On Sunday, I finished reading “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. This has become a highly popular book, especially on BookMooch, where it is hard to obtain. I got lucky enough to be first to see this particular copy available.
From Amazon.Com’s description, here is part of a review written by Valerie Ryan:
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.
As expected with a novel about the circus, there is a host of other characters, though not “circus” like characters. There’s Uncle Al who runs the show, and runs the gambit of emotions. There’s August, the guy in charge of the animals and their acts, who has issues. There’s Walter/Kinko, the dwarf clown that Jacob “rooms” with on the train. And then there is Marlena, August’s wife who performs with the horses.
One thing about this novel which should be applauded is the realism. I have heard that Gruen did a vast amount of research before and during writing this novel. I don’t know much about circus life, but it certainly seems real. There is no funny business. Sure, there is humor from time to time, but as such as any novel might have. This is the real life circus of the time.
Another plus of the book is the writing style. It’s very straight ahead, no fancy prose. I do enjoy a good writer that highlights their craft, but there is no need for it here. It’s a good story and doesn’t need it to make the story better.
Sara Gruen
Unfortunately there are some weak points about the book. First of all, Jacob hardly seems affected by his parents death. Sure, he is crushed by it at first, especially upon arriving to the empty house of his parents. But after he ditches his final test at Cornell, it is hardly ever mentioned. It made the whole incident seem trivial. There is also a point where he gives away what could be considered a family heirloom, yet it was never mentioned before he gives it up, and he is barely phased by it. It leaves me feeling empty. Where is the agony, where is the depth of sorrow that Jacob felt for his parents. It’s not there.
The sections of the book that go back to where Jacob is in the nursing home (sometime around or after 2001), there is much more depth to his feelings. He feels holed up. He feels a real connection to one of the nurses. He feels the pain of his old age, his failing facilities, fear of losing more of them, especially his mind, and how he longs for more attention from his family. There could have been more, but compared to the little we get during Jacob’s time in the circus, if feels like a cornucopia of character depth. Some of the characters during his circus days have pretty good depth for being in scenes so little. Also, the book is first person narrative, and sometimes (I feel) it is hard to add so much depth to the supporting cast since you only get into one character’s head. Yet it was done pretty well here.
Two other problems with the story, or presentation, is that you are told the ending in the prologue. It is misleading, however still pretty easy to figure out as you approach the end. And that ending itself seems absurd. It can still be seen as good, but hard to believe.
Even with those flaws, I can understand why people enjoy the book so much. It is quick paced, even if you are trying to get to the ending you already (sort of) know. And given the subject matter, it makes it a learning experience, not just a good story. Even if the lead character lacks depth.
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