coming-of-age' theme blended with survival made for a good novel. In a way, it reminded me of Hatchet (you remember that book that every middle-schooler in North America will read before they graduate, right?). I really liked the survival elements of the novel, and the writing was very good.Stephen's resentment towards his mother was also very believable as well, making it easy for readers to relate to the character. I enjoyed the author's writing style as well: it was smooth and easy-to-follow, making it easy to finish the novel within a few hours.Final Thoughts: I recommend this book for any guys looking for a gritty, action-packed dystopian novel (and ladies as well!). Probably best for readers over the age of 14.
    • 3/5
      Grim, fast-paced story about a fifteen-year-old trying to survive in a plausible near future of global warming, lawlessness, and general anarchy.
    • 3/5
      This book is set in New Orleans and the surrounding areas, which is near where I am from, so I was intrigued by the book. The post-apocalyptic story line is reminiscent of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but on a grander scale. The language, the culture, the people -- all are true to the New Orleans area.Right away I was struck by the simplistic nature of the writing. This is Scott Ely's first book in the Young Adult genre, which I could easily guess from what the writing lacked. One major thing that bothered me throughout the book was Ely's habit of "telling" instead of "showing." He repeatedly made statements in the book like this: "She went on to tell him that their house was close by, on high ground, and they thought they could live upstairs." (page 38) Why couldn't Ely have written this out in dialogue. This kind of writing is littered throughout the text, and it left me feeling like I had been shorted a proper book. At a little over 200 pages in length, this book was too short for my expectations. I normally love dystopia, but this one was disappointing.The main character Stephen was a likable character, but he seemed to be both extremely lucky and a kind of talisman for death. I understand that the conditions of the area that Stephen was traveling through were extremely dangerous with very limited resources, but did just about every single person that Stephen came across have to die? That strikes me as overkill, pardon the pun.I also did not understand the ending. If there really was as much flooding as the radio continuously announced, then Stephen would have needed to travel much further than he did to find dry ground.I gave the book three stars because I really liked the premise of the book, though it fell short of my expectations.
    • 2/5
      I am always willing to pick up a dystopian read - that is what drew me to The Elephant Mountains. I was definitely intrigued by the original aspects of the story, but overall found the plot a little odd. Unbalanced maybe. It kept me from connecting with the characters - which in turn, kept me from really appreciating the story. Definitely not going on my list of recommended dystopians.
    • 3/5
      The writing style of The Elephant Mountains was very strange. I read some other reviews and some people said it made the book brutally honest(as a good thing). But to me....it didnt work at all. I never got know Stephen, he was very flat. Elephant Mountains did have enough action for me to keep reading(even though it started out slow...with the frogs?) but I was never connected to Stephen and it made for a boring dialogue(or lack there of).
    • 3/5
      This book initially attracted me because the dystopian-esque setting was not brought about by humans in any attempt to create some utopian society, but rather, it was brought about by nature. There is something scary about nature, how powerfully and unexpectedly it can annihilate thousands of life in mere minutes. This is a story about survival, when all the odds are against you.Stephen was sent to live with his survivalist father for the summer. Little did he know this would be the summer that hurricanes would destroy almost everything around, drowning whole towns in water. Little did he know this would be the summer that is father is killed just feet away from him. But the fact is, this is that summer, and now it's time to survive. As Stephen desperately tries to make his way through swamps and flooded towns to make it to New Orleans, or what's left of it, to find his mother, he is met with people he can't trust, a girl he might love, and more dead bodies than he can count. The nature of this book seemed probable; the qualities that come out in humans especially. So that was good. My only problem was there didn't seems to be much going on... I mean, once you get past the initial shock, it is really more of the same. I understand the limitations brought on my the setting, but I just wished there was something more. What that would be, I'm not sure...My only other criticism was the somewhat romantic relationship that takes place. Well, maybe that is the problem - it wasn't romantic at all! To me it seemed almost primitive. It is hard to explain. So this story was interesting and it kept me interested, but there were definitely aspects that left me wanting a bit more.
