From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

Water for Elephants

Sara Gruen

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: MODERN / POPULAR READS

Why we're reading this: March 2022 - Modern Selection
[close] March 2022 - Modern Selection

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MODERN / POPULAR READS

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What Members Thought

Oct 10, 2017 Carrie rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, animals, male-pov, annoying-characters, circus

So much of this book I did not like. The characters were not enjoyable. It had moments that got me, there where moments that I thought why am I reading this?. I enjoyed the older Jacob more then younger Jacob at times. But the whole 90 er 93 thing got OLD FAST!

The best part of the book was the end. The last say 15% or so of the novel was what made me give it not under 2 stars. It was for a challenge that me not DNF the book.

2.5 stars

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Sep 19, 2011 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, 20th-century, animals, circuses, shamrocks-and-stones

A thoroughly delightful book. The book alternates between the 93 year-old Jacob in a nursing home and the 23 year-old Jacob who becomes the caretaker of a circus menagerie. The author poignantly portrays the elderly Jacob, frustrated at the limitations of old age and abandoned by his family, in stark contrast with his youth and his adventures with a circus where society's misfits survive because of their fierce loyalty to each other. The author has done her homework into the historical world of ...more

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Sep 01, 2008 Kat (A Journey In Reading) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2009, owned-books, historical-fiction

I can say that this is one of the few books that I have ever given 5 stars to. When I see a book that catches my attention, I do look at the ratings, but take that with a grain of salt. Everyone has different tastes.

I loved this book because of Jacob. He was an great character, I loved going back to his 93 yr old self, or 90 yr old self, I can't remember.... his thoughts were so funny at times. And who couldn't love Rosie with her raiding the vegetable garden and her amber eyes. I do think that ...more

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Jan 14, 2010 Amy Ellis rated it really liked it

Beautifully written story about circus trains in the early 1930s. Somewhat vulgar, though, and a little gruesome. Great narrative and also about to be made into a movie.

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Aug 29, 2017 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed, popular-fiction, historical-fiction, z-read-in-2017

Great recreation of an era that I'm glad I missed. They may call them "the Greatest Generation" but I think another name for them was "the Survivors." This book shows yet again just how hard life was in the Depression. So much so that even reading of it 80 years later is depressing. ...more

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