tea with elephants by robin jones gunn book review

November 13, 2024

 caravan sonnet
Rating: 3/5 stars

Discovering Robin Jones Gunn's books when I was a teenager was such a delightful treat. I have enjoyed her all different books of hers over the years and they have always been so delightful. I shared here on the blog in 2015 in a blog post entitled, the Top 5 Books that Have Impacted My life the Most about a few of hers. Now, I need to update that list, but the fact still remains the same that her books have definitely had an impact on my life. Here is what I said in that post:

(Okay, lets be honest ALL of Robin Jones Gunn books *smiles*)
When I was 13 years old I was handed my first of many books I would fall in love with from Robin Jones Gunn and haven't stopped reading them over the last years. I have read, re-read, and re-read a thousand times the adventures of Robin's characters while I have been encouraged in my faith and strengthened and challenged to return to scripture. Robin takes what some might call ordinary characters and weaves a beautiful story line that challenges me to fall more in love with Jesus, to spend more time in scripture, and to love those that the Lord has placed in my life in big ways with lots of grace. Her characters are so memorable that you feel that you are reading about friends, but beyond her talent for writing is a woman who obviously loves the Lord and has changed countless lives, including mine. No matter your age- whether you are 13 years old to older you will love these books. Throughout the last few years of my health journey I have re-read these series and books thousands (literally!!) of times, have handed out countless copies to people on airplanes, in hospitals, and even once in a grocery store line. The beautiful way that Robin writes mimics the beautiful way that the Lord calls people to Himself- with lots of love, lots of grace, and lots of beauty. 

I have enjoyed her stories a lot and over the years there have been different ones that I have thought were really great. They are sweet and have great character development along with an interesting story and plot line. When I was sent Tea With Elephants and had a chance to review this I jumped at the chance. 

The book follows an unexpected friendship that blossomed between two women who met in college and they are now traveling together a couple of decades later to Africa. The book sets the stage that the women have stayed friends since the time of college days and walked through several life changes together. Robin sets the story in Africa and their journey unfolds through shared conversations, laughter, and deep reflections over cups of tea. As they learn more about each other, they also uncover truths about themselves and life’s hidden beauty. If you enjoyed some of her other stories, Robin also weaves in the connection to a couple of "friends" that you may remember which is a delightful way to hear what is going on in their lives.

I am going to be honest here and this is difficult because I truly adore all of Robin's books, but this wasn't one of my absolute favorites and that is why I can only give it a 3 out of 5 stars. For me some parts seemed a bit long and a bit slow moving and I think the major reason for that is that were a couple of things within the book. While there have been many books of hers that I couldn't completely relate to the storyline about this one felt a bit like it was difficult to follow sometimes. 

For example, Robin created two characters who were supposedly extremely good friends and good enough friends to travel to the other side of the world together, but for lots of the book, they struggled to be honest with each other regarding the real life issues that they both were struggling with. It took them nearly 2/3rds of the book to start to really open up and share their struggles and be honest with each other... It felt confusing and it also felt like it was a bit drawn out and a bit of a turn off for me believing that when they did finally share that this was a "safe environment" for them both to be sharing since it had taken so long to share their struggles. 

Another observation was that while Robin has personally traveled to Africa and her descriptions of Africa were beautiful, there seemed to be a sense of extreme drawn out description of the scenery... that ended up coming across a bit like it was "trying to hard" to convey all of the absolute beauty around. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but there were sections of the book that seemed to have truly made an impact on her as an author, but that I just couldn't connect with from the descriptions. I re-read those sections several times to try to connect, but still came away with the feeling that I was trying to be convinced of this perfect place. 

Due to these two things it often felt like a struggle to truly connect with this book and that is why I can't list it as a favorite. I hate saying that because I truly adore Robin's work and it was an honor to meet her a couple of years ago  so I am curious to hear y'all's thoughts on this book.  You can find Tea With Elephants to purchase HERE

Looking for a few of my favorites of Robin's books? Here are a few that I have loved and that I would highly recommend:

Happy Wednesday friends! I hope you have a wonderful day!

*I received this book from Revell Reads - all opinions are my own*

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