2011 – “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

When I was a child one of the things that happened quite a lot in the books that I read was that people ran away and joined the circus – Enid Blyton used this plot device several times. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is an adult version of the same storiy set in Depression era USA.

When Jacob’s parents die unexpectedly and he discovers that there is no money for him he abandons his training as a vet and joins the travelling circus coming through his town. The circus travels through America on railway wagons, stopping at small towns and giving shows and then going on to the next. The circus is pleased to have a vet, albeit unqualified, on board but Jacob is not welcomed by all the workers and performers.

This story is told by Jacob who is, as an elderly man, living in a care home in a town which is visited by a circus. He very much wants to attend but he is limited by the well-meaning staff in the home and his own physical limitations. The narrative returns to Jacob during the book and the narrator of the story is the older Jacob who is often well aware of the mistakes made by his younger self.

The circus is not glamorous. There is a huge social divide between the performers and the workers. Many of the people travelling with the circus are criminals. There is little money and often wages are unpaid and, in times of desperation, some travellers are tossed off the train as it travels. There is competition from other, similar, circuses. Jacob stays because he wants to look after the animals who are often cruelly treated (some of the details are not for the squeamish – this is not a children’s book).

Jacob falls for Marlena, the performer who rides the horses, but her boyfriend/manager, who is also responsible for all the animals, is unstable. Sometimes he is friendly but at others he is hostile and violent. Jacob wants to save Marlena too but can’t see how he can do that and look after the animals. Eventually everything comes together into a climax when someone is killed.

I could see this book as a film, and I understand that it has now been made into one. It has an air of melodrama all the way through and many of the characters are larger than life. I found, however, that I couldn’t feel the romantic relationship at the centre of the book. I could understand Jacob’s attraction to Marlena but I didn’t understand her romance with him – the author did not convince me of this. Without the central relationship the book didn’t work for me and I found the ending absolutely unbelievable. This was a book that didn’t engage me and took me a lot longer to finish it than I would have expected.