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Water for Elephants: A Novel
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Jacob Jankowski says: "I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other." At the beginning of Water for Elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. His life wasn't always like this, however, because Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. It wasn't a romantic, carefree decision, to be sure. His parents were killed in an auto accident one week before he was to sit for his veterinary medicine exams at Cornell. He buried his parents, learned that they left him nothing because they had mortgaged everything to pay his tuition, returned to school, went to the exams, and didn't write a single word. He walked out without completing the test and wound up on a circus train. The circus he joins, in Depression-era America, is second-rate at best. With Ringling Brothers as the standard, Benzini Brothers is far down the scale and pale by comparison.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
From Booklist
Life is good for Jacob Jankowski. He's about to graduate from veterinary school and about to bed the girl of his dreams. Then his parents are killed in a car crash, leaving him in the middle of the Great Depression with no home, no family, and no career. Almost by accident, Jacob joins the circus. There he falls in love with the beautiful performer Marlena, who is married to the circus' psychotic animal trainer. He also meets the other love of his life, Rosie the elephant. This lushly romantic novel travels back in forth in time between Jacob's present day in a nursing home and his adventures in the surprisingly harsh world of 1930s circuses. The ending of both stories is a little too cheerful to be believed, but just like a circus, the 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. Marta Segal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Dieser Text bezieht sich auf eine andere Ausgabe: Gebundene Ausgabe .
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8 von 8 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
Sara Gruen's newest book, Water for Elephants, revolves around a college dropout who becomes a veterinarian for a traveling circus during the Great Depression, the beautiful star of the equestrian act with whom he falls in love, and a loyal pachyderm named Rosie. A perfect setting for this future best-seller as Sara owns two dogs, two goats, three cats and a horse. Her walls are decorated with colorful paintings made by elephants holding brushes with their trunks at a sanctuary in Thailand. 'They may not always be the central theme, but there's always going to be an animal characters,' Sara said 'Because I'd as soon write a book with no humans in it.' Amazing enough, Sara almost didn't complete this book. But you'll be glad she did--as the result is an adventurous tale of an era when more than a dozen massive circuses toured the country via railroad cars, carrying the stars of the ring and the sideshow freaks, exotic animals for showcasing in the menagerie and beasts of burden for the set-up and tear-down work.
The book's protagonist is a 90-something named Jacob Jankowski, whose memories of his youthful adventures come flooding back when a circus sets up its tents near his nursing home. Gruen doesn't devote much time in the fictional Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a slightly ragged show owned by the vulturous Uncle Al, who aspires to be as classy as Ringling Brothers but throws workers off the train when he doesn't have enough money to meet payroll. Instead, she chose to focus on the logistics of moving essentially a city of people and move them day after day after day to a different city and put up a tent town...and do it again the next day. You'll come across some of the wackiest tales of circus life found in any book. In Water for Elephants, Rosie is thought to be stupid, until Jacob realizes she was trained in Polish. There is a hippo pickled in formaldehyde, an escaped lion so frightened he wedges himself under a sink where a restaurant worker is hiding, and water from livestock that gets filtered through the clowns' hosiery so it can be used to make lemonade for the circus patrons. This is a fascinating and wonderful novel which becomes even more amazing when you learn about Sara Gruen's modest and unassuming lifestyle. Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it. Highly Recommend!
The book's protagonist is a 90-something named Jacob Jankowski, whose memories of his youthful adventures come flooding back when a circus sets up its tents near his nursing home. Gruen doesn't devote much time in the fictional Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, a slightly ragged show owned by the vulturous Uncle Al, who aspires to be as classy as Ringling Brothers but throws workers off the train when he doesn't have enough money to meet payroll. Instead, she chose to focus on the logistics of moving essentially a city of people and move them day after day after day to a different city and put up a tent town...and do it again the next day. You'll come across some of the wackiest tales of circus life found in any book. In Water for Elephants, Rosie is thought to be stupid, until Jacob realizes she was trained in Polish. There is a hippo pickled in formaldehyde, an escaped lion so frightened he wedges himself under a sink where a restaurant worker is hiding, and water from livestock that gets filtered through the clowns' hosiery so it can be used to make lemonade for the circus patrons. This is a fascinating and wonderful novel which becomes even more amazing when you learn about Sara Gruen's modest and unassuming lifestyle. Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it. Highly Recommend!
