Review: Water for Elephants

Sara Gruen spent months researching circuses that traveled by trains and they paid off in the realistic Water for Elephants that she turned into fiction. The novel begins with main character Jacob Jankowski, a 93-year-old man in a nursing home, when the circus comes to town. This begins his flashback of his time with the Benzini Brother's Most Spectacular Show on Earth in the summer of 1931.While it focuses on the cirucs, the novel weaves back and forth between a 23-year-old Jacob on the circus and present-day Jacob with his nursing home struggles.

Jacob had never intended to end up on the circus, but once he does he is caught in a whirlwind of romance and drama. He has to learn the ropes of a struggling circus that can't always afford to pay its employees. Each character has his/her own unique qualities that make each seem as real and relatable as the next. Even the circus's animals take on personalities that make them seem real.

After the great reviews I wanted to give it a shot and I had trouble putting it down. The novel has a little something for every kind of reader as it falls into multiple genres of mystery, romance and adventure. Gruen continuously surprised me through the last page. Each page was as compelling as the next. I would absolutely recommend this novel to everyone.

Buy Water for Elephants: A Novel  on Amazon