Water for Elephants was one of those books that I had put off reading For no particular reason. The fact that I eventually read it is thanks to Daily deal on audible and the I was drawn to the voice of the narrators.

This is a love story with an interesting and well researched insight into the train circus in the 1930s. The best part of this story for me was Jacob's story aged 90 or 93. I love how the author portrays very convincingly the life of the elderly Jacob living in a home and how after many years of a full family life he relives his time with the circus. I found myself longing for the parts of the book which featured the elderly voice of Jacob which made the story come alive with emotion and I loved the character of Rosemarie and I can only hope that every care home has at least one Rosemary to give these elderly people who have contributed so much to society the respect and care they deserve.
Quote by Jacob(aged 90/93) from Water for Elephants

“My platitudes don't hold their interest and I can hardly blame them for that. My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak first hand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerrilla wars, and Sputnik — that's all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That's the reality of getting old, and I guess that's really the crux of the matter. I'm not ready to be old yet.” ( )

I loved the telling of this story, by the 90 (or 93) year old Jacob, as much, if not more than the story itself. I hated to part ways with the ol' boy, at the end of the book. Sara Gruen enthralled me with her writing, and after finishing this book, I felt compelled to seek out her other works. Unfortunately, her other books are rated significantly lower, on Goodreads, and the story summaries don't sound all that appealing to me. She gave me one great book, though, and for that I thank her. ( )

It is a good book, but some parts are too much for an animal lover. ( )

Rather underwhelming. There were definitely some good moments in the book, but none that, in my eyes, justified the books mass popularity. ( )

“I’m ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.”

This opener is a classic, an interlude to an old man’s reminiscing of his youth. You’d think, that someone who can’t correctly remember his age, would at best, have blurred memories of his past. But Jacob Jankowski is made of sterner stuff. He may forget the name of the nurse in his old-age home, he may not quite remember his grandchildren or their children, but memories of his youth are as fresh as if they happened yesterday.

Jacob was studying to be a vet when an accident leaves him both orphaned and penniless. In a state of delirium, Jacob begins walking and keeps walking, away from the civilization into some unknown future. And that unknown future brings him to a train, that in its many carriages, carries the magic of an entirely different world, for on this train, travels a circus.

And the drama unravels. There are performers and the workmen, freaks and animals. All the typical circus things. There’s even a gorgeous, Marlena, who is the star performer of the show, who makes her performances come alive with the animals she works with. She’s married to the equestrian director August, the sometimes charming, sometimes abusive man. And of course, Jacob falls for this woman.

What makes this book superlative is that it isn’t just a romance, at least not just between Jacob and Marlena. It is a sketch of the human soul – of how human some animals can be and of how beastly some men.

Sara Gruen’s characters are all strong, heroes and villains alike. But its the side characters whose story adds depth to the emotions. Kinko and Camel, the sort of “roommates” of Jacob or Queenie and Bobo, the dog and the chimp who in their animal-ish sort of way make your heart swell. And of course, Rosie, the elephant. For me, she was the star of this book. Every time August lashed out her or Jacob fed her whiskey to soothe her wounds, were the times that had me welling up.

“With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.”
And there is that secret, right towards the end, that the author throws at you. Of course, that’s not what you expected, but you hoped all along while reading the book, that something like that would end up happening.

In Sara Gruen’s own words,

“Life is the most spectacular show on earth”
…and that is exactly what she shows you through this spectacular story about a circus.

Believe it or not, Sara Gruen had never actually been to a circus in her life, before she started writing this book! Surely, you wonder then, where did the inspiration to write this story come from? The author says it all started with an article in the Chicago Tribune in 2003 on Edward Kelty, a travelling circus photographer who travelled across the U.S. following circus trains during the 1920s and 30s. She was so fascinated with the premise and the photographs accompanying the article and those in two other books, that she dropped the idea of the novel she was actually writing, to start one on a circus instead.

