Water for Elephants

Jacob Jankowski is a 93 year old man living in a retirement home. He is told what to do and what to eat - too old to take care of himself. He begins to tell the story of his life in the circus, when he was young. He had devastated to learn that both his parents were killed in an automobile accident. Their house had also been mortgaged to pay for his tuition. He leaves cornel university a mess, and stumbles upon a train. He jumps aboard, in search of a new life. The train belonged to the Benzi Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, and they quickly hire him as a veterinarian, (what he was studying before he left Cornel). It is then that he meets Uncle Al, the owner, August, the head trainer, who is mean and abusive to people, and animals. He also meets his Augusts wife, Marlena. He also meets Rosie, the elephant that is assumed to be useless until Jacob meets her. It just so happens that Jacob new Polish, and Rosie only responded to polish. As Jacob begins to train Rosie, he starts to develop feelings for Marlena - until August steps in.

I enjoyed this book. Wasn't my favorite, but I definitely liked it for not being the kind of book I would read. It was a little long, but not bad. The characters were in depth, and the setting was interesting, (depression era circus). I also liked the voice it was written in - the word choice, and descriptions. I would recommend this book to really anyone, but don't read it if you don't like love stories.