Not just about water and elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

This book was a gem. My friend Addie over at a Functionally Messy Blog recommended it to me a while ago when she was reading it and I decided to get it at the library. She just told me there were elephants and a circus and I thought "Hey I like elephants and I love the circus, why not?"

But it was so much more than that. 

Jacob Jankowski is a second-generation Polish immigrant born in the late 1920s. He is now an old man, virtually dependent on others for movement and food. But Jacob remembers. He remembers a long-gone past that he has never told anyone in the nursing home about. No longer able to do much else, Jacob sits and remembers.

It's the 1930s, in the midst of the Great Depression, and Jacob is at Cornell, very close to his final exam after years of veterinary studies. He plans on following his father's lead and taking over the family vet clinic. Only, tragedy strikes and Jacob can no longer see himself living casually at Cornell and puttering about in a normal life. So he runs away, not sure to where, but far away. He jumps a train as a second thought, and finds that his life will never be the same again. He has jumped onto the train of the Benzini Brother's Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After ensuring that he will not be thrown off the train, he begins to meet the workers of the circus, who show him around the back of the stage and the glamour. Eventually, Jacob becomes an official part of the show as the circus vet. He meets the performers, ranging from the freaks, the side-show attractions, and the lovely Marlena, who is the equestrian performer and the wife of the intimidating equestrian director, August. As time passes, Jacob learns many things from life on the train, from the distinct lines between performers and workers, the harshness of life on the rails and passionate one night stands. He encounters a spectacular elephant named Rosie with which he forms an unbreakable bond.

Set during the Prohibition era, Water for Elephants is a book that strips the circus of its glamour and sparkles, and still manages to show the adventure of moving from one city to the next, the thrill of calling the entire country your home and the horror behind the caramel-corn facade. It shows the alcohol behind the smiles, the sleepless nights and the knives hidden under pillows, the malnourished animals and even less well-fed workmen. It's raw and hard, yet still seems romantic and adventurous.

I adored this book, I could not put it down. It was the kind of book that I would read before going to bed and tell myself I'll only read a chapter and six chapters later I realize I only have a few more hours left to sleep. It was very well written, in my opinion, funny when it should be, sarcastic and sharp, but dark when it needed to be. 

I would recommend it to everyone, but this time I really do have to set an age limit. I'd say 14-15, because there are some... eh, racy scenes. Yes. Okay, and also some things are pretty gruesome, I'm not going to lie, and there is language. Other than that, you should definitely read it. I adored it.