4 von 4 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
Almost every child has dreamed about running away to join the circus. In the days of the big top, there were lots of menial jobs that kept those who wanted to be part of the circus busy from before dawn into late into the night, even if those jobs often involved nothing more glamorous than shoveling up the remains of an elephant's snack.
Water for Elephants starts with an elderly (at least 90 years old) Jacob Jankowski remembering snatches of his past as he frets over the indignities of living in a nursing home while his children ignore him except for token rotating visits on Sundays. One memory in particular stands out, a violent memory that he didn't share with anyone for over 70 years.
Most of the book moves through flashback into the 1930s when America was broke and people were starving. Into this challenging world, Jacob has high expectations as he finishes up his veterinary training at Cornell. But the hand of God intervenes, and his life will never be the same.
He soon finds himself serving in any role that he can get at BENZINI BROS MOST SPECTACULAR SHOW ON EARTH (as the rail cars read). This isn't the big time. It's just surviving by staying one step ahead of the local sheriffs while not delivering on promised acts and providing entertainment for men that has nothing to do with being a circus. This circus doesn't even have an elephant.
Much of the story involves the nitty gritty of how circuses operated in those perilous times. It's a story that encompasses lots of cruelty, deceit, and harshness. In fact, it's enough to make you wonder why you ever dreamed about running away to join the circus. So if you would like to keep that dream shiny, perhaps this wouldn't be the best book for you to read.
At the center of the story are three people and one elephant. Marlena is the queen of the circus, the star of the equestrian act that involves first 12 and later 10 horses. She's married to the volatile August who runs the animal acts. When Jacob becomes involved in caring for the animals, Jacob is invited to dine and party with the couple. The relationship becomes more complicated when Jacob finds himself drawn to Marlena and repelled by August. When the circus buys an abandoned elephant that seems unusually stupid, the equilibrium is destroyed.
Ultimately, the book is about responsibility and loyalty . . . qualities that are more important in and taken more seriously by the circus world than by the "rubes" who attend the circus. The message will serve as yet another indictment of our modern world which favors efficiency over doing the right thing.
The book is beautifully illustrated with vintage photographs of early circuses that nicely match the story line of Water for Elephants.
Unlike many authors of such historical fiction, Sara Gruen does a good job of keeping a few surprises up her sleeve. So don't quit mid-book thinking you know how the story will turn out.
Grab a shovel . . . and dig in!
Water for Elephants starts with an elderly (at least 90 years old) Jacob Jankowski remembering snatches of his past as he frets over the indignities of living in a nursing home while his children ignore him except for token rotating visits on Sundays. One memory in particular stands out, a violent memory that he didn't share with anyone for over 70 years.
Most of the book moves through flashback into the 1930s when America was broke and people were starving. Into this challenging world, Jacob has high expectations as he finishes up his veterinary training at Cornell. But the hand of God intervenes, and his life will never be the same.
He soon finds himself serving in any role that he can get at BENZINI BROS MOST SPECTACULAR SHOW ON EARTH (as the rail cars read). This isn't the big time. It's just surviving by staying one step ahead of the local sheriffs while not delivering on promised acts and providing entertainment for men that has nothing to do with being a circus. This circus doesn't even have an elephant.
Much of the story involves the nitty gritty of how circuses operated in those perilous times. It's a story that encompasses lots of cruelty, deceit, and harshness. In fact, it's enough to make you wonder why you ever dreamed about running away to join the circus. So if you would like to keep that dream shiny, perhaps this wouldn't be the best book for you to read.
