The Roots of Heaven

In 1956 this book exploded into the world. A huge bestseller in France, it won the country’s most prestigious award, the Prix Goncourt. In the US it was an immediate bestseller, and the basis of a spectacular movie. Why? Gary was hardly a household name. French novels were rarely a popular success. But the subject-the deliberate and relentless hunting and killing of elephants for their ivory-and the characters he depicted were vivid and unforgettable. Morel, a former dentist whose survival in a Nazi concentration camp he attributes to his fixation on the freedom and companionability of elephants, travels to Africa intent on stopping the slaughter. He circulates a petition demanding their killing be made illegal. It attracts two signers: a disgraced American from the Korean War and a call girl described as “just another animal who needed protection.” From here things get really interesting-politically, socially and culturally. Morel realizes that action is necessary; a notorious elephant hunter is shot in the buttocks, while a female trophy hunter is stripped naked and publicly whipped. “You never teach a man anything by killing him,” he observes, “On the contrary you make him forget everything.” He gains a following-some drawn by his cause, some by political expediency, some by a need to believe in something, anything, bigger than themselves. He is chased and cornered at Lake Kuru, where a vast assemblage of elephants has converged to drink, and where this novel concludes in a brilliant and memorable climax.