Book of the Week: WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Jacob Jankowski

Cynthia Ross Cravit | February 22nd, 2011

Best-selling author Sara Gruen’s romantic and engrossing tale of star-crossed lovers is set in the wild and wonderful world of the circus circa 1932.

Jacob Jankowski is about to graduate from veterinary school at Cornell and join his father’s practice when the unthinkable happens, and his parents are killed suddenly in a car crash. Adding to the tragedy, the Great Depression has left him penniless, without a home or a viable business. Unable to finish school, Jacob finds himself joining a travelling circus almost by accident, where he will use his skills to care for the band of exotic animals.

And he will also fall madly in love: with Rosie, the elephant with a secret talent, and the beautiful performer Marlena, who also happens to be married to the circus’ psychotic animal trainer. Marlena’s husband, August, can be exceedingly charming and generous; but in his darkest moods, he brutally beats both the animals and Marlena.

This compelling novel travels back in forth in time between Jacob’s present day in a nursing home (he’s 93) and his adventures in the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth with its dark secrets, dangerous loves, unexpected friendships and astonishingly harsh conditions.

As with her previous works (Riding Lessons and Flying Changes) Gruen writes eloquently about the powerful bond between animals and humans. In Water for Elephants she also gives a voice to the iconic circus clowns, freaks, rubes, midgets and performers that inhabited the lost world of the Big Top and The Greatest Show on Earth. (The book, which is based partially on real circus stories, is illustrated with historical photographs of the various travelling circuses.)

And if you love the book, watch for the movie (set to be released in Spring, 2011) starring Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, and Christoph Waltz.