Hannah's Dream: A Novel

As cliché as this may sound, every so often, a book/story comes along that both touches your heart and leaves you with profound messages that you can take with you for the rest of your life. At the strong recommendation of a librarian friend, I decided to give this animal-focused novel a try, and by book's end, I was absolutely blown away. This is, no question, one of the most interesting and heartfelt novels I've read in a long time, and I only wish that everyone could take the time to read it, as it has a lot to say about life and striving to do the right thing.The book follows the 40-year old love between an elephant named Hannah and her long-time keeper, Sam, who live at the fictional Max L. Biedelman Zoo. The zoo was the creation of an eccentric, adventurous woman named Maxine Biedelman, who treated both her animals and her human staff like family. But ever since her death, the zoo has fallen into exponential disrepair, and despite Sam's loving attention, Hannah isn't faring much better, suffering from bad feet and longing to be with the company of other elephants. So when a new zookeeper arrives to turn the zoo around, Sam jumps at the chance to relocate Hannah to an elephant sanctuary; knowing she'll be properly cared for. But the rescue won't be easy, as they have to raise a lot of money in order to move her....as well as contend with the park's uptight and power hungry director, who sees Hannah as the key to revitalizing the zoo's attendance, and who will do anything and everything to make her stay.On the surface, the plot itself is fairly simple, and sounds like something plucked straight from a Hallmark Channel movie. But upon reading, one will quickly discover that the story is much more than cute animals, one note villains, and sappy love stories. While there's plenty of love to go around, there's hardly anything in the way of romance. What makes this book shine is its large cast of characters--all of whom are either directly or indirectly affected by Hannah and/or the efforts to relocate her. All these people, whether their parts are big or small, are all three dimensional, with their own quirks and shortcomings, hopes and dreams. From Maxine dishing out life advice (via flashback), to the zookeeper who respects both the new and the old fashioned, to the geeky office worker who tries to conquer his shyness by adopting a pig, to the strange landlord who creates breathtaking artwork. Everyone's varying stories about making friends, being true to one's self, rising above a devastating loss, and finding goodness in the world, all intertwine with one another. Even the zoo director, who by and large, is the villain of the story, is shown to have a sympathetic side, and learns to find beauty in herself rather than live vicariously through Maxine's old life.But the main star, of course, is Hannah, who even though is an elephant, has just as much a colorful personality as the human cast. Her and Sam's odd, almost-father/daughter relationship is both joyful and painful, as both are getting up there in age, to which Sam will do anything to help her, even if it means having to let go. Their journey of powering through suffering and making the most out of life is truly inspiring; leading up to a tear jerking happy ending.My short review here really doesn't do the book justice, as there's so many life observations and lessons to take away from all jam packed--to list them all here would be to just type up the novel itself. So I'll leave this with just a high recommendation. Any animal lover and/or person who wants to get a little more out of their reading owes it to themselves to give this novel a go.

Hannah's Dream has a really deep underlying sweetness. It's not sappy, either. The characters are all finely drawn and fascinating. I can't tell you which one is my favorite character but it may be Johnson Johnson, just for sheer whimsy. A woman who is well acquainted with big game safaris rescues a baby elephant and starts a zoo. T Hannah's (the elephant) caretaker, his young lady caretaker accomplice, a man who works in the zoo office, kitties, friendships, talented landlords Oh My! This book will stay with me a long time and is worth reading a second time. Maybe more. Full of delightful surprises.

"Hannah's Dream" isn't my usual reading fare, but it is about animals (which I love), so I decided to give it a read. Well, this book turned out to be MUCH more than anticipated; it delves into human emotions and diversity, the plight of animals in human captivity and the deep connections that can develop between animals and humans. It is not a speed read but is very satisfying. My only complaint is that the book ends the reader's journey a bit abruptly and could have extended and softened the finale just a wee bit more. Highly recommended.

OK, so I have a tender heart for elephants in the first place. In the second place, I'm a cryer. I got plenty of both in this wonderful cast of characters building a zoo story, but much more a FAMILY story. I have spent a lot of time since its inception on the website elephants.com, which is a Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN that actually has "ele cams". Cried me some elephant tears for some of those ladies, as well. Prose is not Nobel Prize, but paints complete pictures and sometimes tears at your heart. Altogether a good read and highly recommended.

Hannah is a forty-ish year-old Asian elephant housed at Max L. Biedelman’s zoo in Bladenham, Washington. Hannah is blind from one eye due to an incident when she was a youngster in which her mother got killed after trespassing in a plantation in Burma.Samson Brown, Sam for short, has been Hannah’s keeper for forty-one years. At sixty-eight years old, Sam isn’t ready to retire unless Hannah can go live with other elephants, a dream he has had for years. When a new zoo keeper named Neva Wilson is hired, a chain of events will be set in motion to make Hannah’s dream a reality…But money and the zoo’s director may stand in the way.Hannah’s Dream is a book about an elephant and its relationship with its zoo keeper, but it’s also a story about love, loyalty, loss, growing old and infirm, being at odds with God and the reconciliation with Him once the main characters recognized their prayers had been answered. In Hannah’s Dream, Corinna and Sam, two of the main characters together with Hannah, lost a baby at birth and were at odds with God ever since.I really liked this book. One may say it’s predictable, but it’s so well written and so sweet without being overly so, that I couldn’t stop rooting for the characters and Hannah in particular. There are strong females in this story, and most males aren’t, thus the contrast is stark. The animal facts and elements are an animal lover’s dream.I thought that Hannah’s Dream was Up meets Water for Elephants without the circus backdrop.Overall, Hannah’s Dream brought me a lot of reminiscing. It’s a fantastic story, sweet but not overly so about the relationship of an elderly man with the elephant in his care. Not to be missed!

3.5 Wonderful characters and a theme of gentle love among characters as well as between humans and animals. I absolutely love the book’s cover, which is what drew me to the book. The story matches the cover, a story of the goodness of love and kindness without being overly saccharine. Although by the ending, through my happy tears, made me want to go get a couple of Dunkin Donuts in celebration of the goodness in the world!

Loved the relationship between Hannah and Sam especially watching movies at night.Lovely

I love this book. I have bought it several times over, as I keep giving it away as a gift. I want to share it with everyone. The ending makes me cry, but a happy cry.

Wonderful and delightful read.