Helpful Score: 3
Usually, I love books in this genre. I know there's so many people who love this book, but I'm just not one of them. I really tried to love it. To me I didn't like the way the author wrote about one set of characters in one paragraph and then would skip to another set in nearly every other paragraph. Also the writing flash backs to the past and then flash forwards to the present character throughout the whole book. It just didn't appeal to me written in this format. Also, there was lots of tasteless foul language, that to me came up in all the wrong places. The only thing I liked about this book was the premise of helping Hannah the elephant and of Sam's love for Hannah. I'm very sorry to say other than that, I couldn't close this book fast enough.
Helpful Score: 2
This is an uplifting, humanistic novel, about good-hearted, animal loving, quirky, creative people who are survivors. There is not a good versus evil tension, so much as a depiction of how we strive to survive, adapt, and embrace our world, within the limits and expanses of our peronalities and life's curve balls. There is some history regarding the movement to save the elephants. I loved this book!
Helpful Score: 2
This was a good story that showed the depth of an elephants' relationship with the people who care for her. I was touched by the elephant's struggle and Sam's love for her.
The story takes place in Washington State. Why do many of the people have Southern 'accents', a Southern way of speaking? If you read the biography of the real Hannah, Shirley, you will see that she was at a zoo in Louisiana before being taken to the sanctuary in Tennessee. I guess that is where the Southerness comes from. But it doesn't work in this setting.
Read more information on Shirley and the sanctuary here::: http://www.elephants.com/shirley/shirleystart.htm
The story takes place in Washington State. Why do many of the people have Southern 'accents', a Southern way of speaking? If you read the biography of the real Hannah, Shirley, you will see that she was at a zoo in Louisiana before being taken to the sanctuary in Tennessee. I guess that is where the Southerness comes from. But it doesn't work in this setting.
Read more information on Shirley and the sanctuary here::: http://www.elephants.com/shirley/shirleystart.htm
Helpful Score: 2
One of the best love stories I have ever read.If you are an animal lover or just enjoy a beautifully written love story this is a must read.
Helpful Score: 1
I read and loved this book and bought an extra copy for my daughter in law.
Helpful Score: 1
A gentle story about a zookeeper's devotion to his charge. Heartwarming, uplifting...I loved it.
Helpful Score: 1
Hannah's Dream has a great deal of potential as a novel. However, I felt the author's manuscript fell short of achieving what I consider to be a golden rule: tell me the story without loading it up with tropes and stereotypes. You can guess after the first twenty or so pages how will it all turn out. Yes, it's a "feel-good!" type of story. It runs on for far too long, including flashbacks to tell stories of many characters' backgrounds, which are supposed to serve as reasons for the way they behave as they do. In Harriet's case, I simply didn't buy it. A tidy ending further solidified the "It all works out in the end" type of ending.
The writing is pure poetry and the story is amazing. This elephant and her keeper tug at your heart. This is not something I would have picked up to read but a friend kept insisting. If you care for animals, try this one.
This was a very good read about relationships. This book had lots of characters and at times I wondered if something tragic was going to happen but it was just a pleasant story about relationships between people (and animals), some over long periods of time, some shorter. Hard to describe this story but I would highly recommend the book.
I wanted to like it, I really did. But, I had to give up on it. Reincarnation was starting to come up and that's not something I care to read about. It just doesn't interest me. Potential in this book - but not to my taste.
Sweet tale of an aging elephant and the efforts of people who love her to get her out of a third-rate private zoo and into an animal sanctuary. Hammond was involved in the movement to relocate Keiko, so she has an intimate knowledge of the kinds of emotions roused by the situation. She does lose half a point here for abandoning one of the more interesting characters in the book about halfway through.
Syrupy sweet, had a beginning and an ending, but just wasn't what I'd call a well-written book. Too 'cutesy' and trying to tug at heartstrings.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It was just a tad slow a few times but what a charming book. I love the characters and while it did jump from person to person and from different time periods I didn't find it difficult to keep up.
delightful story. I'll be looking for more books by this author.
This was a fast and easy read. I enjoyed this book and was sad when it ended because I had gotten to know the characters. There were also a couple of story lines (one re the young black boy and the other which appeared to be a budding romance) that were not resolved at the end. There is a subsequent "Max Biedelman" book so perhaps those two story lines continue in that book. Some of the characters were on the eccentric side. I am giving this 4 stars instead of 5 because the relationship between Truman Levy and his parents didn't quite ring true. He came across as a decent man beaten down by his ex-wife. His parents were quite accomplished (one or both were lawyers). It appeared from something that had been written earlier in the book that Truman felt he hadn't lived up to his parents' expectations. So, when his parents finally made an appearance toward the end of the book, I expected them to be rather stern and humorless but they came across as warm and caring--that really didn't jive with the earlier portrayal. I ordered the second book from this site so will be eager to read it.
