Water for Elephants

Jacob Jankowski is about to graduate from Cornell with a degree in veterinary medicine, but a terrible tragedy befalls him, and suddenly all he wants to do is run away from everyone and everything he's ever known. He finds himself hopping on board a passing train without knowing what the train holds or where it's going. Jacob discovers that the train is a circus train. To save himself from getting thrown from the train (and killed most likely) Jacob says that he is down on his luck and needs a job. He is quickly thrown into a world that is far from the glamorous, fun-filled façade one sees during a circus performance. Life behind the scenes can be absolutely terrifying. The work is dirty, sometimes disgusting. The people are often ruthless, malicious and deceiving. Jacob does back-breaking manual labor for a short time, but the boss soon discovers that Jacob is (almost) a veterinarian. He is quickly put to work in the menagerie. His job is to take care of all of the animals who perform and are on display at the circus.His work puts him in close contact with Marlena, a young woman who performs nightly with her group of horses. Jacob is intrigued with Marlena from the first moment he sees her, but she is married to a volatile man named August. August oversees all of the animals at the circus, so Jacob's job depends on him. If August isn't happy with him, he could find himself thrown from the train in the night. "Red lighting" is the preferred method of the circus bosses for getting rid of employees who are causing a problem. (Sometimes the problem is that they just can't afford to pay them!) Jacob finds life with the circus so horrible and stomach-turning that he would probably quit (even though during the Great Depression that isn't a very wise idea). Then, Rosie enters his life. Rosie is the first elephant the Benzini Brothers' Circus has had since the owner, Uncle Al, took over. When Uncle Al buys the elephant, the previous caretaker tells him that she is the stupidest animal he has ever worked with. Jacob falls instantly in love with her, but August, who can't make her do anything, quickly becomes her most feared and hated enemy. August is inexcusably cruel to Rosie. As much as Jacob would like leave the Benzini Brothers' Circus (and maybe take Marlena with him) he can't leave Rosie with August. It seems that a happy ending for anyone involved is virtually impossible. The story comes to an incredible climax and one of the characters finally snaps.This book actually contains two stories. The entire book is narrated by Jacob, but the story switches back and forth between Jacob's story of his life with the circus in his early twenties and his current life as an unhappy ninety-something year old man in a nursing home. In modern times a circus has set up right next to the nursing home where Jacob lives. This sparks his memories and makes him determined to go to the circus with or without his infrequently visiting family members.This is the second time in a year's time that I have seen a trailer for a movie that made me want to read the book. First it happened with Eat, Pray, Love and now it has happened with Water for Elephants. I saw a trailer online, and thought, "Wow! That sounds like a great story. It's got romance, betrayal, danger, and a CIRCUS!" I remembering picking up this book in an airport years ago and deciding not to buy it even though I was really wanting to buy something to read. Whatever synopsis was written on the back of the book certainly didn't depict the story very well. But the movie trailer hooked me.I have to begin my commentary by saying this is one of the best books I have read in a LONG time! It is on my list of new classics (along with the likes of the Time Traveler's Wife- which was absolutely BUTCHERED by Hollywood, by the way.) The characters are so wonderfully full of life. I truly came to care about so many of the minor characters as well as the major ones. The villains are real enough to be even scarier than your run of the mill bad guy. The time period (The Great Depression) is almost a character itself. It permeates the entire story. I love the way the author pulled you back and forth from the past to the present. I would get so caught up in the romance of Jacob's thrilling life as a young man. It was like being doused with cold water coming back to his life as an old man. But I loved the way that felt. And is that what it's like to be old? Inside you're this young person, who has had all these adventures, but your body has betrayed you, and people treat you not like a stupid child? All your rich experiences are completely ignored? It makes me shudder. Another thing I loved about this book was the way the author began the book with an excerpt from the climax at the end of the story. Number one: the excitement of it completely pulled me into the story right away. Number two: the whole time I was reading I knew that these characters were headed for a disaster. I just didn't know how they would get to that point and who would survive. It was a brilliant choice by the author! I also loved reading the interview with the author at the end of the book, too. It turns out she did extensive research on circuses and elephants while writing this book. And some of the craziest things that happen in this book are actually events that (reportedly) really happened in circus history. Makes the book even more interesting, doesn't it? I know I've used the word "love" a few times already, but here it goes one more time. I LOVED this book, and I think others will too. It is very rare that I read a book, finish it, and know for certain that I will read it again someday. But this book is one of those books! If I had borrowed it from the library I would be searching for a copy to buy. But as luck would have it, I did buy it already. I can begin reading it again anytime I want to!P.S. Parents and teachers, be aware that this book contains some very adult content (some violence but mostly that of a sexual nature). I would not feel comfortable recommending it to a student who wasn't an adult.

