An Elephantine Tale: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Circuses have long since lost their novelty to the American public, but a person who has recently read Sara Gruen’sWater for Elephants can feel the excitement of the experience of a circus as if he or she was actually there in the big top

Water for Elephants is one of those books that grab you hook, line, and sinker. The main character of the novel is Jacob Jankowski, who oscillates in the story between a man in his nineties and a young man about to graduate from veterinary school. The real story lies with young Jacob as he finds himself on a circus train filled with colorful circus performers, gritty workers, a menagerie, a dangerous head trainer, and one beautiful girl named Marlena.

With a great eye for detail and flair, Gruen tells the story of how Jacob ingratiates himself into the circus and comes to know the dark underbelly of what we know as “the greatest show on earth.” Secrets are revealed and friendships are made, but so are enemies. Jacob must navigate his new duties as the circus veterinarian while also navigating his growing feelings for Marlena, who is unhappily married to August, the head animal trainer who alternates between charming and cruel in an instant. Readers will find themselves going along with Jacob as he realizes that he, his closest friends (including one gigantic pal named Rosie), and the woman he loves are in grave danger from the very same majestic world that they live in. The explosive, whopper of a climax is gripping and exciting, and the book concludes in a profound ending. Gruen writes with such ease that it is comparable listening to a great storyteller instead of reading a well-crafted, meticulously written novel of American nostalgia.

Water for Elephants is now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox releasing here in San Antonio on April 22, 2011. The movie stars Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz. Read the book first. Then hop on over to the theater with a beer and a hot dog. One can’t get more American than a beer, a hot dog, a circus, and a good story. Check out the trailer for the movie here. http://www.waterforelephants.com

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