Of pachyderms and roustabouts . . .
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Water for Elephants
Posted: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 3:22 pm
|
Updated: 4:06 pm, Wed Jan 26, 2011.
Of pachyderms and roustabouts . . .
Posted on
January 26, 2011
Sometimes I feel like I'm a little bit behind the curve when it
comes to reading. Not my reading skills, but my book-finding
skills. Luckily I know plenty of people who are voracious readers
so I'm introduced to new stuff, even if it's not particularly
'new.'
So how lucky was I to be introduced to 'Water for Elephants?' It
got good reviews from two of my nearest and dearest, so I picked it
up on Saturday and started reading. I didn't stop reading until I
finished it (at 2:00 a.m.) - because it's that good.
A synopsis would be that it's a book about a Depression-era
traveling circus. Which is true. But the author weaves a tale so
intricate and deliciously twisted that it's a literal
page-turner.
When the book opens, the main character, Jacob Jankowski, is an
old man in a residential care home. I was immediately taken by the
way the author described the intricate details of an old man's
thoughts: "Age is a terrible thief. Just when you're getting
the hang of life, it knocks your legs out from under you and stoops
your back. It makes you ache and muddies your head and silently
spreads cancer throughout your spouse." It's especially
interesting to me because while we learn about the sensitive and
tender atrocities of aging for a 90-something-year-old man, the
author, Sara Gruen, is a woman.
While we are entertained by how he keeps what's left of his
marbles in the home, his mind wanders back to the year 1931 when
his life took a drastic turn after the sudden death of his parents
while he was finishing college. The young almost-Cornell graduate
with dreams of becoming a veterinarian ends up hopping a train that
delivers him to a completely different reality than anything he's
known. Or that most of us know for that matter.
Our 23-year-old Jacob has entered the world of a traveling
circus known as the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on
Earth. Within this world we learn about the strange and creepy
people that become a family of sorts simply by virtue of their
strangeness. This subculture has its own language and hierarchy
that is initially intimidating to young Jacob, but he soon gets his
sea legs and learns how to handle himself. He becomes the show's
veterinarian, working directly under a psychotic but charming
menagerie director named August. August mentors him and torments
him simultaneously, and it doesn't help matters when Jacob falls in
love with August's lovely wife Marlena, the equestrian acrobat. He
rooms with an angry dwarf, hobnobs with the elite members of the
troupe, has a strange encounter with the "cooch" show lady, trades
his father's watch to help an alcoholic roustabout, and narrowly
escapes a raid on a speakeasy in Chicago.
Life has its ups and downs for Jacob during his short stay with
the circus. You find yourself pulling for some of the most unlikely
characters in the story. Most of all you'll pull for Rosie, the
lemonade-loving elephant that nobody can tame, except, of course,
our Jacob.
The book moves along at an alarming rate, and the moments we
spend with Old Jacob throughout the book are a welcome respite from
the madness of the "kinkers," "rubes," and roustabouts. The
chapters are separated by charming (and sometimes disturbing) black
and white photos of circuses of the era. Gruen certainly did her
research and it shows in the details of this remarkable work.
The fact that this book exposes the seedy underbelly of a
basically unsavory culture did not make me a fan of circuses. But
it made me a fan of Sara Gruen's work and I'll be searching for
more.
Posted in
Word pie
on
Wednesday, January 26, 2011 3:22 pm.
Updated: 4:06 pm.
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Mike Govette posted at 4:50 pm on Wed, Feb 2, 2011.
Loved this book. It was really interesting as chapters alternated between old Jacob and young Jacob. And a more satisfying ending i can't imagine! I won't spoil it, but...childhood dreams fulfilled? Betcha!
Marc Lutz posted at 6:44 am on Thu, Jan 27, 2011.
I can't wait to read this one. It's definitely now on the list of the 2011 Lutz literary challenge.
Brandi Poole posted at 4:07 pm on Wed, Jan 26, 2011.
Wow. Your comments on the book, and characters, would make me go and get it right now, if I hadn't already read it. Wonderful. I am going to get her next book and be entranced for the duration. I have a list of authors that I am compelled to read. I will be in line for it, whatever it is. Gruen has joined that list. If you love to read, do yourself a favor and get this book!
A good book never lasts long enough.