Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Book Review: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen


Water for Elephants: A Novel

I began this book with NO idea what to expect. Water for Elephants was the December "assignment" for my small book group - it's about circuses and aside from the Big Top and the presence of elephants, I know nothing of circuses. I've only been to one in my life. This book was fantastic. I found myself picking it up whenever I had a spare minute - cooking dinner, supervising bedtime, waiting to pick up a kid. If I'd been able to find 3 or 4 uninterrupted hours I think I'd have read this book all the way through in one shot. Imagine my incredible good luck to discover that Sara Gruen was born in Northern Ontario, so this read counts toward my Canadian Book Challenge count too! I'd have enjoyed it anyway, but multi-tasking? Over Christmas?! Awesome!

Jacob Jankowski is ready to graduate from Cornell and take up the reigns of the veterinary practice his father has built. Or so he believes. 80 years later, he recollects a life completely beyond his youthful imaginings - his sudden derailment puts him squarely on the tracks his life was meant to follow.

7 comments:

John Mutford said...

An unintentional Canadian read- good stuff! I've never heard of it before, but it sounds pretty interesting.

Myra said...

I read this a couple of months ago and loved it. Glad to see I am not the only one. :o)

Jeri said...

Oh Dorothy - I am thrilled that you enjoyed this book - I absolutely loved reading it too. It really was captivating! Mr. Scooba liked it too!

Christine Thresh said...

Does it tell the truth about how elephants are treated?

Dorothy said...

Christine, the book is only minimally about Rosie, the elephant. She is treated brutally by one of the characters, but her incredible intelligence is recognized and appreciated by the two main characters. Really, though, the story is about the people, very little about the animals in the circus.

julieQ said...

Neat book!! I will pick it up if 1/2 price books has it. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!!

JulieQ

dee said...

it's now on my list-thanks for the tip. I hesitated buying it because the topic didn't sound that interesting. I'll give it a try now.