Every year, we get one of those novels that comes along, and makes a standard in storytelling. It usually constitutes some thematic events, and the setting itself has some sort of isolated theme. 12 Angry Men, was a play that took place in one isolated room, and was perhaps one of the most dramatic tales ever to grace the stage. The first Saw film was a conversation mainly between two men locked in a room with nothing but fear, and the raw emotional instinct of survival to keep us on the edges of our seats. This time around, a novel of less than four hundered pages, but a lifetime embedded inside takes place in a train car, and a retirement home. This great novel is called "Water for Elephants" by author Sara Gruen.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this novel, is the fact that it takes place in only two solid settings. Well, three if you count the Big Top Performances described by the lead character Jacob Jankowski. Let's delve more into this character, and just how Sara Gruen uses his life's journey to tell a story of hardships, trial and error, and absolute sacrifices that dawn upon all the important characters.
Jacob's story starts him off at the old folks home. He is "ninety or ninety-three" and is perhaps a grouchy old man, that still has all his marbles in the pouch. Jacob is excited, because the circus is coming to town, and is preparing for several days to go see it. Somehow, he sees this as his last hurrah, and really has not another reason to live in this decrepit state that faith, and old age has thrown him. He hates the food, and would trade anything for a nice corn on the cob, or just to be able to taste an apple, and hear the mechanical sounds, the sweet tastes, and the symbolism of youth once again, so not to feel as old and defenseless as he does now. Jacob is an retired vetrinarian who dropped out of Cornell University after losing everything to blinding bad luck. He is hit with a double whammy, as his parents die in a freak car accident, and the house belongs to the bank, seeing as his parents took out another mortgage loan to pay for his Ivy League education. Seeing as he has nothing to go home to, even though he had but the final exam to take to earn his degree, Jacob walks out without even touching the exam, and jumps aboard an open box cart. Who knew that this cart would lead him into some of the best, and worst incidents of his long life.
Jacob, being the bringer of bad luck throughout the entire novel, seems have boarded a circus train. At first, Blackie, who is sort of the muscle work to keep hobos from jumping trains, seems to at first want to finish off Jacob fast, and toss him from the speeding locomotive. He is saved by one of the only reasonable characters throughout the entire novel, Camel, and is then given a job on the circus tour. To make light of the situation, he is tossed into the privileged cart to mee Uncle Al. Uncle Al is the Ringmaster behind the Circus, aptly named "The Benzini Bros. Most Spectacular Show on Earth". This was also during the Dustball era where Ringling was king of the circus curcuit, and Benzini, was biting at the knees, try to scrounge up all the remaing parts of other circuses, just so they could surrvive. So like vultures, they traved the Midwest, picking away at the dead carcasses of emptied curcuses that have ran out of money, in hopes of one day showing up Ringling Bros. Jacob joins on as a lacky, but his hidden talents as a vetrinarian to the Arabian horses during the show saves him a trip off the train via "redlighting" (Being tossed from the train during a slowing up at a stoplight). After making in good with Uncle Al, and becoming accquainted "friends" of August, the head animal wrangler, and Uncle Al's good friend, he lands a decent job working with the circus animals, and earns much respect from the other workers.
Things are seeminly well considering how life has treated Jacob up to this point, but he goes and does something rather dumb, and falls for August's wife, Marlena. She's a girl in the show that tends to, and does incredibly astounding acts with training the horses, and also being a charmingly beautiful women to boot. Jacob gets first accquainted with her, as he tries to save her horse that has been treated hrrobily, and malnourished ot the poin that his hooves were twisting, making hte pain almost impossible to deal with; so much that he could not even stand. Jacob sees no hopes, and odes away with the animal, but becoming even more attractied to Marlena.
As the story unfolds, we find out secrets about August, and Marlena's past. We meet Kinko the clown, who is vertically challenged, and called Walter by hi good friends. We even meet his agitated little Jack Russell Terrier Queenie. The characters are surreal, astounding, and often scary or hilarious. The dialouge is sometimes cliché, but fits the 30's well, and the roaring climax of the story, Rosie, who gives birth to the very title of the novel, "Water for Elephants" by author Sara Gruen is not one to be missed. If you have yet to read this great work, I do not suggest you hesitate! This was on my list of books to read for a while, and was a great way to start off my summer of reading. This novel is heart-warming, and written in a way that anyone that loved the circus as a child can enjoy. You visualize the way the animals see, you can even feel them, smell them, and hear their bellows throught he words on the paper. Sara's imagery is astounding, and it's amazing she knew nothing about the circuses, until the old pictures she purchased prior to the other novel she was thinking of writing, that inspired her to research and write about the story of Rosie, Marlena, and Jacob, and the loving bond all three had.
Ms. Gruen, I thank you for this work, it truly has depths that many authors wish to obtain. Sara's research pays off, as this was awarded as a New York Times Bestseller in 2006. I enjoy the overall conflicts, such as the internal conflict of Jacob v.s. the realization that he is growing older, and nearing the end, and the external conflicts he has with August throughout the entire novel. Gruen knows how to tell a story, and writes in a way that you are sailing through it, and not wanting to turn back.
To conclude, this novel has everything in it for readers of all genres: suspense, romance, drama, action, and even some sci-fi querks, although the novels underlying theme is the classic "Fact is Stranger than Fiction" , the concepts found to be true in her research are both mystifying, and even add more magic to the Big Top. With an amazing story, and amazing photographs througout the book, you have to give this novel a look-over, and I gurantee you will fall in love for the circus, and empathize much with this great chacter whose roll plays out wonderfully in "Water for Elephants". Again, the name of the book is "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, and can be purchased at your local bookstore, and Amazon.com. Thank you again for your support of Malacast Editorial.
Read the upcoming iPhone Review whenver I get a hold of one. I do not intend of buying one, because I despise cell phones, as mentioned in my two previews done earlier in the year. Stay tuned also for my upcoming previews of several books coming out in late 2007, and very early 2008. My next review is a toss-up: Either Manhunt 2 the video game for the PS2, or the long-awaited book review of "Helen of Troy" by my favorite author Margret George, so expected an honest, but rather bias review. I will try to be fair, but I am a huge fan, and rwas mos honest on her novel "Mary, Called Magdalene".
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