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Book 3 Reciew

Water for Elephants Review

          Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is a Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller. It has had immense popularity not only in America, but globally, as it’s been published in 44 different languages. It was a Newsday Favorite Book of 2006, and has sold over 4.5 million copies as of May, 2011. It was possibly Gruen’s best novel, and I can see why.

          The book, in Motoko Rich’s, New York Times words is about “a veterinarian who joins a Depression-era circus, falls in love with a performer and befriends an elephant named Rosie.” The book begins with Jacob’s parents dying in a car crash the day he takes his final exams at Cornell University. The introduction to the book is really strong. It’s realistic and something that could have easily happened in the time period in America. Gruen does a great job of blending the scenes together and moving him onto his next adventure, as the book never seems to lag. Jacob ends up getting a job as the circus vet, but despite the lofty position, isn’t paid for the first four weeks of work. Gruen also does a great job capturing the struggle of the time. I also really like how she switches the perspective of the book, changing between Jacob when he was 23 and working in the circus, and Jacob when he was 90 or 93, reminiscing. However, her title for the book did not at all fit what the story focused on. The title leads you to think that the book would be about the relationship between him and Rosie, the elephant, when in reality it spends far more time talking about the love triangle between him, Marlena and August. Even when he is elderly in the nursing home, he rarely mentions Rosie, he instead talks about the people he used to know. The book has an attention-grabbing plot, with a misleading title.

          In Water for Elephants there are four main characters. Jacob is the one whose perspective we hear the story from. He went to Cornell to become a vet, but ran away during finals because his parents died in a car crash. He is incredibly loyal and honest, and you always find yourself rooting for him to stay strong against the circus’s lowly ways. Uncle Al is the owner of the circus who is bossy and will do anything for money(He is sometimes violent, and wants Jacob to convince Marlena to go back with August who was abusive, so both of the continue working and the circus continues to make a profit and survive). As Gruen describes him “There is no mistaking Uncle Al. He has ringmaster written all over him, from scarlet coat and white jodhpurs to the top hat and waxed curled moustache” (Gruen 52).  Uncle Al also defended August’s hitting Marlean by saying “’He’s a paragon schnitzophonic,’ repeats Uncle Al. ‘You mean paranoid schizophrenic?’ ‘Sure. Whatever. But the bottom line is he’s madder than a hatter. Of course, he’s also brilliant, so we work around it’” (Gruen 266). August is the animal trainer, and he is also married to Marlena. He is paranoid and abusive, half the time he is charming and sweet and half the time he is cruel and angry. He beats Rosie on multiple occasions, just because she doesn’t understand him. Marlena is the horse trainer, she is friendly when she firsts meets Jacob and ends up falling in love with him. She’s very sweet and caring. Although her life forces her to be tough on the outside, she has a soft spot for her horses. Gruen uses many types of characterizations to make she character’s different from each other, and very well developed.

          Her writing style is raw. She includes nitty-gritty details, even if they are sad or hard to think about, like some of the scenes where August hurts Rosie with the bull hook, Gruen describes her screams of pain. Some are painful to hear, because it makes the scene seem more real and even more upsetting, but it makes th book pop, and it wouldn’t be the same without them/

          Overall this is a great book, and although it’s sad, and painful in some parts and the title doesn’t fit the story, the plot is strong, the charcaters are well-formed and it’s definitely a worth while read.