by Sara Gruen
"Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air."
Water for Elephants is written from the perspective of Jacob Jankowski as he is a ninety-three year old looking back on his life. Chapters would occasionally alternate between his current state and his memories of times in the circus. I enjoyed this dynamic, finding that Sara Gruen described Jacob, as an elderly man, very effectively and realistically.
The exception to the chronology of the telling of events was interesting and made the crisis of the story significantly more powerful. I was rooting for Jacob and Marlena the whole way through.
Water for Elephants retains a beautiful nostalgia, and it makes me want to visit the circus. Its reflective protagonist is one that I care about, and I was completely satisfied with the novel's closing words.
4/5 stars.
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