Water For Elephants Book 3 Review

Running away with the circus, twice.

 

 

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

The circus, the most spectacular show of freaks and talents alike to be praised and amazed by adoring audiences of children and adults. Acrobats, tight rope walkers, bearded ladies and exotic animals took rage in the entertainment business during the 1920s; however the circus performances had been going on in Europe for more than over a century.

Water for Elephants, a historical fiction novel by Sara Gruen explores that spectacular time period of the 1930s and the circus. Publish in May of 2006 as part of the National Novel Writing Month, the book was on the New York Times best seller list for 12 weeks in 2006 at number seven. The paperback hit number one on the New York Times Best Seller list in July 2007.

The film release in April 22, 2011 (2011-04-22) and runs one hundred-twenty minutes of beautiful screen time. Critics alike reviewed positively on rotten tomatoes giving it an average score of 6.1 out of 10. Critic Roger Ebert said on his website, “In an age of prefabricated special effects and obviously phony spectacle, it's sort of old-fashioned (and a pleasure) to see a movie made of real people and plausible sets.” The movie stars Robert Patterson as the main character Jacob Jankowski and Reese Witherspoon as Marlena Rosenbluth.

The book however goes deeper into who Jacob Jankowski really is. The story is told from memories as the older version of himself in a series of well written flashbacks of the past. Jacob, who is about to take his last exam at Cornell University to complete his degree in veterinary medicine receives life changing news. Jacob feels alone and has nothing left and decides to run away irrationally, leaving his final exam incomplete. Jacob travels on foot scavenging through the woods until a late night train passes. He jumps the train only to find a train car full of angry carnies, however though they find Jacob interesting. They keep him around and the boss takes serious interest in him when he discovers Jacob’s veterinary education at Cornell and hires him to tend to the circus animals. Jacob is at first reluctant because he isn’t a licensed vet but they are happy to have him anyways. 

As Jacob tends to the horses, he meets the girl who performs them, Marlena. Marlena is beautiful, stunning and the bosses wife. Instantly there is an awkward chemistry between them and their compassion for animals, especially Rosie the new elephant. While romantic passion isn’t the main focus, Jacob and Marlena’s desire for each other grows stronger. However August, the boss and Marlena’s husband seems to be the only cliff separating them, and a rather large one. He is hateful and violent towards Marlena and Rosie. Eventually the tension leads to one of the most famous circus disasters of all time known as the “disaster march”. (Disaster march is music performed by the band to indicate that a tragic accident has occurred and that all employees are to try and help and assist audiences out and stop the situation.) While the plot can be a little slow, waiting for something to happen, it doesn’t disappoint. The constant conflict between the characters keeps the plot driven and eventually builds up to the end.

The book mainly focuses on Jacob, his journey though grief and how unlikely circumstances allow him to grow and become the person he wants to be, courageous, strong, kind and loved. He learns to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves and for what matters most to him. I recommend this book to anyone who likes coming of age story, a unique historical setting, a light romance, physical altercations and touching characters. I would give both the book and the movie 4 out of 5 stars (the book and the movie follow closely).