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
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MODERN / POPULAR READS

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What Members Thought

Jul 26, 2008 Peggy Walker rated it it was amazing

This was a wonderful read. I passed it on to my daughter who shared it with her book club. Everyone enjoyed it. I loved the fact that we got to see what an amazingly interesting life Jakob had led. So many times elderly people who live in assisted living or nursing home facilities aren't given the dignity of having a past. I could tell that the author had done extensive research on the life of the traveling circuses of that era. I actually wished she had added even more detail for a longer book. ...more

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Aug 03, 2013 Amber Lea rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

I don't know how to feel about this book. I don't have any complaints that I can clearly articulate. I just never felt very invested in this story. Several times I put it down and forgot all about it.

I will say the elephant, Rosie, is a great character. (Unfortunately, she comes into the story kind of late.) I love that she's just as real for the reader as any of the human characters. Perhaps she's a little too smart to be believable, but I like her.

And I love the portrayal of poverty and strugg I don't know how to feel about this book. I don't have any complaints that I can clearly articulate. I just never felt very invested in this story. Several times I put it down and forgot all about it.

I will say the elephant, Rosie, is a great character. (Unfortunately, she comes into the story kind of late.) I love that she's just as real for the reader as any of the human characters. Perhaps she's a little too smart to be believable, but I like her.

And I love the portrayal of poverty and struggle. That was probably the best thing about the book. And I adore Kinko/Walter and his dog, Queenie. He's the only other character who's in between the two worlds like Jacob is, but Jacob is invaluable with his ivy league education, and you have no doubt he has good things in store for him. Walter is stuck with no real hope for anything better, and that makes him abrasive and realistic. He's such a necessary character. If it weren't for him I probably wouldn't've bothered to finish the story.

Anyway, I went into this book with zero expectations. I knew it was popular and well-liked but I mean, so is 50 Shades of Grey. I think if I'd expected an amazing book I'd have hated it. It's really just ok.

*edit* I watched the movie because Christoph Waltz is a dreamboat and I'll watch him in anything. It wasn't too bad. They found the most adorable old man in the world to play elderly Jacob. Understandably, they cut out everything from the retirement home, which I thought was a shame. I don't know that all that stuff really worked in the book, but I appreciated it. They also made August and Big Al into the same character, which makes sense...but I kind of wish they hadn't. Those two were totally enabling each other to get away with the horrible things they did, and I would have liked to have seen that dynamic in the movie. (But there's no way they would have had time for those scenes anyway.) Anyway, the reason I'm adding this here is this: if you're curious about this book, I say watch the movie first. It will give you a pretty good idea of what you're going to get. I didn't realize there was a movie when I picked up this book. ...more

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