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Water for Elephants

By: Sara Gruen
Narrated by: David LeDoux, John Randolph Jones
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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)

What listeners say about Water for Elephants

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Loved everything about it!

The choice to have 2 narrators for this book was fantastic and added a realism you couldn't get otherwise! I loved the story, loved the narrators. Easy and fun to listen to.

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Loved it! Best book I have heard in ages <br />

It is engaging from the very beginning. .the story grabs you and you just can't put it down..

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Very skeptical

Loved every minute reader, story and everything about it................really did not think I wold like it at all..............just could not stop listening..........Great just hated it had to end

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Excellent!

Amazing performances by the narrators and wonderfully written story! So good, I may have to listen again!

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Loved it!

I laughed. I cried. I loved it! The story was great. Heartbreaking. The narration was fantastic.

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Great Story

the story was the story was awesome, and the performance was equally impressive. I'm usually not a fan of romance novels, but this was definitely my kind of story.

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Loved every second

I've started this book (paper back) a few times and made it pretty far through years ago. Which made me hesitant to buy it on audible. I'm so happy I did.
It was wonderfully written and preformed.
I laughed. I bawled. I loved every second of this book.

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Heartwarming and heartwrenching !

I loved this book and the narration is outstanding...you feel as if you are listening to your own grandfather tell the wondereous tales of his growing older from adolescent to old age..its captivating from beginning to end. I have told everyone I know they MUST listen to this audio book.

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Fantastic book, equally fantastic narration

I highly highly recommend this book to anyone who works in a nursing home, as I do. What an amazing narrative of a life, as close to true to life as one can get- the book puts you right there in the moment.

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Amazing

This book is amazing! I want to read it again immediately and hear more and more!

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