Water for Elephants: A Novel by Sara Gruen
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Book Summary Author: Sara Gruen Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2007-04-09 ISBN: 1565125606 Number of pages: 350 Publisher: Algonquin Books |
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Book Reviews of the Water for Elephants: A Novel
Customer Review: Proof that a savvy publisher can pry $23 right out of your hand, if you are not careful!
Summary: 3 Stars
If you are looking for deep, mind tickling literature, you will not find it here! What you will get, is a bit of entertainment and slight escapism. I'm a little baffled by all the hype. I guess there really is marketing genius in this field and a savvy publisher can pry $23 right out of your hand if you're not careful.
First the bad: The protagonist is Jacob, a Cornell educated veterinarian who has kept a secret since his young days when he joined a traveling circus (owned by a swindler, reminds me of certain publisher marketing techniques) and gets caught up in a dangerous love triangle. Most of the chapters take place in the circus' past, but occasionally the book transitions forward in time to modern day Jacob, who is 90 or 93, and living in an assisted living facility. The modern day Jacob moans and gripes through the mundane events of the day at the nursing home. That, along with prose that any student of English could write, left me feeling battered and ripped-off. Gruen tries to cover it up by adding sensational debauchery to the story, but it doesn't work.
Now the good: Kudos to the author for doing a good amount of research on depression era traveling circuses. Some true tales of circus life that Gruen found while researching, are in the book. She read of an elephant that only understood German - in Gruen's novel, Rosie is thought to be stupid, until the main character, Jacob, realizes she was trained in Polish. There is a hippo pickled in formaldehyde, and water from livestock troughs that gets filtered through the clowns' hosiery so it can be used to make lemonade for the circus patrons. The result of the research is the key entertainment factor in this story.
Gruen manages to merge the two stories into an unexpected and happy ending. I did enjoy, and find intriguing the 15 vintage, black-and-white photos of old-timey circus animals and performers. I urge you to approach with caution, if you do read this book however, please then; leave your two cents in a review. I'm curious if it's just me who is feeling duped? Maybe this is a great book and I just can't see it. My opinion is that this book is average at best.
I give this book 1 star for writing (because she finished) and 5 stars for the research.