    • 4/5
      I received The Elephant Mountains by Scott Ely as part of the Early Reviewers Program here on Library Thing. This is a straightforward, somewhat harsh look at what happens when multiple hurricanes hit the southern United States and waters rise to unheard of depths. Florida apparently underwater, the town of New Orleans totally covered and still the Mississippi and connected waterways are rising. Even though fifteen-year old Stephen and his survivalist father are living off the land hidden away in a swamp, they are discovered and his father is killed. Now on his own, Stephen decides to try and find his mother, last known to be in New Orleans. Along the way, he picks up Angela, a young college student, who has lost her parents to violent looters as well. The two decide to travel together to find a place of safety.Although I did like the set-up and the basic storyline, I think there were some plot details that could have been fine tuned a little. Stephen’s mother appearing where she did was somewhat unbelievable, and I felt that the author added this in so that he could finish the story quickly. I also noticed that there were some things left hanging and with no actual closure for the main characters, I wonder if there is to be a sequel .I liked the survival aspects of this book, and the story certainly kept my interest. A short, quick read, I think The Elephant Mountains would be most suitable for people over the age of fourteen as there is a fair amount of violence.
    • 1/5
      This book was terrible. Terrible. I appreciate LibraryThing for selecting me as a winner, but in my opinion this book was completely unreadable. I can't believe this guy is a writing professor at a university. No, just no. Please do yourself a favor and stay far, far away from this one.Some of the things that were wrong with it:~No dialogue~Detached & amateurish writing style~No contractions whatsoeverNo one should be forced to read this. And I won't read something I don't enjoy.
    • 3/5
      I love the idea of a post-modern world where Mother Nature retaliates and brings incessant destruction to Earth. But Ely's The Elephant Mountains came up flat. For as much internal monologue as is included, I didn't really get to know (or like, for that matter) Stephen. And Angela just seemed one-dimensional to me. Furthermore, Ely's constant mentions of sex are misplaced and aren't explained well enough. I feel like he only included it because he wanted to add a bit of controversy to his novel, or because he thought it would make young readers like it more. I thought the novel would have been better without it. I will recommend this book to struggling young readers who might enjoy reading about the survival tactics and destruction as well as Stephen's smart and quick thinking.
    • 3/5
      An interesting plotline, but I think the book failed to live up to the promise. I love dystopian/survival literature. I think it has to do with my love of zombies. But really any survival stories are right up my alley. I started this book seeing the scary potential future. What Ely predicts could happen. Hurricanes and global warming could rise the waters enough to swallow a lot of the low-lying southern lands. New Orleans would be toast. Florida would disappear. And the rest would be under varying amounts of water. People would have to flee to higher ground or attempt to ride out the water. Anarchy and chaos would reign if it happened quick enough. I bought all of the environmental changes. I bought the desperation the changes brought. I could imagine all this happening. Those parts of the book rang true. Unfortunately, the characters fell flat. Stephen, while the most interesting character, seemed lost; as if he didn’t have a personality apart from the “not quite a man” status. I couldn’t quite connect to his inner struggles. Angela started as an interesting character but quickly got lost. She portrayed herself as a devout Christian, but then that aspect fell away. I would have liked more consistency with the character. And everyone else was only in the picture for a few pages each. We met someone, shared a few stories, and then they disappeared or were killed. I get that it is supposed to be a fairly solitary journey, but I would have liked to spend a little more time with some of those characters. Overall, an interesting premise. But it didn’t quite follow through. I would recommend to fans of dystopian/survival literature.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this novel. A very quick read, The Elephant Mountains had realistic and very non-flowery prose. The emotional tone was subdued but still, strangely poigniant. It reminded me of The Road. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      The Southern United States has been inundated with a battering of hurricanes that have flooded people out of their homes and left the country in a state of emergency. Anarchy and chaos is rampant, and hope is found a fifteen year old Stephen and a college student Angela, both orphans, both on the search for any shred of humanity left behind in the wake of the destruction. They are surrounded by bloated death drifting along the flooded waters, witness the indiscriminate murdering of people who will kill to survive, and against all odds, they are hoping to survive, to find the Elephant Mountains, a place where hope and a new life is still a possibility. The story of Stephen and Angela's survival is a bleak one. It seems that when the laws that regulate our humanity collapses in the face of uncontrollable forces, we will fight against the instinct to just give up and die, but in the process of survival, do we end up sacrificing the very heart of what makes us human? [The Elephant Mountains] was an enjoyable and reflective read that begs us to ask the question of what hope is, what we do with it when we finally find it, or when we discover that it never existed in the first place.
    • 3/5
      A freak series of hurricanes has started to flood New Orleans and all the low lying areas of the south. 15 year old Stephen finds himself suddenly on his own after the murder of his father. After stumbling across Angela, who is orphaned and struggling on her own, they band together and must fight the poor odds to try and survive in an area of anarchy and violence. With a little fuel, food and water they attempt to make their way from Lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans to try and find Stephen's mother and get to safety.This was an easy, fast read but enjoyable none the less.