Sara Gruen
***** stars
All Jacob Jankowski wanted was to graduate from Cornell and become a veternarian like his father. However, all that changes when he loses both of his parents to a car accident, and he is left with no money. It is 1931 in America and it's also the time of the depression which means that there are no jobs available especially for Jacob's line of profession. Now Jacob is broke and homeless and wandering around when he stumbles onto a train track in the middle night and he sees a train coming and hops on to it not knowing that this would change his life forever. By morning Jacob realizes he has hopped not only on a circus train, but the Benzini Brother's circus owned by a disturbed man name August and winds up becoming their personal vet. And just by working with the animals, Jacob meets Marlena who is the star of the show and who's unfortunately August's wife. When Jacob starts settling down with his new life the circus gets a surprise from August which he says will really help the show out. He buys them a fifty year old elephant named Rosie, and to top it all off he wants Marlena to ride her. But there is just one problem, Rosie does not understand English so everybody immediately assumes that she is dumb, but Jacob being Polish realizes that she can only understand Polish, and from there it brings him closer to Marlena causing him to fall in love with her. Now Jacob, Marlena, and Rosie the elephant start a relationship between them that will cause love and betrayal among and they will just have to ride it out and see what happens at the end of the track.
I thought Water for Elephants was a great story and I loved the relationship that grew between Jacob, Marlena, and Rosie. You could see that they all loved each other in there own ways and it made them stronger. It also Jacob and Marlena realize what they want out of life. I gave this book five stars because it was so original yet it touched my heart and kept me mesmerized throughout the whole novel. Plus I cannot wait to see the movie that came out Friday, April 22, but I would suggest you read the book first because lets face it, the books are always better.
