Books : Water for Elephants (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers)
List Price: $13.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781594132001
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 1594132003
Label: Large Print Distribution
Manufacturer: Large Print Distribution
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 561
Publication Date: May 09, 2007
Publisher: Large Print Distribution
Sales Rank: 10551
Studio: Large Print Distribution
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Jacob was there because his luck had run out—orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act—in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.
Amazon.com Review:
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.
Water for Elephants is the story of Jacob's life with this circus. Sara Gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Jacob, once it becomes known that he has veterinary skills, is put in charge of the "menagerie" and all its ills. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people around because he can. August, the animal trainer, is a certified paranoid schizophrenic whose occasional flights into madness and brutality often have Jacob as their object. Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass and as his reward he spends most of the novel beaten, broken, concussed, bleeding, swollen and hungover. He is the self-appointed Protector of the Downtrodden, and... he falls in love with Marlena, crazy August's wife. Not his best idea.
The most interesting aspect of the book is all the circus lore that Gruen has so carefully researched. She has all the right vocabulary: grifters, roustabouts, workers, cooch tent, rubes, First of May, what the band plays when there's trouble, Jamaican ginger paralysis, life on a circus train, set-up and take-down, being run out of town by the "revenooers" or the cops, and losing all your hooch. There is one glorious passage about Marlena and Rosie, the bull elephant, that truly evokes the magic a circus can create. It is easy to see Marlena's and Rosie's pink sequins under the Big Top and to imagine their perfect choreography as they perform unbelievable stunts. The crowd loves it--and so will the reader. The ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely. --Valerie Ryan
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Running away to the Circus is at the epicenter of this great adventure and I delighted in every page. The writing creates rich images of tastes, smells, senses and life on the road during the depression, interspersed with the realities of the cruel way Circus animals were once treated.
The work of a great story teller and I believed every word.
Rating:  -
Could not put this book down. Eye opening and very well written. A must read for all book lovers.
Rating: -
I've taught this book several time to college-aged (and older) students, virtually all of whom have fallen in love with the story. For teachers, I recommend it because there's also so much to talk about (historicity, identity, etc.), and because it's such a "pleasant" read, the students tend to get excited and bring much to this well-written, engaging text. Highly recommended for readers and for teachers.
Rating: -
This book was enchanting. Immediately you become under it's spell from the first words. The mystery, history, action, and love stories of the circus all wrapped up in one.
The story is about Jacob Jankowski, the circus vet. Under tragic circumstances, he joins a second rated circus and becomes entangled into all their lives, whether he wants to or not. Bouncing between his current status, which is in a nursing home at the age of 93 or 99 (he's not sure) and his circus life, there ... Read More
Rating: -
What a great story. The book is very beautifully written with words that make you feel like your there. It is engaging at every turn of the page. Each character is interesting and well developed. This is a fairly quick read and you will be so engaged in the most spectacular show you wont want to put it down.
|
