Book Review: Water for Elephants

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Wow. It's not every book that's over 300 pages gets read in just 2 days. I had about 5 people recommend it to me which is why I picked it up in the first place. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, had it all: suspense and drama, murder, mystery, romance, action, and a cast full of characters. I always enjoy stories about animals and my favorite genre of fiction is 'historical fiction' so this novel was right up my alley.
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The story starts off with a very aged man, the main character, remembering his old days on a travelling circus act. Within the book it weaves between then and now, his past more real than his present, in a nursing home.
The young man, Jacob, leaves home with nothing-not even finishing his final exams at Cornell, during the Great Depression, and hitches a ride with the Benzini Brothers' Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He becomes the vet and throughout the book aquires an extremely smart elephant, a lady friend, a dwarf named Walter, a drunk named Camel, and an entire menagerie full of animals, not to mention an enemy or two.
A fantastic book soon to become a movie this year (!) the only thing I did not appreciate was the fact that there are a few parts of extremely graphic sexual nature. Of course a show that has a 'cooch tent' is liable to have a few lewd comments, I was quite repulsed by the content and in the beginning (where there is more), thought about not even finishing the book because of it.
Reader beware; as for the plot line...4 out of 5 stars!
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What are you reading?

Comments

Unknown said…

I just posted a couple of reviews a couple days ago and this was one of them. Our book club is currently reading Hptel on th Corner of Bitter and Sweet.

January 12, 2011 at 3:52 PM

RT said…

I thought this was an excellent read. Sadly enough, I can't even remember the sexual content. What I do remember is that it was highly entertaining!

January 12, 2011 at 4:09 PM

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