Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Summary:

In Depression-era America, everyone is running away from something. Some people join the circus to escape. Jacob Jankowski hitches a ride on a freight train and in that instant his life changes. By morning, he’s landed a job with the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. By nightfall, he’s fallen in love.

About the Author:

Sara Gruen (b. 1969) is a Canadian-American New York Times Bestselling Author. Gruen’s work often involves animals and she supports animal organisations worldwide. She lives in North Carolina. Water For Elephants was published in 2006.

Rating:

4 stars - ★★★★☆

Review:

I read Water For Elephants with my book club. We chose it as we like reading books about the circus (The Night Circus being one of our favourite books) and we had seen and enjoyed the movie. I’d like to rewatch the movie some time soon actually.

I did enjoy Water For Elephants, it was very easy to read, I couldn’t put it down and I wanted to know how it ended even though I knew the end of the story from watching the movie. It was told across two time periods and the story flowed well between the past and the present. Water For Elephants is full of memorable characters and believable action. 

The one thing that made me mark this down from 5-stars was some of the more ‘sexual/anatomical’ scenes that just seemed quite unnecessary. There were descriptions of body parts that really made me question what type of book this was for a second. I actually had a sudden thought that this was written by a man just because of the way that some things were worded seemed so unnecessarily crude. Obviously it wasn’t written by a man, but that’s how those parts made me feel. Old Jacob sort of creeped me out a little. Luckily these scenes were not too regular. Although they did make me pause and had they been more prevalent I would probably have had to put the book down just because I’m really not interested in reading all that. However, the circus and the action of the story definitely distracted from this in the end. 

Secondly, I didn’t completely buy the love-story between Jacob and Marlena in all honesty. Marlena just seemed desperate to go with anyone who seemed kind and who would get her away from August. I think I had residual feelings from watching the movie which made their story work more in my mind, but I even started thinking to myself ‘does Marlena actually fall in love with Jacob or have I mis-remembered?’. And I certainly didn’t imagine them being together forever after the story. I would have liked to have seen more between them in terms of building the relationship. 

However, my favourite character was obviously the elephant, Rosie. She was clever, mischievous and had a great character arc, learning to stand up for herself in the end.

As a really random side-note, in writing the above sentence, I learned that mischievous (that I have always pronounced mischievious) is the correct spelling and therefore pronunciation should be mis-chuh-vuhs not mis-chee-vi-uhs. Mischievious with the extra i is incorrect and has never existed but it’s a regular mis-pronunciation and spelling! I am shocked! 

Anyway, back to the book review - I really appreciated the amount of detail and research that went into Water For Elephants. The Author’s Note in my copy describes where Sara Gruen got her information from and the anecdotes that were inspired by real life. It reminded me of Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider books, which was the first time I learnt about the investigation that can go into a book. And I think that level of research really makes books all the more lifelike and engaging.

The descriptions of places were very memorable. The ones that still stick out to me are Marlena & August’s carriage, and the club where Jacob, Marlena and August go together. They all seem very realistic and accurate to the time period. I can still imagine the thick, sumptuous fabrics or the smoke-filled air. 

Overall, I did really enjoy Water For Elephants. Take out the odd descriptions of body parts and add a bit more between Jacob and Marlena, and I’d have rated it 5 stars. I’d recommend Water For Elephants to anyone who enjoyed the movie, anyone who likes reading about circuses and anyone who is looking for an easy and engaging read. I would happily read more by Sara Gruen if I cam across it, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to find more by her.