Sara Gruen’s favorite character in her book was Rosie (just like mine!). She loved the elephant almost enough to belive that Rosie was real.

Sara Gruen could visualize strongly how her characters would look like and behave if they were real. When asked in an interview who she would like to see cast in the movie, she chose Scarlett Johansson as Marlena (eventually played by Reese Witherspoon), Jim Carrey as August (played by Christoph Waltz). Danny DeVito would have made a great Uncle Al, according to Sara Gruen, but the actor to finally bag that role was no one. This character was eliminated in the movie version.

The film adaptation hit the screens in 2011. ( )

I'm marking this "read" for now, although I've only gotten to page 150. It's a struggle to read--I am bored with the characters and plot, the language, everything. It's nothing new (so far). ( )

I LOVED this book! Now, granted, it has taken me almost a year to finish. But I have good excuses! I added it to my shelves in May of 2008, and then I didn't actually get it until spring of 2009. I picked it up then and started immediately, and then my life was interrupted by... well, life. Without getting into the messy details, the book was loaned out twice, lost once, halted several times, and put on the back burner more than I care to admit. I had a tough time picking it back up when I was able to do so, as the effect was that the story (for me) had become choppy and confusing. And then in July of 2009, I purchased the unabridged audio version for my mom, who was spending a lot of time in the hospital. I loaded it onto my iPod for her, and she listened to it within a few days, and adored it; she said it was one of the most enchanting stories she'd ever read (and she was a voracious reader, so that endorsement says a lot). After she died, I decided I would give it a try on audiobook, and perhaps I could finally "put it to bed," as the saying goes.

Well, I am SO glad I did so! I started the story over, and was completely enchanted, just as my mom said I would be. Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob Jankowski, who is one of the most endearing characters I have ever encountered. The story begins when he is "...ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other," and goes back in time to recount Jacob's time with The Benzini Brothers Circus. At times heartbreakingly sad, at others joyfully promising, Water for Elephants spares no detail of Jacob's absolutely fascinating tale. I laughed out loud, I sobbed uncontrollably. I cheered Jacob on, and I suffered when he suffered. There was a time when things were so bad for him that I thought perhaps reading this book was a mistake after all; how would I get through so much sadness? But Ms. Gruen brings this tale to a deliciously satisfying end, in a way completely befitting of such a wonderful character.

This book was awesome, and I highly recommend for anyone who enjoys captivating and romantic storytelling! I only wish I had the opportunity to discuss it with my mom. ( )

While indisputably well-researched, the characters in this story, especially Marlena, are flat caricatures. The pacing stutters along as the central character drags us through pointless exposition and the cast of supporting circus workers are largely indistinguishable from one another. Disappointing. ( )

just began to read this and so far it's pretty good ( )

A beautifully written novel. Just wonderful.

Let me start by saying I was in a "reading slump" whilst I was reading this book. It took me much longer to finish it than it normally would have because of this. But, despite the slump I still found this story to be really enjoyable. Plot is great and has a nice rise of tension as you get to the climax of the story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this little gem and will likely revisit it later on. It has a permanent home in my library.

Full review: wanderinglectiophile.wordpress.com/2017/10/14/review-water-for-elephants-by-sara-gruen/ ( )

Entertaining, thrilling, heartbreaking - what a great story. ( )

I LOVED this book. I can't believe that I waited so long to read it. It's sat on my nook since back around April and I'm just kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. I love the character Jacob. The story itself was fabulous. When a book sucks you in from the first page, you know you have a winner. ( )

Romance

This book started out as a nanowrimo draft, so I was interested in reading it.

I enjoyed this book. The descriptions of circus life in the 30s was well researched. The love story was believable. I recommend it. ( )

Those horror stories you hear about when people run away to join the circus. The horrors here are all reflection of humanity, and it was delivered well.
Self discovery, love, betrayal and a deep affection for animals. I enjoyed the time jumps. The ending is bittersweet. ( )

Summary:

An old man in his 90s reminisces about his time in the circus.

