Book Review: Water for Elephants

I must admit that I have been beyond horrible with reading books this year. I used to be such an avid reader but the past year or two I just really haven’t been motivated to do much reading. I’m blaming it on the DVR. I always say I’m going to do better and make more of an effort to read books like I used to but life always seems to get in the way. Hopefully this time I will stick to what I say and get busy reading.

I started Water for Elephants on the plane ride over to France and read all of one chapter. I think I may have mentioned how miserable the flight from the States to France was and I really just didn’t feel like reading much. Then when I got to France, there was so much going on I didn’t have time to read. Finally, last week, I picked the book back up and decided I would give it a go – it was a slow week for the DVR – and I’m glad I did. Multiple people who saw me with the book at the gym told me how good it was which only made me want to keep reading it.

I decided to give this book a try after hearing about it from a lady at church. I don’t even know if she read it, but she mentioned it to me on a Wednesday night and I bought it the next week. The book is about a man who, by rather terrible circumstances ends up working with a traveling circus. If you’ve long been a reader of this blog, then you probably know I am a lover of the circus and have always thought it would be super cool to travel with the circus, so this book was right up my alley.

The man, Jacob Jankowski is ninety-three when the story begins and the books flashes between his present day life in a nursing home and how he ended up on the circus and all the craziness that ensues once he is fully employed with the circus. He ends up involved in all sorts of circus chaos and even falls in love with the show’s most beloved performer, Marlena, which is the main plot of the story. There are many side stories all intertwined with the main love story and there is a lot of good vs. evil throughout. The characters are each well developed, including the animals and you will find yourself loving someone who you at first thought weren’t so loveable. There are a lot of twists and turns in the plots as well, the majority of which you don’t even see coming.

This book was a very easy read and quite enjoyable. It will make you laugh and might even make you cry and will definitely make you want to turn to the next page to see what’s happening next. I have not seen the movie based on the film, but I am anxious to watch it now that I have read the book. If you’re looking for a good read this Labor Day weekend, check out Water for Elephants, I think you will be quite pleased.