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)

Good read

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

Fantastic

Fun, attention grabbing, and well written. Though it’s a touch formulaic, I enjoyed the ups and down and felt unusually connected to the characters.

Why did I wait so long!?

I've had this book forever and should have read it years ago. Sad, but very very good.

Best ever beside Fannie Flagg reading

This is an amazing reading of a terrific, and satisfying book. Highly recommended for listening at the cottage by the lake.

Beautiful classic!

This is a love story with amazing twists. Jacob and Marlena are drawn to each other, in part because of their mutual love and connection with animals, and in part because each is from another world and accidentally became part of a traveling circus run by heartless, greedy, ruthless men and it is set during the Great Depression. The characters come alive across the pages, including the animals. It is impossible to not love Rosie, Bobo and Queenie as much as you grow to love Jacob, Marlena, Walter, Camel and the rest of the team of close-knit community of the show. Friendships become solidified over mutual hatred for the unnecessarily and brutally cruel August. I love this book!!

Great story

Very good story and beautifully done. I was very engrossed in it until the end

Great story!

Great story! Read extremely well! I'm going to listen to it again and again. I strongly recommend.

good story

I would have enjoyed it more without all the F-bombs. The story kept me interested.

Amazing Narrators!

I flew threw this book! It was so interesting and exciting, I mean who doesn't dream as a kid to run away to the circus. I usually judge off of the preview of the narration if I think I will like the book, this time I was a little skeptical because I wasn't initially aware that there were two narrators, but i decided to try it out anyways since I had heard such good things about the book. Not long after starting I fell in love with both narrators, they were so expressive and believable and every character was distinguishable. It was truly a pleasure to listen to this book and I was so sad to finish it. "AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY"

excellent

I absolutely love this book. There were so many twists and turns and suspense and love. This book had it all I'm so glad I listened to it. I highly recommend it