Book Review: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Just finished this book:

I'll admit, I'm not a big book reader. It's not that I don't like to read, I just really have a hard time finding time to sit down and read. But once I picked up this book, I couldn't stop. Sadly, I was originally interested in reading this book because I saw the movie trailer on TV, and it looked really good. My mom read this book and she said she loved it. She's an avid book reader, so I knew that it must be good. I decided to give it a shot.

Water for Elephants is told in flashback of Jacob Jankowski, a ninety something year old former circus veterinarian who currently resides in a home for the elderly where he anticipates his weekly visits which his five children take turns on. This Sunday is particularly important because they are going to take him to the local circus, a fact that inspires him to think back on his own circus days, although his history is something he keeps secret the reader gets to learn of this exciting adventures aboard the rickety train belonging to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

Jacob ended up at the circus after his parents die, leaving him an orphan and penniless during the week of his final exams for veterinary medicine at Cornell University. When he runs off during his final exam, the train he hops on ends up being a circus train, and most of the novel takes place either on the train or directly around it. The circus includes a cast of colorful characters, such as Walter, Jacob's midget room-mate, Uncle Al who runs the circus by benefiting from other circus failures, and the gorgeous Marlena, the stat of the equestrian act who Jacob immediately falls in love with. Unfortunately she is married to the equestrian director, a usually charming man with an occasional anger outburst.


The book didn't seem interesting to me at first because I didn't think that I would like reading about a circus, but I was wrong. There was so much more storyline than that. I would recommend this book to anyone. It was very good! Now I can't wait to go see the movie!