Book Review: "Water for Elephants"

Tonight my book club met to chat about "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. The meeting came complete with three varieties of popcorn and my elephant impression, not to mention some excellent owl cookies made by our hostess with the mostess. While quite enjoyable, none of those things were really necessary -- we were all completely satisfied by our love of the book. Although I don't think any of us would turn away from an owl cookie.

We agreed that this book has everything any reader could ever want. Action? Check. Romance? Check. Exotic setting? Check. Humor? Check. Suspense? Check. Rich characters? Double check. A well-designed and executed plot? Double check again.

In a nutshell: Jacob Jankowski is a 90 or 93-year-old man (he can't exactly remember) who lives in a nursing home and hates every second of it. When the circus comes to town and sets up around the corner, he starts to reminisce about days long ago during the Depression when he first learned about life and love...

Jacob is about to finish up at Cornell veterinary school when his life is struck by tragedy. He finds himself lost, physically and metaphorically, and ends up hopping onto a passing train because... well, why not? Turns out the train belongs to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth and Jacob immerses himself in the intricate and shady world of the circus. He meets the two loves of his life, Marlena and Rosie, one of whom murders his nemesis... and one of whom happens to be an elephant.

Who is the murderess? What happens to Jacob? How does his experience with the circus end? You'll have to read to find out.

One thing (of many) I loved was reading about the culture of the circus. It is structured by a class system, it has its own language and there are some rules that are never spoken, just understood. It reminded me a lot of when I used to work at a movie theater. I was an O.C. I spent most of my time on the floor but worked laundry at least once a weekend. I also worked booth one summer. The worst thing was when a film went down, especially if it was a bigger auditorium that had been bumped. We'd have to hand out passes when it broke while we did exit greetings. I take that back. The absolute worst was a technicolor yawn. That didn't happen often, but when it did... yuck! I always left work smelling like popcorn, but especially if someone flamed the cornbread. If turnaround times were short you were in for a tiring shift and if it was super busy you were expected to back bar or jump on to help out. A or C sides were best at the chance of leaving early, but B was generally the most fun. It really all depended on APSH.

Catch any of that? Maybe I'll write a book about working at movie theater and explain it.

Back to "Water for Elephants." Read it. It comes highly recommended. And if you're not much of a reader, guess what? There are pictures!!