Water for Elephants: A Novel (Paperback)

April 1, 2009 by
Filed under: book review, Fiction, International bestseller, Prize winning novel 

Water for Elephants: A Novel

Sura Gruen’s novel is among my absolute favorites. It is a beautiful story, well researched, full of compassion, and deeply touching. It make me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me want to read more of this amazing, highly talented storyteller. Fascinating! Glued me to the chair! And, also, it has, of course, been an international bestseller acros a number of countries ofr a long time. Deservedly so!

Amazon.com Review
Jacob 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 (more…)

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Comments

3 Comments on Water for Elephants: A Novel (Paperback)

  1. Anonymous on Sat, 28th Mar 2009 5:26 pm

    2. A truly outstanding novel and author! A very well-written piece of literary fiction that is not easily forgotten. I picked up the novel because of its great reviews and my disdain for the circus and inhumane…

  2. Helia on Sat, 28th Mar 2009 5:26 pm

    3. 5.0 out of 5 stars
    AWESOME!
    Hands Down, one of the best novels that I have ever read. I definitely recommend this book.

  3. Ursula on Sat, 28th Mar 2009 5:26 pm

    4. 5.0 out of 5 stars
    A great tale
    This is a fantastical, romantic, and often disturbing romp through the memories of an old man who ran away and joined the circus in his youth.

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