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Water for Elephants A Novel Sara Gruen 9781565125605 Books

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Water for Elephants A Novel Sara Gruen 9781565125605 Books

This is a book where I had actually seen the movie first, which then made me want to read the novel. The circus seems to bring out the optimistic and wide-eyed child in us all, and this story was no different. You come to care about the animal and humans alike in this novel and find yourself wrapped inside their world before you know it. I fairly much inhaled this book over two evenings, and seeing the movie didn't curb my sense of excitement and mystery as I worked through the story. At the end I had the thought, yet again, that we all seemed to be doomed nowadays to reaching our end of life years and being forgotten by our families regardless of how amazing our former selves have lived our lives. This book helps to remind us all that ordinary people have extraordinary tales to tell if we would just bother to slow down and listen.


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Water for Elephants A Novel Sara Gruen 9781565125605 Books Reviews

I bought this book because of push advertising and regretted it. While reading “Water for Elephants “ I found the plot hyperbolic and excessively melodramatic and the characters little developed beyond their names. I was astounded at the lack of research which became clear when I read other reviews. I was also astonished at the number of readers who found the novel purient and cruel. I can only speculate about their usual fare.
From the very first page I was hooked in this world that takes you back to a time when traveling circuses were the norm. The love story between Jacob and Marlena is one that will stay with you through time. Where at times it seemed like all they were handed was despair by the hand of August, they were each other's greatest find and salvation. They were also the salvation and rescue of lovable elephant Rosie. Sara Gruen's writing style is one that makes reality disappears and catapults you onto the Benizini Brother's menagerie train. At times the injustice may make you feel like you want to jump off but stay till end - it is beyond worth it!
This book was amazing! I loved all the action and throughout the whole book, I was constantly thinking, what's going to happen next. There wasn't ever a time that I thought there was a boring part in the book either- hard to do, since it's so long.

I can see how making a movie would be difficult since there was so many things going on, including all the animals. Your imagination is probably much better than the film (I've heard the film is not great, so I'll stick with my imagination on this one).

I would totally recommend this book. I'm not a fan of the circus. Mostly because of how cruel they are to the animals, and I think this book shows exactly how it is. I don't think the author glamorized the circus much. There were points in the book that were hard to read since I'm such an animal lover, but I wanted to see how it all ends.

I would even read this book again!
Author, Sara Gruen is an excellent novelist. I read Water for Elephants a few years ago and from time to time, I reread my favorite novels. This novel is one of them. While I enjoyed the movie with Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, the novel is far better.
Sara’s research on traveling Circuses during great depression is richly detailed without overtaking the essence of the story or characters. The novel opens with ninety year old Jacob Jankowski ensconced in a dreary nursing home. He’s grumpy and taciturn. The food is bland and the old ladies are to him, a gaggle of hens. More and more, Jacob finds his thoughts turning to the past and the life he once lived long ago as a circus vet. Jacob remarks that he is ninety or ninety-three, but at his age, he is not longer counting. We are drawn into his memories and so the story begins.
When Jacob’s parents are killed in an auto accident, he is forced to leave his last year at Cornell where he’d been studying to become a verternarian. Penniless, he hits the road and hops a train that happens to be the Benzini Brothers traveling circus. He is hired as the show’s vet.
Jacob faces danger on a daily basis, not only because of his growing attraction to Marlena, the beauty who is the star equestrian act of the circus, but because of her husband, August, a ring master who is a bully and quick with a jealous, evil temper. These are hard times and circuses are failing. The boss, Big Al, who decides the life and death of many of the hired hands, desires an elephant, a trained elephant that can bring the rubes (hapless townspeople) into the big tent.
Big Al gets his elephant. Her name is Rosie and she doesn’t seem to understand any directions at all. She’s sweet, but gets into trouble. August, the bad tempered husband of Marlena, cruelly beats Rosie to get her to perform. Jacob finds that Rosie does not understand English. Her former trainer was Polish. Together, Jacob and Marlena strive to protect and save Rosie. August sees their attraction and attempts to get Jacob Red-lighted, which means to be thrown of the moving train at midnight. No spoilers here.
Water for Elephants is a fascinating read, filled with danger, acts of evil, overwhelming kindness, and enduring love.
I highly recommend this wonderful novel.
This is a book where I had actually seen the movie first, which then made me want to read the novel. The circus seems to bring out the optimistic and wide-eyed child in us all, and this story was no different. You come to care about the animal and humans alike in this novel and find yourself wrapped inside their world before you know it. I fairly much inhaled this book over two evenings, and seeing the movie didn't curb my sense of excitement and mystery as I worked through the story. At the end I had the thought, yet again, that we all seemed to be doomed nowadays to reaching our end of life years and being forgotten by our families regardless of how amazing our former selves have lived our lives. This book helps to remind us all that ordinary people have extraordinary tales to tell if we would just bother to slow down and listen.