Water for Elephants

By: Sara Gruen

Narrated by: David LeDoux, John Randolph Jones

Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

An atmospheric tale of life and love in a Depression-era traveling circus.

Nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. It's the Depression Era and Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. There he meets the freaks, grifters, and misfits that populate this world. Jacob introduces us to Marlena, beautiful star of the equestrian act; to August, her charismatic but twisted husband (and the circus' animal trainer); and to Rosie, a seemingly untrainable elephant.

Beautifully written, with a luminous sense of time and place, Water for Elephants tells of love in a world in which love's a luxury few can afford.

©2006 Sara Gruen (P)2006 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• Book Sense Book of the Year Award, Adult Fiction, 2007
• Audie Award Finalist, Fiction, Unabridged, 2007

" Water for Elephants resembles stealth hits like The Giant's House, by Elizabeth McCracken, or The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, books that combine outrageously whimsical premises with crowd-pleasing romanticism. . . . With a showman's expert timing, [Gruen] saves a terrific revelation for the final pages, transforming a glimpse of Americana into an enchanting escapist fairy tale.” ( New York Times Book Review)

"Just like a circus, the magic of the story and the writing convince you to suspend your disbelief." ( Booklist)

"Gruen skillfully humanizes the midgets, drunks, rubes, and freaks who populate her book." ( Publishers Weekly)

First, I hate circuses, mostly because of animals

But several people I know really liked this book, so I decided to read it. It was basically a love story with the circus as a backdrop. The only character I found real was Jacob as an old man and I liked that narrator. The music at the beginning and end of some of the chapters was really annoying; it drowned out the narrator. Still, I had a lump in my throat at the end.

Beautiful story

Heartbreaking and beautiful with amazing redemption at the end. Wonderfully read, and almost hard to listen to without crying at times. Loved this book!

Awesome

This book will make you laugh , and cry...it is such a different setting that most books - but it is a great story. And after it you will probably want a pet Elephant for yourself :-)

Excellent listen. A great book .

This is an excellent book with wonderful narrators that perform like an academy award movie group.

Awesome book! I love audio books!

what an amazing view into pre-WW2 America. if you aren't sure about what rights you have, take a listen into what they didn't.

Don't miss this circus

An enchanting story with all the smiles, gasps & cringes of the circus. It's well written with wonderful description. The contrast of narrators really sets the stage for past & present. The narrator for the younger Jacob adds excellent inflection & voices to characters. Highly enjoyable & recommended.

Beautiful!

This book is absolutely beautiful! The narrators are outstanding, young Jacob is incredibly talented, all the voices of the characters are distinctly different, just remarkable. 90 or 93 Jacob is charming! Highly recommend it!

America life all through a circus and a train

Would you listen to Water for Elephants again? Why?

I have as I have already listened to it and read it before it was made into the movie. It takes you back in time to the 1930's. Using a Circus and the circus train as the back drop to these great characters was done brilliantly

What did you like best about this story?

The way it is told from an older man who lived through these events you relive his life through his eyes.

What does David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

They were both very enjoyable and gave life to the words on the page

If you could take any character from Water for Elephants out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Marlena for many reasons from how she joined the circus to what it was like to care for Rosie to many other questions of course. I do wish Marlena was written better when they made the movie, The great Reese Witherspoon did as always a great job but the whole movie was so weak compared to the book. I really wished the writers would have taken more care to really give that great cast in the movie a chance to have turned this story into one of the greatest movies.

Any additional comments?

if you saw the movie, please read or listen to the book it's so much stronger. If you read the book or listened to it still watch the movie some great actors give solid roles. But this story will take you back into the hard times of America life all through a circus and a train.

narator(s) nailed it!

Awesome story line, and great narrator from 93 year old man Jacob to 23 year old Jacob.

Good read

You know it's a good book when u can't stop listening. Enjoyed this book a lot