Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was disappointed with this book. Perhaps because I had been looking forward to reading it for some time. I like elephants, I liked the title and the cover, and I saw people I admire reading it. Well, the first half didn't disappoint me, it was well set up. But the romance that takes over the second-half wasn't very convincing. Other than her apparent good looks, I couldn't understand the appeal of the protagonist's love interest. I also had a hard time rooting for them because she was already married.

Both the circus history and the Great Depression historical fiction spliced throughout the novel were fascinating. I liked certain characters, especially his dwarf roommate. I think she did a good job creating the very elderly character the narrator becomes. But I didn't think he seemed like he was the same character as the young protagonist. His voice, opinions, interests didn't matched the version of him as a young man. When he is young he is passive and quiet and as an old person he is demanding, crude, and humorous. People change, but I figured these two versions of the same person would reflect one another more.

The elephant's antics were entertaining and the intelligence of the exotic animals in this story made their abuse even less tolerable. It reminded me of an event that happened when I was a kid growing up in Hawaii. An elephant killed her trainer, broke free from the circus, and went on a rampage, running down the streets of Honolulu. They killed the poor thing of course, and then there was talk of a statewide ban for visiting elephants. The circus hasn't been back since. Ten years later government authorities took away a whole mess of mistreated elephants--from that same owner!

I remember the news coverage was live while it was happening. Here is a video I found, if you're interested. Warning: it's pretty graphic.




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