My Opinion:

I'm writing this a little differently because this is pure fluff for me. I loved this book. It's funny, it's disturbing, it's gritty, it's incredibly sad, and there is a love story intertwined within the pages. It's about love, friendship, the fragility of life, and the need for remembrance--not just in memories, but in our relationships, too.

This is short because I don't want to give too much away! ( )

Excellent story of life in a circus.

(2006)Very good story of the circus. Jacob is followed in the ?30s and when he is 90 years old. Recounts the hard nitty-gritty world of a traveling circus. Rosie the elephant becomes a major character that ultimately kills the villain of the piece after being abused.Amazon.com ReviewJacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan

This is not only a very enjoyable read, it is a worthy one as well. I will leave the plot summary to other reviewers, but its in form a memoir novel, similar in structure to Little Big Man -- elderly man looking back on his early adventures. In this case, the elderly narrator was for a time a member of a 30's traveling train circus, with all the attendant colorful characters and circus lore included. There are twists and turns, colorful and sympathetic characters, colorful villains you love to hate, atmosphere, romance, and lots of action. As I finished reading it and thought back over the story, I realized this is a movie -- I fully expect to see it optioned sometime in the next year or so. However, this is not a criticism of the book. That it is cinematic, easily filmed, is a compliment to its strong visual storytelling and its tightly honed plot. However, although it would make an outstanding beach book, its much more worthy and weighty than that, if you want to think about the allusions and parallels to other stories, but it completely works as a rip roaring good read. I recommend it highly.

Beautifully written, really enjoyed it. Read Jan 2024 ( )

I first heard about this book when I was in library school. A middle school librarian was defending her choice to have it in her school library's collection. I remember she said there was some sexual language in it, but the writing and themes were so great that she still thought it was a good book to recommend to 7th and 8th graders.

Now, I'm not going to contradict her and say this isn't okay for the middle school set. But I'm going to say I vastly underestimated how much sex talk would be in this book. I expected maybe one sexual scene, but there are many of them and they are graphic: masturbating midgets, descriptions of pornographic comics, a striptease scene with some crazy boob action, and I'm only on the third CD!

Now that I've finished the book, I can say that the sexy talk doesn't let up. Also, it's a pretty good story, but I wouldn't especially recommend it. ( )

What I enjoyed about this book was that it was not difficult at all to tell whether it was the young Jacob or the older Jacob narrating. I was quite impressed by Gruen's skill in that regard. I also liked the descriptions of circus life, giving me an image in my mind without overdoing it.

I found the beginning of the book quite slow and a bit too gritty for my taste. The last part of the book picked up for me and I read to the end in one sitting. I also found it interesting that there was so much great description of thoughts and feelings about things from animals to workers to love, but when it came to loss in later chapters, it was as if the narrator's feelings were skimmed over. That gets a paragraph or two? Same goes for the death alluded to in the opening chapter. Once we get there, no discussion or character processing when there has been processing in abundance throughout.

Overall well done, though I'd not recommend to others and don't need to own it. ( )

One of the best stories I've ever read(listened to on audio). It was happy. It was sad. It made me laugh out loud in some places while making me want to burst into tears in others.

Absolutely wonderful! ( )

I so wanted to love this, since it the author did a huge amount of research - but it felt like she simply lifted colorful real-life anecdotes wholesale and slotted them around a rather formulaic story, with characters that are archetypes (noble doctor, distressed glamorous maiden) than actual people. It’s not bad for a quick pool read, which this was, but I wanted it to be so much better. 3.5 stars since I’m a sucker for end-of-an-era settings and the ~circus~ ( )

Since this wouldn't really fall into one of my favorite genres, I can't say that I'm overly loving this book. I suppose it was because I just don't really connect with the characters that this book offers up. ( )