This was one of the best of Jodi Picoult books. The subject was fascinating and the twist in the story unexpected and extremely clever. The story follows a young girl who is trying to find her mother who became lost to her when she was three. She employs the help of a burnt out psychic and a retired policeman who was in charge of a murder case in an elephant sanctuary where her mother worked and following which her mother disappeared. This book will take you to the wonderful world of elephants in Africa and in preservation in America. It explores the dynamics of motherhood within the elephant kingdom and parallels it with that of human's and I must say the elephants come out on top. While the elephant will not leave her dead calf's body for days on end, the mother of this story runs away not knowing what has even happened to her child. The book also advocates the existence of life after death and the reality of spirit beings through the theory of reincarnation. Even though this theory is one among many which attempt to explain the meaning of life, I found it had profound bearing on the story and left me saddened knowing that there are people out there believing that family relationships end with death and that even though we continue to live as spirits we do not continue the associations we formed in 'each' of our lives. The theory of reincarnation gives little to no hope that we will ever see our loved ones again as we hop around to different bodies and different lives which makes the possibility of crossing paths with people we've come to love extremely thin. I do not believe in the theory of reincarnation and consider it absurd. I do, however, believe in life after death and that we continue on as spirits until the time of resurrection. I look forward to meeting my ancestors with great anticipation when we will renew our family ties which will go on forever. I do not know if Jodi Picoult believes in reincarnation and is attempting to promote it through the medium of this book or if she has used this theory for the impact it makes on the story she tells but the fact that she makes no attempt to discredit it makes me think that she accepts it. If so I feel sorry for the lack of confidence she has in enduring family relationships which makes the premise of her story, that of irreplaceable mother's love, rather futile.
