My Thoughts On Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Hi All,

This week’s blog is for the readers! I’ve recently finished another great book, Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen. I’m surprised it’s taken me so long to get to this book as it really did blow the lid off the best seller list with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. I won’t be making the same mistake with Ape House, the book she wrote after this one and have already started harassing my personal librarian, Sarah, to track it down for me.

Water For Elephants was also made into a movie (I haven’t seen it but it’s now definitely on my list of things to do) staring Reece Witherspoon and Christoph Walz in 2011. The latest news is it’s now being adapted for a Broadway musical. See more on that here.

I found Gruen’s voice and writing style very candid and straight forward (a lot like mine only with the right amount of intelligent analogies inserted every now and then!). Her main character, Jacob Jankowski, is very likeable, both as his elderly character and his younger flashback character. It was also very easy to dislike the villains!

I won’t spoil the book by giving away the plot (see jacket blurb below). I will say that Sara Gruen’s research of traveling circuses in the 1930’s was impeccable and the inclusion of many Ringling Brother’s photos at the beginning of each chapter was an excellent touch. The mix of historical detail and modern day perspectives also enriched the overall storyline.

I did feel the book stalled in a few places and I felt the crux of the plot could have been moved closer to the first half of the book. I find the latter issue with a lot of the books I read so it could be a ‘me’ thing. I just love books with a fast pace where you really can’t wait to turn the next page. That’s not to say Water For Elephants isn’t an overall page turner, it is, I’m just not as patient as most :-).

I would definitely recommend the book and now I can’t wait to see the movie! You can buy it here.

Happy reading all, take care, Viv x

About Water For Elephants

As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety (or ninety-three, he’s not quite sure), the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie.

It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, was their only hope for survival.