What a delight to read! Water for Elephants has to be one of the best reads for anyone who likes animals, circuses, and a beautifully flowing story. Working in or for a circus, especially in recent years, had to be one of the most exhausting and difficult jobs to face. Sara Gruen has the reader smell the smells of the circus, taste the foods in between, and be in the ring with the animals as they entertain. I haven’t been in a circus since I was a teenager, which was MANY years ago. Water for Elephants took me back to those days and reminded me of some of the things I saw and smelled.
His family placed Jacob Jankowski in a nursing home because none of them wanted to “have” to take care of him. Sad but true. Jacob is not sure if he is ninety or ninety-three years old. He just knows that his age is somewhere around that range. Jacob hates the other elders in the home, he hates the food, and he hates the nurses who treat him like he doesn’t know what he’s doing or saying. This is not life for Jacob Jankowski!
The story goes back to when Jacob was at Cornell College studying to be a veterinarian. He was shy around women; he wanted nothing to do with them socially. Jacob thought that he must be the oldest male virgin in the world. Jacob is doing well in school until one day he is called out of class and told that his parents had been killed in a car accident. Jacob, of course, was broken, mentally and physically. This couldn’t be happening to him. His parents had been paying for college, so he figured he could continue his education with whatever they’d let him. His father was also a vet with a good practice. Jacob was beside himself when he was told that all the property his parents owned was being confiscated because they had no funds to pay the bills. It turns out that his father bartered with his clients because they paid him in chickens, eggs, animals, or whatever they had, but not money.
This annoyed Jacob so much that he just started walking and walking until he came to a railroad track that had a moving train on it that he was going to jump on no matter where he was going. Thus, Jacob began his life in the circus when he got on that train and met other circus performers and laborers. He had no idea what was coming. Including him in circus life was difficult, as the circus doesn’t like young yokels to be around experienced circus people. When they found out that he was “almost” a vet, they were excited, as they had no one to take medical care of the animals. This gave Jacob a ticket to circus life.
As I originally said, the author makes you feel like you’re in the circus troupe as they put up their tents, put on their shows, eat whatever food was available, get paid when there was money, run from the law when one or more in the circus caused a problem. with the law or local authorities, he rode the circus train without knowing for sure where they would end up, putting up with the circus owner and upper management who treated most of the aid like trash.
Of course, there was a lot in the book about the personal lives of the circus employees and owners. Also how the circus got more animals and equipment legally or otherwise. It is a revelation for anyone who reads. One wonders how these circus people existed in those days of traveling and living such an uncertain existence.
The story flashes back occasionally to Jacob at home where he is so unhappy. The circus comes to town and sets up shop right next to the house, which makes Jacob so excited to be so close to the circus, even though he’s not one he worked with when he was younger. The days passed so slowly as he waited for his family to come and take him on his big visit to the big top.
I doubt anyone could read this book without leaving with a great understanding of those old circus days and what they meant to the people who worked that hard life. You will know that Sara Gruen put a lot of time and effort into her research for Water for Elephants. You will enjoy this book. It will entertain you and educate you at the same time.