Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

If you are looking to relax and find early twentieth century circus culture, horses, elephants and love stories exciting, this is your book for a rainy day.

Consensus from the club says that this book is a good read simply because it is a story. Gruen sets up a fabulous scene whenever the big top is up, uses true historical events to create the story, introduces the story through the eyes of a tired, old man and shows compassion for the show animals. If anything her success in writing a thoughtful and interesting story, should be appreciated.

It is frustrating to think that the bones of this project deserved to be so much more. Though the magic of the big top is powerful when risen and first described, Gruen’s story seems to ignore the larger backdrop of the depression, and the constant sadness, loneliness and hardness of circus and traveling show culture of the early twentieth century. Gruen depends on her characters and narrator to tell readers about character narratives and the show. She is limited in almost only visual imagery. She writes on about the piles of delicious food available to circus performers and workers, but she forgets to juxtapose the abundance with the hunger of the circus audience. She shows the wonder and mystical nature of a show as it is performed, but she fails to describe all the truly terrible, and often disgusting, smells and sounds of the show on the train or behind the curtains. It seems that Gruen is focused only on placing history and hardship to the narrative, as opposed to finding a narrative in the history and hardship.

The characters, human and animal, added a second disappointment to the book. Each character was absolutely flat and, at times, unforgivably so. Main character, Jacob, loses his parents and seems forget all about them. Within a hot minute he has run off thinking of his college lust, Catherine, only to join a circus and find his new object of lust. Very soon after, he loses his virginity in unnecessarily disgusting acts, but Gruen keeps him focused on his own involvement and remorse rather than ever allowing him to admit or show vulnerability. Similarly, the older Jacob, looking back on his life from a nursing home, never admits faults or mistakes in his younger self.

Like Jacob, each character seems to have his defined role within the story, including the animals. Actually, the only character these strict definitions seem to fit well is Uncle Al, owner and producer of the Benzini Bros. Circus. His flat character complements the idea and magic of the show. Uncle Al is larger than life. His story is almost always told through his acts: redlighting or docking pay or through stories from other men. He is larger than life, and he is supposed to be.

Like Uncle Al, you never see a full picture in Water for Elephants. You will always see the show. And really, that is part of what makes this book such a fun and relaxing read. It is a show. If you have no other expectation, you will love reading this story.