Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I first bought Water for Elephants about six years ago, right before the movie version came out. I never got around to reading it, but I would notice it sitting on my shelf from time to time and make a mental note to get to it soon. When I saw that one of the categories for my Popsugar reading challenge was, "a book that's been on your TBR list for way too long," I figured that now was the perfect time to give it a try. Also, with it being near Valentine's Day, I wanted to read a little romance anyway. When I pulled the novel from my bookcase, it was covered in a pretty serious layer of dust and the pages had yellowed, which helped illustrate just how long this book had been sitting around my house. It was definitely an appropriate choice for my challenge.

The story, set in the time of the Depression and Prohibition, follows Jacob Jankowski, a veterinary student who abruptly leaves college after the sudden and tragic death of his parents. He jumps on board a circus train in the middle of the night and soon finds himself working as a vet for the show, caring for a menagerie of animals that includes everything from horses to orangutans. His status within the company is somewhat murky, as his job falls somewhere between the lower-class manual laborers and the bosses and performers. He interacts with a wide variety of people as a result, and makes friends with quite a collection of characters, including Walter, the dwarf he bunks with, and August, the mercurial boss of the animals. He quickly learns that there is a very ugly side to the circus business, and unchecked violence, poverty, alcoholism, and greed among the company have combined to create a life that is dangerous and difficult. However, Jacob loves the animals he is caring for, and feels responsible for their well-being, so he stays with the show.

Before long, Jacob has fallen in love with two very different females. One is Rosie, a newly-acquired, mischievous elephant that frustrates the rest of the crew with her antics and her apparent refusal to learn tricks. The other is Marlena, a performer in the show and August's wife. Jacob tries to ignore his feelings for Marlena, but the attraction between them grows stronger as time goes on. August, a man who is prone to outbursts of incredible anger and violence, suspects their feelings and becomes terrifyingly abusive. He beats Rosie when she doesn't perform, and beats both Jacob and Marlena when he suspects them of having an affair. As matters become increasingly untenable, Jacob works to protect Rosie and Marlena and find a way out for them all.

The novel is set in two time periods, with a 93-year-old Jacob narrating from a nursing home in some sections, and his memories from when he was a young man taking over in other sections. The main circus story is a flashback. Surprisingly, I actually liked the old-man-Jacob sections the most. They felt more real and emotional to me than the rest of the novel. Jacob's frustrations with his aging mind and body were authentic, and his pain and embarrassment over feeling like a burden to the rest of his family touched on fears that most people have about getting older. The endings of both the young and old Jacob stories were satisfying. One contained a twist that I honestly did not see coming and the other contained a sweet symmetry that I really enjoyed.  Overall, this was an entertaining, but not perfect, reading experience.

Water for Elephants benefits from it's unusual and colorful setting. Gruen obviously put a lot of research into the world of Depression-era traveling circuses and the little details and anecdotes sprinkled throughout the text were very interesting. I feel like I learned something about the time period after reading this book. For example, I didn't know anything about the Jamaica Ginger poisonings in the 1930's or the practice of "redlighting" employees. The little slices of history helped to make the setting feel vivid and real. 

What did not feel vivid and real, however, were most of the characters. Jacob and Marlena were both very flat. Neither one grows or changes throughout the course of the novel. Jacob is a kindhearted, chivalrous young man, and Marlena is a beautiful woman in desperate need of rescue, and they remain that way from the beginning of the novel until the end. Their romance was underdeveloped, and sadly, I never felt like I believed in their relationship or in who they were supposed to be as individuals. It's a shame that the richness of the circus setting was wasted on such uninteresting characters. The best character, hands down, was Rosie the elephant, and I get the feeling that was only because Gruen used stories about other, real elephants, to build her personality.

Another small issue I had with the novel were the handful of disturbingly graphic sexual encounters. I don't mind sex in books at all, but the way these particular scenes were written were so awkward and gross that I was completely turned off by them. This might come from Gruen trying (and failing) to describe sex in the way that a male narrator would, or maybe sex scenes just aren't her specialty, but they were absolutely cringe-inducing.

Despite my few gripes however, I was interested and engaged in the book until the end. Water for Elephants was a solid, easy-to-read little piece of escapism, and it is easy to understand why it was a bestseller when it was first published. The romance didn't quite do it for me, but it was worth reading for the interesting setting alone. This one was fun.


Challenge Tally
Popsugar Challenge: (A book that's been on your TBR list for too long) 11/40 
Mount TBR: previously owned 11/60