Water for Elephants is a love story. Love between a man and a woman; love between humans and animals; and people's love of circuses. All these sub-stories coalesce into one that is set at the time of the Great Depression to make up the background of this book.The book starts with a horrendous scene in which the circus's animals stampede and a murder takes place. A man's head is split open by a big stake. The next chapter is in the nursing home where we get to meet a 90+ year old man named Jacob who is in a nursing home. Jacob is lucid and his mind is still sharp and he comments on the other residents of the nursing home who are much further along the path of dementia and senility. The rest of the book bounces around between Jacob in the nursing home, and Jacob as the brand-new minted veterinarian.Putting the story in a time line, Jacob is about set to graduate from the Cornell Veterinary School when a tragic accident kills his parents. He is an only child and it turns out that his parents took all of their savings and a mortgage out on their house to be able to afford to send him to Cornell. When they die, there is nothing left for him so he returns to Cornell to sit for his final exams. His mind is not on schooling and he ends up leaving the school and wanders down the road. It's not long before he decides to hop on a train that is travelling by and this gets him introduced into the world of the circus as it just happens to be a circus train that he jumps on.Being the time of the Great Depression, there is a chance that he will get thrown directly off the train as a hobo but he manages to make some friends among the crowd of laborers and they get him accepted as another laborer on the circus until it is discovered that he is almost a veterinarian. For the circus owner, that is close enough and Jacob is now the circus's vet. Now he moves up in the world and is allowed to travel in a train car with performers and meets the love of his life amongst them. He also meets up with animals that he treats with empathy and kindness - and they respond with friendship.He also meets with some of the more zany and crazy people who inhabit that world and none of them are necessarily nice. There is a crazy horse trainer; violent security men; "patch men" who clean up the inevitable problems and messes that take place; and, of course, the associated laborers and hangers-on who populate the world. Jacob deals with them all in his own way and the story develops in a relatively predictable manner. It is no surprise that the animals respond to Jacob's kindness in kind and find ways to get back at the people who treat them badly. There are numerous anecdotes sprinkled throughout the book culled from the rich history of the circus world - things like the Lemonade Thief; the Animal who only understands Polish; and the less than legal activities that surrounded the circus.The climax of the story is presented in the first chapter - the murder. There is no real mystery there - we know who will get murdered right after the first meeting with the man. What is left in doubt is who did the killing. That is resolved in a very satisfying way at the end of the book.However, there is another storyline here too. The old Jacob finds out that a circus is coming to perform outside his nursing home and he would dearly like to go back to the world that he left 60-odd years before - if only for a visit. But, wouldn't you know it - that happens to be the week that his family forgets to come visit him in the nursing home. The twist that the author puts in at this point is brilliant and brings the whole book to a double satisfying ending which proves that once you are involved in a world that you really like, you never really leave it.This was overall a very fun book to read. Being an animal lover, I really appreciated the insights into the world of the exotic - and not so exotic - animals provided. Of course, the whole glimpse into the world of circus life was also interesting. About the only negative thing I have to say about the book is its almost obsessive fascination with human sexuality. There is almost no single chapter that does not have a sex scene in it and it is not clear to me how most of them contribute to the overall story line. In other words, I would not give this story to your younger children to read, but, aside from that one quibble, this is a good read.

Loved the book, kept me page turning to the end.

Super Teil

Got in best condition

Les personnages (humains ou non ) sont très attachants et l'interview de l'auteure à la fin du livre apporte une lumière historique sur le récit , ce qui donne envie d'en savoir davantage sur cette période et les cirques aux états unis durant la Grande Dépression . Pas étonnant que le cinéma se soit emparé de ce roman pour en faire une adaptation qui sortira l'an prochain ...

私はあまり読むのが早くはないんですが、読むの延べにして2週間はかかりませんでした。本書は物語の構成がすごくしっかりしていて、物語の進行がテンポよく話も面白くて興味がつきなかったことと、もんすごくはっきりしたアメリカ英語で、サーカス用語が多かったにもかかわらず調べやすかったことがあります。本書は、1930年前後の、世界恐慌後の禁酒法とspeakeasy の時代に不況の中で生き残りをかけたサーカスで獣医を7年間やったことのある、今は93歳の老人でホームで認知症の同居者たちのなかで、薄れゆく記憶力や意識を半ば自覚しながら、それでも一般の人が考えるよりもまだまだ老人の域には達しきれない人物の、若き日の喪失と挫折と性への目覚めから恋や冒険の回想として物語は進んでゆきます。物語的には、93歳という、社会的に抹殺されそうな危機感に義憤を感じながらじっと耐える老人と血気盛んな20代そこそこの青年という正反対の一人の人物の物語を平行させながらも、新参者に対するどちらかといえば軽蔑と敵意の混じった扱いとか、食堂の座る位置が恒に固定されていることとかに代表される集団内のヒエラルキーの様子が、時代や場所や立場を変えてもオーバーラップされていて、サーカスという特殊な社会を描きながらも、普遍的に人生を描いているところがいいですね。また、各章の物語が始まる前に、プロローグとして、物語のkeyにあたる部分が書かれていて、最初はなんのことか全然分からないのですが、読み進んで、その場面に行き当たったとき、あとの結末が待ちきれなくて、本書を手放せなくなり、最後の100ページくらいは一気に読んでしまいました。そして、さらに、最後には喜劇を超えたハッピーエンドが待っています。老いるということ、老いた人にどう接するか、についても、考えさせられるものがありました。私が読んだペーパーバックの版には、物語の最後に、著者へのインタビューがあり、サーカスの詳細への取材がどんな風に行われたか、など、興味深く読むことができました。また、更にそのあとには、読書会をするのに良さそうなトピックや設問が用意されていて、教材としても使えそうな一冊だということを付け加えておきたいと思います。