At the center of the story are three people and one elephant. Marlena is the queen of the circus, the star of the equestrian act that involves first 12 and later 10 horses. She's married to the volatile August who runs the animal acts. When Jacob becomes involved in caring for the animals, Jacob is invited to dine and party with the couple. The relationship becomes more complicated when Jacob finds himself drawn to Marlena and repelled by August. When the circus buys an abandoned elephant that seems unusually stupid, the equilibrium is destroyed.
Ultimately, the book is about responsibility and loyalty . . . qualities that are more important in and taken more seriously by the circus world than by the "rubes" who attend the circus. The message will serve as yet another indictment of our modern world which favors efficiency over doing the right thing.
The book is beautifully illustrated with vintage photographs of early circuses that nicely match the story line of Water for Elephants.
Unlike many authors of such historical fiction, Sara Gruen does a good job of keeping a few surprises up her sleeve. So don't quit mid-book thinking you know how the story will turn out.
Grab a shovel . . . and dig in!
2 von 2 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
Format:Taschenbuch
This book has become one of my favorites. I have to admit that i first saw the movie and loved it, so i bought the book, because i wanted to know more about the story and as we all know usually the book is much much much better than the movie...
And this book is an absoulte prove to it. I loved it even more than the movie. The story is heart-warming and exciting at the same time, the characters are brilliant and Sara Gruen's writing style is just amazing. I couldn't put this book down...
So everyone who loves a extraordinary and exciting love story should give this book a try!
And this book is an absoulte prove to it. I loved it even more than the movie. The story is heart-warming and exciting at the same time, the characters are brilliant and Sara Gruen's writing style is just amazing. I couldn't put this book down...
So everyone who loves a extraordinary and exciting love story should give this book a try!
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A colourful novel
This book takes you to the world of the great circusses of the beginning of the last century in the US. The life of the artists, their luck and mishaps is very well shown. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 1 Monat von Surlej veröffentlicht
Amazing Book:Touching and Thrilling
This is definetely one of my favourite books. Sara Gruen's books are simply amazing. I love her writing style. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 5 Monaten von K-aus-M veröffentlicht
A good book for English Learners
A good english book. Ideal for English Learners. It shows the life in a circus in the 1920s. Interesting is the switch to the old mans life in a retirement home now and how he... Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 7 Monaten von Lars veröffentlicht
Enjoyable read
This was an enjoyable read. The romance between the two main characters was excellent, and I was pleased with the ending of the book. It's one I'll read again.
Vor 8 Monaten von Judge veröffentlicht
Mein neues Lieblingsbuch
Ich hatte von diesem Buch bis jetzt nichts gehört, doch dann kam neulich der Trailer für den Film, und daraufhin habe ich mir das Buch bestellt. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 9 Monaten von moeppl veröffentlicht
Das Buch des Jahres
Dieses Buch wurde zu Recht verfilmt und ich kann es gar nicht mehr abwarten den Film zu sehen, auch wenn er mich nach diesem Buch wohl eher enttäuschen wird. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 11 Monaten von Vanessa http://booksmademyday.blogspot.com veröffentlicht
Volle 5 Sterne ...
... für Water for Elephants. Ich habe das Buch regelrecht verschlungen. Nachdem ich die Kino-Vorschau für die Verfilmung des Buches gesehen hatte, habe ich mir das Buch... Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 12 Monaten von Bücherwurm veröffentlicht
Wunderschönes Buch
Seit langem einmal wieder ein wunderschönes Buch! Sara Gruen lässt einen in eine wundersame Welt eintauchen. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 14 Monaten von Silly veröffentlicht
Der Zirkus im Amerika der Prohibition...
Als Jacobs Eltern bei einem Autounfall ums Leben kommen, steht Jacob vor dem Nichts. Er muss erfahren, dass seine Eltern hoch verschuldet waren, und er dadurch nicht wie geplant... Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 15 Monaten von Karo adores... veröffentlicht
Great story
I loved this book and couldn't stop reading! It is one of the few books, that made me cry. I am not going to spoil any of the story, you have to read it yourself. Lesen Sie weiter...
Vor 16 Monaten von memyself veröffentlicht
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