The Elephant Of Surprise is a novel by Brent Hartinger, and the fourth and final book in the Russel Middlebrook series, that was started by Geography Club.
Russel and his friend Min have it all together and both have significant others, but they soon find out that life always goes in directions you don't expected it to. They dub this phenomenon the "Elephant of Surprise," and then suddenly the elephant shows up, sometimes when you don't want it to. Like when Russel starts questioning his long-distance relationship with his boyfriend, especially when a hot homeless "freegan" Wade comes to town. And when it looks like Min's girlfriend is keeping secrets. And when the elephant comes through, it leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.
This page contains spoilers for both Geography Club and The Order of the Poison Oak and the Soul Sucking Brain Zombies Duology. Russel's adventures continue in a New Adult series by the same author, subtitled The Futon Years.
Not to be confused by the Hap and Leonard book with the same title by Joe R. Lansdale.
This book contains these tropes:
- Better as Friends: Russel and Otto mutually decide to split, as their realize their long distance relationship isn't going to work out. They're even happy when both confess that they're into other people.
- Black Is Bigger in Bed: Wade is black, and Russel (despite chastising himself) can't help but think about the common black male stereotypes while being smitten with his looks. He spends great detail describing Wade's body, skin, and his “below the belt” features and how it compares to the white men he's been with in his exposition.
- Eco-Terrorist: Another Elephant of Surprise: The freegan crew Wade hangs with are actually members of the Earth Liberation Front, a real life group that uses guerilla warfare to protect the environment. Wade is not one himself, thankfully.
- First Guy Wins: Kevin is Russel's first love and is the guy he ends up with at the end of the series.
- Granola Guy: Wade is a homeless "freegan
," who espouses on the importance of preserving the environment and reducing your carbon footprint. - Grand Finale: This is the final installment of the original Russel Middlebrook series.
- Homeless Hero: Wade, who decided to ditch living in comfort and became a homeless freegan, eating out of dumpsters.
- Incompatible Orientation: Another Elephant of Surprise - It seems like Wade wants to get close with Russel and they even kiss, only for it to be revealed that Wade is straight. He was leading Russel on because Russel was interested in freeganism and had a fresh take on it and Wade normally deals with burnouts and anarchists in the movement.
- Subverted Trope: The entire book is based on taking expectations that the reader expects and then presenting a twist. And then there's a few Double Subversions, such as Min suspecting that her girlfriend is cheating on her because she's being secretive, only to find out she's being secretive because she's planning a surprise birthday party — only for it to be revealed that she is indeed cheating.
