Water for Elephants: A Novel | Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants: A Novel | Sara Gruen | Fell in love with this one.

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Water for Elephant...

	Water for Elephants: A Novel Sara Gruen Algonquin Books, 2007 - 350 pages average customer review:based on 1414 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

AMAZING READ

This is an incredible book and I'd recommend it to anyone. It should be made into a movie. Amazing and captivating from start to finish. WOW!!!

Fell in love with this one.

Water for Elephants has recently taken over the spot of my favorite book. The book flawlessly alternates between the main character's present day experience in a nursing home and his memories of his life during his early 20's. I was skeptical about the switching at first since many books that do this are usually confusing and I have to keep turning back a few pages to see what time period I'm in, but the author does this perfectly.

I completely fell in love with the main character, both the 92 year old and 23 year old versions of him. As someone who works in a nursing home, his experiences were so realistic and the author captured this perfectly.

The book was extremely well written and it was obvious that Gruen did her research. I found myself looking for more information about travelling circuses and downloading pictures from them, especially elephants, after reading this.

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"I worked for a circus, too - I carried water for elephants"

I have strongly mixed feelings about _Water for Elephants_. The alternating story between the daily life of a 90-ish year old man and his cantankerous behaviour with his youth as a circus vet kept my attention; the details about the social heirarchy between members of the circus was (on the authority of a former circus roustabout friend of mine) accurate; and I have to admit, I am a sucker for a love story. However, as previous reviewers have noted, the 1930's vernacular, and the mannerisms of men of that era were abhorrent - but then I am a stickler for these kinds of detail.

The story - of a Cornell vet student who quits his final exams before graduation to join the circus and his subsequent adventures (and love story) has undoubtedly caught the imagination of the vast majority of Amazon reviewers - including myself. Yet I deduct a star because of the lack of attention to detail regarding the male protagonists and the verbage of the time. For most readers, this apparently isn't an issue, in which case I would stronlgy recommend it.

As far as breezy summer reads go, this certainly fits the bill - who *hasn't* fantasized about running off with the circus? (Happily oblivious to the hard work, long hours and mediocre pay ...) Which among us doesn't dream (or hasn't dreamed) of finding your soul-mate on such an adventure? Recommended, particularly for the romantics among us.

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Fun, escapist novel

Following a family tragedy, Jacob Jankowski abandons life as a college student, and instead of working as a veterinarian alongside his father, finds himself caring for animals in a traveling circus--the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob befriends numerous characters, from the glamorous performer Marlena, to the alcoholic Camel, who works setting up the circus, to the Benzini Brothers' star elephant, Rosie. As he travels between different castes of the circus and across America, Jacob narrates the triumphs and hardships experienced by the people and animals of the Great Depression-era attraction.

Interspersed throughout the novel are chapters that introduce the reader to the present-day, nonagenarian Jacob, as he laments his current living arrangement in a nursing home.

Despite several graphic descriptions of animal abuse and the cruelty displayed the novel's antagonists, the story is ultimately fun, escapist and sentimental, with an optimistic, if improbable, conclusion.

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Nice Read for Some, Maybe Not for Animal Lovers

I read this book because my sister-in-law (who never reads) could not put it down until she finished. So I gave it a go and, after a slow start, was interested enough to finish. The author does everything she can to exploit the reader's concern for cats, dogs, monkeys and, of course, the titular elephant. The narrator is a vet who sticks with the circus, at first, in order to protect the animals, but he does little to interfere with their mistreatment... or the mistreatment of his fellow humans. In that sense, the book rings false. The book exploits the reader's feeling for animals and animal-human relationships for some cheap emotional effect. And it worked on me to some extent because I cared about (and shed shed tears for) the animals much more than the humans. But I fail to see larger point.

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