From the Bookshelf of Read the Movie…

Water for Elephants

Sara Gruen

Start date: February 1, 2012

Finish date: February 28, 2012

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What Members Thought

Mar 06, 2013 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: outside-of-top-100

Okay, I'm going to be brutally honest... I didn't want to read this novel because Robert Pattinson plays the lead male in the film adaptation. There I've said it. That horrible bit of judgement being said, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was a great novel that I would have been sorry to miss, had I not given it this chance.

93 year old Jacob Jankowski is living in a nursing home when the circus comes to town. With the circus' arrival, Jacob begins telling a series of memories from his own life ...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Tara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

4 stars: Very good. Would recommend.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book. It sounded interesting, but I was afraid it was going to be more of a romance than I care for. I am SO happy to say that I was totally wrong. It was mostly about the circus with some romance thrown in, but not overtaking the story.

I loved the circus as a kid and remember the excitement when they started setting up the tent in the field next to the elementary school. We'd all stand and watch them during our rece ...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Mr. Twinkie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: overrated, 2000-2010

I know these writers who can't seem to figure out what they want to write. They have an amazing idea like a setting but then they completely fail to deliver a story, interesting characters or something similar. Sara Gruen is one of those writers. Sure, I have only read two of her books but they are quite similar in many ways. Of course "Water for Elephants" are not near the low levels of one of the worst book I have ever read, "Ape house", but it still have similarities in issues. First and fore I know these writers who can't seem to figure out what they want to write. They have an amazing idea like a setting but then they completely fail to deliver a story, interesting characters or something similar. Sara Gruen is one of those writers. Sure, I have only read two of her books but they are quite similar in many ways. Of course "Water for Elephants" are not near the low levels of one of the worst book I have ever read, "Ape house", but it still have similarities in issues. First and foremost: What is Gruen issue with sex? She randomly puts sexual references in nearly every chapter. This was more extreme in the "Ape House" but it still occur frequently in this book. The problem is that sexual references can easily be too much. It is not because there is anything wrong with sexual references but it must be controlled and not just thrown around randomly. It must have a purpose in the story and the sexual references in this story just don't serve any purpose other than some sort of comic relief but it often ends in akward stupidity. For instance there is one scene where the main character catches another character in masturbating. Although there is nothing wrong with scene by itself Sara Gruen uses it as a simple comic relief-sequence. You can laugh about it but it seems so randomly placed and fact is that it doesn't serve any purpose in the story...so why is it in the story in the first place?!
In another scene the main character is also being "raped" by a couple of what seems to be prostitutes. Wait! What? A couple of prostitutes takes advantage of our young Jacob who is only 23? Lol! The scene develops into a near pornographic sex-scene which was just hillarious stupid to read. But again...it served no purpose making it quite obvious what Gruen wanted with these sex-scenes...they were just randomly thrown in probably in the believe that the male audience would like the book better. Quite pathetic if you ask me.
But in general, Gruen is horrible when it comes to writing about love. Ufortunately, this is what she wants to write about. Water for Elephants is basically a love story...or a story about how old people are getting treated like trash by their family-members...or a story about how they treated elephants badly in circus...or a story about the problems of the economic Depression of the beginning thirties...or a story about a violent crazy husband who treats his wife like s***...yes, I had a hard time trying to find out what this story was about. It is not a problem when a story deals with several themes but like the "Ape House" the story of "Water for Elephants" just want to deal with so many themes that the book feels clueless. What is the purpose of this book?! This is what I was trying to figure out the whole book but even the end doesn't really provide a satisfactory answer.
Neither could I be satisfied with some of the dialog scenes. Sure, most of it was quite good. I especially liked the dialogscenes with the old Jacob. However, there are some overly cheap, cliche, cheesy dialog scenes in the book and guess where they are mostly? Yep, during dialog between Jacob and Marlena. Prepare yourself for "I love you"-pukes.

Despite these flaws "Water for Elephants" is actually an okay book. It has fine characters and an interesting setting. The characters are also fine but they lacked focus. I wanted to know more about their backgrounds. Unfortunately, they were also suffering from a plot that lacked focus.

In the end, I wish I could like this book. The premise is great but the author is bad and what happens when these two gets mixed? You get an average book! ...more

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