Water for Elephants (2006)

by Sara Gruen

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations / Mentions
29,506	1189	100	(4.05)	1 / 914
A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.--From publisher description.… (more)

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Smiler69: Set during the Great Depression, a young boy is taught how to fly to become part of a travelling vaudeville act.
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Alliebadger: Both well-written stories about the performing life. Very different sides of it, and in very different time periods, but both well-written and exciting.
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BookshelfMonstrosity: Though Gruen's story is fiction and Hillenbrand's journalistic nonfiction, both reveal relationships between humans and animals in the Great Depression's entertainment field. Each describes the backstage training, care, and abuse of performing animals and people in candid, engaging language.… (more)
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	2014 Category Challenge: Group Read (August): Water for Elephants	20 unread / 20	DeltaQueen50, August 2014

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Showing 1-5 of 1159 (next | show all)

I really liked this book. Good story development. Wonderful characters and a fascinating story! Who knew so much was behind the circus tent! (

)

jodiebc | Dec 1, 2024 |

Loved the old man attack scene, but it sadly wasn't enough to save this! (

)

alicatrasi | Nov 28, 2024 |

Sept 9th, Hillsboro AM book club

a very good book. I'm glad I finally made it through to the end. (

)

Trisha_Thomas | Nov 13, 2024 |

Water for Elephants was one of those books that I had put off reading For no particular reason. The fact that I eventually read it is thanks to Daily deal on audible and the I was drawn to the voice of the narrators.

This is a love story with an interesting and well researched insight into the train circus in the 1930s. The best part of this story for me was Jacob's story aged 90 or 93. I love how the author portrays very convincingly the life of the elderly Jacob living in a home and how after many years of a full family life he relives his time with the circus. I found myself longing for the parts of the book which featured the elderly voice of Jacob which made the story come alive with emotion and I loved the character of Rosemarie and I can only hope that every care home has at least one Rosemary to give these elderly people who have contributed so much to society the respect and care they deserve.
Quote by Jacob(aged 90/93) from Water for Elephants

“My platitudes don't hold their interest and I can hardly blame them for that. My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak first hand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerrilla wars, and Sputnik — that's all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer? Nothing happens to me anymore. That's the reality of getting old, and I guess that's really the crux of the matter. I'm not ready to be old yet.” (

)

DemFen | Oct 31, 2024 |

I loved the telling of this story, by the 90 (or 93) year old Jacob, as much, if not more than the story itself. I hated to part ways with the ol' boy, at the end of the book. Sara Gruen enthralled me with her writing, and after finishing this book, I felt compelled to seek out her other works. Unfortunately, her other books are rated significantly lower, on Goodreads, and the story summaries don't sound all that appealing to me. She gave me one great book, though, and for that I thank her. (

)

Tedski_TX | Oct 1, 2024 |

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Showing 1-5 of 1159 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

3 reviews

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thingScore 75

It's a favorite of book clubs and reading groups, and is supposedly rife with parallels between the protagonist, Jacob Jankowski and Jacob, grandson of Abraham, in the Bible. I wish one of you would tell me what they are. They are not obvious to me, other than a cryptic "Jacob's ladder" parallel to the ladder on the train cars that give access to the roof and that will be important late in the story. What is obvious to me is this is a book about memory, something elephants are famous for and something humans are famous for treating as reliable when it isn't.

added by paradoxosalpha | editDaily Kos, Limelite (Jul 28, 2011)

At its finest, "Water for Elephants" resembles stealth hits like "The Giant's House," by Elizabeth McCracken, or "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold, books that combine outrageously whimsical premises with crowd-pleasing romanticism. But Gruen's prose is merely serviceable, and she hurtles through cataclysmic events, overstuffing her whiplash narrative with drama (there's an animal stampede, two murders and countless fights).

added by jlelliott | editThe New York Times, Elizabeth Judd (Sep 4, 2006)

What goes on under the big top is nothing compared with the show backstage.

added by Shortride | editTime, Lev Grossman (Jul 16, 2006)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Gruen, Sara	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Abelsen, Peter	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Arduini, Ada	—	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Jones, John Randolph	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
LeDoux, David	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Werner, Honi	jacket design	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Publisher Series

Gli Elefanti [Garzanti]

Le livre de poche (31395)

Rainbow pocketboeken (955)

rororo (25602)

Has the adaptation

Water for Elephants [2011 film] by Francis Lawrence

Has as a student's study guide

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen | Summary & Study Guide by BookRags

A Study Guide for Sara Gruen's "Water for Elephants" by Gale Cengage Learning

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Alex Award (2007)

Audie Award (Finalist – Fiction – 2007)

Friends of American Writers Award (First Place – Adult Literature – 2007)

Great Lakes Book Award (Winner – Fiction – 2007)

Indies Choice Book Award (Winner – Adult Fiction – 2007)

Paterson Fiction Prize (Finalist – 2007)

The White Ravens (French / France – 2007)

Distinctions

LiveLib Rating (2007)

New York Times bestseller (Fiction – 2006)

Reading Across Rhode Island (2008)

World Book Night selection (2015)

Notable Lists

ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (Arts & Humanities – 2009)

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▾Common Knowledge

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Canonical title

Water for Elephants

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA

Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth (circus)

Important events

Related movies

Water for Elephants (2011 | IMDb)

Epigraph

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant...
An elephant's faithful--one hundred per cent!
--Theodor Seuss Geisel, Horton Hatches the Egg, 1940

Dedication

For Bob, still my secret weapon

First words

I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.

Only three people were left under the red and white awning of the grease joint: Grady, me, and the fry cook. (Prologue)

The idea for this book came unexpectedly: In early 2003 I was gearing up to write an entirely different book when the Chicago Tribune ran an article on Edward J. Kelty, a photographer who followed traveling circuses around America in the 1920s and '30s. (Author's Note)

Quotations

Is where you’re from the place you’re leaving or where you have roots?

I wasn’t aware of dozing, but that’s how it goes these days. I seem to slip in and out of time and space.

With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.

Anglais (Etats-Unis)

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Water for Elephants

▾Book descriptions

A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.--From publisher description.

▾Library descriptions

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▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Jacob Jankowski is left without money and family when his parents are killed suddenly in an automobile accident. He leaves veterinarian school right before he finishes his final exam and accidentally becomes the veterinarian for the Benzini Brothers Circus. There he meets Rosie the Elephant and Marlene, a beautiful (and married) performer in the circus.

AR Level 4.4, 14 pts

Haiku summary