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Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9781565125605 |
Upcoming Event
Wednesday, July 9th 2008 07:00 PM
Powell's Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton, OR
This month's women's book group meets to discuss Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. New members to the group are always welcome.
See our full selection of signed editions from authors coming to Powell's
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of Riding Lessons.
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.
Review:
"With a showman's expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale." New York Times Book Review
Review:
"Gruen has done her homework...lively with historical detail and unexpected turns....[A] delightful gem springing from a fascinating footnote to history that absolutely deserved to be mined." Denver Post
Review:
"One of the many pleasures of this novel is the opportunity to enter a bizarrely coded and private world with its own laws, superstitions and vocabulary....The pleasures of that world were so compelling, so detailed and vivid, that I couldn't bear to be torn away from it for a single minute." Chicago Tribune
Review:
"Jankowski is waiting for the circus to come to town, and what happens when it finally arrives provides the book's punch line. Gruen's sympathy for this character and for the aging process in general is her strongest suit." Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review:
"Gruen sketches out character, events and the circus' special lingo with well-chosen words....She keeps the story moving like a speeding train." Charlotte Observer
Review:
"Old-fashioned and endearing, this is an enjoyable, fast-paced story." Library Journal
Review:
"The leisurely recreation of the circus's daily routine is lovely and mesmerizing." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"[T]he magic of the story and the writing convince you to suspend your disbelief. The book is partially based on real circus stories and illustrated with historical circus photographs." Booklist
Review:
"The circus, the Great Depression, a complex elephant, equally complex love, the mists and twists of memory articulated in the utterly winning voice of a very old man who's seen it all: these are the irresistible elements of Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen has written an utterly transporting novel richly full of the stuff of life." Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Review:
"Gorgeous, brilliant, and superbly plotted, Water for Elephants swept me into the world of the circus during the Depression, and it did not let me go until the very end. I don't think it has let me go, even now. Sara Gruen has a voice to rival John Irving's and I am hopelessly, unabashedly in love with this book. Read it." Joshilyn Jackson, author of Gods in Alabama
Review:
"[A] well-researched adventure into the weird and charming universe of the Depression-era circus....If you are expecting a quick, straightforward story that still manages to give your imagination a meat-and-potatoes meal worthy of the circus cookhouse, Water for Elephants is an excellent candidate." Portland Oregonian
About the Author
Sara Gruen's first novel, Riding Lessons, was published in 2004. She is an animal lover who lives with her husband, three children, five cats, two goats, a dog, and a horse in an environmental community north of Chicago. Many of the characters and incidents in the novel are based on real people and true stories gleaned from her extensive research into the world of traveling circuses of the 1930s.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 11 comments:
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julieb43, May 24, 2008 (view all comments by julieb43)
Sara Gruen puts her extensive circus research to good use in this absorbing novel. It's a fast-paced story that will have you either loving or hating the principle characters.
Aside from the protagonist, Jacob Jancowski, whose story is fleshed out more than the others, only Rosie the elephant and Walter the dwarf come across as memorable characters.
August, the cruel animal trainer, is merely a stock character without much background, as is his beautiful wife, Marlena, the equestrian star and object of Jacob's affection.
The other various circus people, Uncle Al among them-- the brutal circus owner--are also sketchily drawn.
What shone through for me in reading this novel was Jacob's story--his struggle and desperation with aging; his time in the nursing home; and his recollections of his brief time in the circus. Gruen realistically depicts the aging process.
She needs to strengthen her characterization, however, so that her characters are fully fleshed out and not just stereotypes.
There are also too many lucky coincidences in the novel that render some of the story unbelievable. Perhaps Gruen might want to tighten the plot as well.
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Deborah Fochler, April 27, 2008 (view all comments by Deborah Fochler)
A beautifully written story about life in the circus. The characters are unusual and loveable; the animals will break your heart and heal it; and the story will never leave you. Many surprises you do not expect; a page turner from page 1 to the last line. It is easy to read yet hard to comprehend. Would highly recommend - you wont be disappointed.
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sunflowerscnh, March 5, 2008 (view all comments by sunflowerscnh)
A mediocre traveling circus during the Great Depression...What more can be said? From the first page (which doesn't happen often) I was hooked. This is a "page turner" in every sense. I marveled at Gruen's gift to tell yet another story about this period in history and give readers an entirely new perspective. As an animal lover/advocate this book has moments that broke my heart. The most satisfying and beautiful ending. Read it, cherish it, and pass it along. This book will stick with you-I guarantee it!
View all 11 comments
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9781565125605
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Libri
- Author:
- Subject:
- Literary
- Subject:
- Romance - Historical
- Subject:
- Circus
- Subject:
- Depressions
- Publication Date:
- May 2007
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Grade Level:
- General/trade
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 350
- Dimensions:
- 8.27x5.50x.96 in. .85 lbs.
