Rating: 4.75
Product Description:
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcome incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.
So I finally read this!! Again, a book with many recommendations that I doubted. I had read this book about two years ago- and got to chapter 2 before having to stop. ^.^ I was also spurred by the fact that in April of 2011 a movie based off this book will come out. Oh! Did I mention that Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon will be starring in it? ;DD
Anywho, so I read chapter 1, and I remembered why I stopped reading it, because it flashes between Jacob's ninety (or ninety-three) self and his twenty-one year old self. And when his ninety (or ninety-three) self narrates I got sooo sad. It can be a pretty sad book and because the narrator is a boy, it can be gritty in the way that boy narrators usually can. However! The story had such wonderful moments, and such a pleasantly surprising ending that it turned out pretty great. I loved that the story showed the harsh conditions of an otherwise enchanting event- the circus.
~Sunnie