Water for Elephants

 

            Delightful read with great discussions for book club.  This is our last book for 2008 (we have a dinner in December).

           

            The story opens with the protagonist, Jacob, witnessing an awful crime during a stampede of circus animals.  We are then led into Jacob’s future (approximately 70 years later), and into his life as a 90 or 93-year-old man in an assisted living facility.  We discover how Jacob tries to understand his surroundings and deal with his aging body and mind.  Then, we are transported back to the 1930s and a 23-year-old Jacob.  We watch as Jacob’s world collapses and he desperately tries to navigate his new world.

 

            The characters Jacob encounters quite by chance become his surrogate family, but they are not his altruistic parents.  He joins a travelling circus and becomes their vet.  The accommodations of the workers and non-entertainers on the train are deplorable, but this is set in the time of the depression.   Sara Gruen did a great deal of research for this book and it shows in her descriptions, and in the ease she has with the subject.

 

            Jacob joins the circus to meet his immediate needs of food and shelter, but he stays because he believes his father would have done the same.  His father treated all the animals in his town whether he was compensated or not.  Jacob believes he should remain with the circus even under its appalling conditions, to look after the animals and try to protect them.    Later in the story Jacob will stay for other reasons.  Jacob decisions provide amble discussion for book clubs regarding family, friends and expectations.

 

            Sara Gruen’s descriptions of the elderly really made us think about being in an assistant living facility and becoming “ancient dusty people.”  It’s actually quite scary thinking about getting older, and Gruen delivers that fear as we watch Jacob struggle with his body and the fuzziness of his mind.  Aging is not something we look forward to, and there will be plenty of good discussions on this topic for book club.

                       

            How could a story about a circus be so compelling in this day and age?  It is because Gruen has developed charming characters to become attached to, and she provides us with a way of life that we could only imagine.  It is melodramatic, but what else did you expect for a circus!  Enjoyable, entertaining and informative.

 

Rating: 8.5