Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants

By Sara Gruen

350 pages

11 hours and 31 minutes listening time

Grade B+

Ever have the dream to run off and join the circus? Well Jacob does it. After finding out his parents were killed in a car accident, he wanders around, and hops a train. And it just so happens that the train he hops is owned by the Benzini Bothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He spends the next three months traveling with the circus as the vet.

The author jumps between Jacob as a 23 year old, and Jacob as a 90, or 93 year old. I fell in love with the 23 year old Jacob due to his innocence, humility, and genuine niceness. I fell in love with the 90, or 93 year old Jacob because of his tenacity and his kindness but in a stubborn tired old man kind of way.

If you can get passed the animal cruelty, because I will not mislead you, there is quiet a bit of animal cruelty in this book. But I think without it, it would be to wishy washy. The story, and the love, and the hate, and the genius of this book is just incredible.

I first read this book last year for my book club. I knew I wanted to read it again. I will say that it was a little too soon. I should have waited another year or so. However by the time I got to the end of the book, I fell in love with it all over again.

I really really really enjoyed this book. I really hope you will enjoy this book too. So go buy, borrow, but not steal it. Then let me know what you think!