"The whole thing's illusion..."

After spending another stormy Seattle day cooped up in my third story apartment, hibernating in nothing other than my pajamas, I finished Sara Gruen’s third novel Water for Elephants.  I spent the majority of yesterday making a significant dent in the novel until my loyal Larry lulled me out of my cave, took me for Vivace coffee, and grocery shopping.  Keeping me content and dry Larry cooked us a delicious meal of ground turkey and quinoa stuffed bell peppers, a recipe we put a little chipotle twist on to make things more interesting (my lack of pictures to capture the delicacy is due to a tragic event involving my camera and intoxicants:  I don’t want to talk about it).  We spent the remainder of our night snuggled up on my couch with herbal teas and books in hand; he a tragically intense novel he kept exclaiming in suspense over, and I, my new endeavour, Water for Elephants.  I woke this morning to Mum alarming “We Have a Map of the Piano.”  After much reluctance I sent Larry on his way; and after devouring a hearty bowl of yogurt, fresh berries, and granola I crawled back under my blankets committed to finishing the novel I stayed up late reading out loud to my patient and sleepy friend.  Now with yet another book under my belt and successfully added to my list of “Books I’ve Read” by Rachelle LaRose, I am ready to spill forth my opinions.  Paralleling the biblical story of Jacob from The Old Testament, Gruen writes her own story of Jacob Jankowski who, during the alcohol prohibition of the Great Depression, drops out of his last semester in veterinary school after his parents’ death in a fatal car accident landing himself in the midst of the Benzini Brother’s Most Spectacular Show on Earth.  Withstanding adventures of treachery, friendship, and love, Jacob finds his destiny within the cars and tents of this small traveling circus. Despite the circus being one grand illusion, the reader is able to delve into the intricacies of a train circus through Gruen’s carefully researched text.  This, in the end, is how the text felt: researched.  Despite my hopes to fall wildly in love with this book, I regrettably left feeling mildly entertained.  Water for Elephants was written with a very much “this is what happened” kind of style, which I think is what made it into such a quick read.  In hindsight, this makes sense; before and in between writing novels Sara Gruen wrote for tech companies, content of which included information about server databases and data files.  However, I will admit I did laugh out loud at moments and was eager to find out what happened next, but I wasn’t left with any strong feelings for Gruen’s characters.  Intermixed within Jacob’s past in the circus, the novel includes chapters of Jacob’s ninety (or is it ninety three) year old present self, a character I did feel for.  I’m not sure if in Jacob’s old age he pulled at my heartstrings simply because of his situation and how he reminisced on the past, but he left me saddened yet optimistic.  I had originally intended on reading Water for Elephants with my lovely friend Ashley Whipple on our excursion abroad, but we were both already immersed in different books at the time.  Girlfriend, I look forward to talking through this read with you since clearly I was left with a shit tone to write about.  Truth be told, I have never been a woman of few words.

P.S.  I am thoroughly excited for Hollywood’s version of Water for Elephants; whether it’s because of all the glitz and glam I hope will be captured by the big screen or because the main character is played by RPattz, I’ll never tell!