Received from a PaperBackSwap member in GA. TBR.

Reserved for a swap.

I loved the fact that the narrator was telling the story from two distinct times in his life. I was also very happy with the ending and am even interested to find out what happens next with Jacob.

Sending to morsecode for the bookobsessed Non-Genre swap.

This lovely book arrived safe and sound in Buffalo, NY today.

Since I'm not going to be reading this book until it comes up for my book club discussion (next year, I think), I'm loaning it to my mom (chargoyle).

My daughter (morsecode) gave me this great historical novel and I'll return it to her when I see her again.
How much fun to learn about American circus train life in a story with wonderful characters and depth! I even gave it to my husband to read because he's started a computer role play of an old fashioned carnival. He loved the book, too.

Reading this book was a bit of a strange experience for me. I felt like I was rereading a book that I'd read long ago, but that can't be the case as the book was only published in 2006. I'm fairly certain that I did read the opening chapter either when I first received the book or when I saw the book in a book store, but why the rest of the story seemed vaguely familiar, I have no idea.
More after our book club meeting.

I'm loaning this book to a coworker who wanted to read it. Hopefully she'll make it to our book club meeting!

A ninety-something year-old man's recollections of his time traveling with the Benzini Brothers Circus during the Great Depression. That, right there, is a brief, over-simplified synopsis. Water for Elephants opens with protagonist Jacob in a nursing home. The circus is coming to town and all the residents are excited. Jacob's anger at hearing another resident gloating about being a water-carrier for a circus' elephant (impossible!), spurs his own memories. The narrative proceeds to alternate between a youthful Jacob, who accidentally joins a circus, and the ornery elderly Jacob.

We were impressed by so many different things in this novel: the two voices, Gruen's capacity for ambiguity, the amount of research that went into the novel, the portrayal of animals, the vividness of the story, that we were able to react so strongly to some of the characters (August in particular), and, most importantly, that the "old Jacob" sections could have been cut and the novel would still have been strong. Also, we wondered, if we hadn't known the author was a woman would we have assumed he was a man?

Water for Elephants gave us so much to talk about. More significantly, we all liked the novel. In fact, everyone that I've been in contact with who has read Water for Elephants genuinely liked it (including both my mother and father).

Apparently the audio edition is read by two different actors, one provides the voice for young Jacob, the other for old Jacob. Two of the book club members listened to the audio, one loved having the two distinct voices, the other didn't (mostly because she didn't like the old voice).


I'm now loaning this book to another coworker who wants to read it. :)

I just got this back from one coworker and have offered it to another who expressed interest in reading it.

It was a good read. I especially liked the Polish language and the role it played.