I'm so glad my bff Jill Wendy is in a book club. She sends me all the good books once she is done, because she won't check them out of the library. She tends to spill food on them. She sent me "Water for Elephants," by Sara Gruen.
This is the story of a man named Jacob, told by his 90-something year old self; he can't quite remember how old he is. A circus being set up across the street from his nursing home sends his mind back to his youth in the days of the Depression as a student in vet school whose life is turned upside down due to tragedy and ends up acccidentally running away with the circus when he hops on their train.
It's not a story for the prim & proper; It's the story of the underbelly of the circus after all. The cruel treatment of its workers, the vanity and dishonesty of its owner, the strife of a depression. It is also the story of friendship (Walter, Camel), of falling in love with the woman you can't have, of psychotic bosses and Jacob's love of all creatures, great & small. The story switches from past to present often, and you feel sad seeing Jacob so neglected and alone in the nursing home.
I've read that the author made the biblical story of Jacob the backbone of this story. If it's there, I don't see it. Biblical Jacob was a twin who usurped his twin brother Esau's position in the family; who spent 14 years working for the chance to marry the woman he loved, who wrestled with an Angel/God. I don't see the correlation.
"Water for Elephants" was a fast read because it was a good read.
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