Year of the Elephant

A House In The Woods:
I thought that this story was a lot like my childhood. I have two older sisters and they would always boss me around and we all used to play in the woods and try and build stuff. I thought it was funny how they are builing a house and by the end of the story the house is destroyed. I remember one time when me and my sisters tried to build a teepee out of sticks and by the next day it had fallen down and we moved on to other things. I also was wondering who the man was in the story. It could possibly be a relative, looking after the girls. At least that's what I thought.

A Vacation:
In this story it talks about these two cousins who can't stand each other and end up locked in a cellar together. And Roukia get's scared while in the cellar, whereas her cousin gets hungry. And once she finds something to eat she somehow gets a chick pea lodged up her nostril. Finally a woman finds them and they go back to the house. And they give the cousin sneezing powder and she gets the pea out of her nose and starts crying and wants to go home. If I were her I would want to go home to after being with that crazy family.

The Discontented:
This story reminded me a lot of how many people are unhappy with their lives. The official was going to help the custodian get a better job, but in the end the custodian ended up not taking the job. If I were the official I would have been mad at the custodian for turning down the job last minute. I think that's why at the end of the story he is so angry.

Divorce:
I felt sorry for the emaciated man's wife in this story. He not only acts depressed all of the time but he also is a bitter man. He is unhappy with his life, with his wife and also how his father treated him. If I were the wife I'd be happy at the end when he goes and files for divorce.

Silence:
I thought that this was a strange story. These two sisters are living with each other and they hate each other. The first sister got married to the second sisters husband. The first woman picked up her sister from the hospital because she was ill and brought her to her house. The second woman gets into it with her sister and ends up leaving and dying. And the first woman ends up getting a telegram that her sister is dead and she is happy about it. I would have hated to be the second woman because she not only was shamed with being a divorcee but her ex married her sister.

Dinner in the Black Market:
This story is about a woman who ends up jipping a couple that goes to her house for dinner. She takes all of their money and their cigarettes. She fooled them all by being a hostess and then taking all of their money. I thought it was funny that the she had everyone fooled about who she was. What's crazy is that there are so many schemes out there these days and you can never really trust anyone.

The Stranger:
I thought that this was the strangest of all the short stories. I was confused why this man, Aziz, at the end of the story goes home and why his old 'caretaker' or I guess you could say babysitter? ignores the fact that he's come home after she goes to talk to his mother. And comes back and tells him that Aziz died 30 years ago. I thought this was strange. I'm not to sure what really happened and if that was really Yasmine from his childhood, why did she ignore him?

Out of Work:
I thought that it was great that when this man is suddenly out of work he gets to rediscover his city. A lot of people's lives are so fast pace now that they don't have time to stop and smell the roses.

Year of the Elephant (First two chapters):
I thought that the first two chapters of this book took some getting used to. At first it was hard for me to follow along with the story line but I eventually began to understand it. The story sort of jumps around from time periods, showing flashbacks or memories of her former life and life before her divorce and life as a child growing up in a small little town.