What a delight to read! Water for Elephants has to be one of the best reads for anyone who loves animals, circuses, and a wonderfully 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 odors of the circus, taste the foods in between, and be in the ring with the animals as they entertain. I haven’t been to 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 care for 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 no 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 was called out of class and told that his parents had been killed in a car accident. Jacob, of course, was devastated, mentally and physically. This couldn’t be happening to him. His parents had been paying for his college, so he thought he could continue his education with whatever they left him. His father was also a veterinarian with a good practice. Jacob was beside himself when told that all the property owned by his parents was being seized 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 railway track that had a moving train 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 farmhands. He had no idea what was coming. His inclusion in circus life was difficult, as the circus does not like young rednecks to be surrounded by experienced circus people. When they found out that he was “almost” a veterinarian, they were excited, since they had no one to take medical care of the animals. This gave Jacob a ticket to circus life.
Like 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, ate whatever food was available, got paid when there was money, ran from the law when one or more in the circus caused a problem. with the law or local authorities, he rode the circus train not knowing for sure where they would end up, putting up with the circus owner and top management who treated most of the aid like trash.
Of course, there was a lot in the book about the personal lives of the employees and owners of the circus. Also how the circus got more animals and equipment legally or otherwise. It is a revelation to anyone who reads. One wonders how these circus people existed in those days of traveling and living such an uncertain existence.
The story occasionally goes back to Jacob in the home where he is so unhappy. The circus comes to town and sets up right next to the house, which makes Jacob very excited to be so close to the circus, even though he’s not one of those who worked 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 coming away with a great understanding of those old circus days and what they meant to the people who toiled that hard life. You will know that Sara Gruen spent a lot of time and effort researching her for Water for Elephants. You will enjoy this book. It will entertain and educate you at the same time.