The most spectacular show on Earth!
Water for Elephants
written by Sara Gruen
Who doesn't love the circus? The sights and smells draw families and friends into the big striped tent to see all kinds of wonders whenever they come to town. Whenever I think of the circus I get memories of eating salty, buttery popcorn, and stealing freshly spun cotton candy from the person sitting closest to me while never taking my eyes off of the spectacular show taking place in the rings. Acrobats leap and drop swinging in the open air, horses march proudly around the ring, and tigers and lions growl menacingly at the small wide-eyed children through the bars of their cages. There are many types of circuses to see, but the fictional circus in Water for Elephants makes me want to jump inside the pages and spend a day at the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.
Jacob Jankowski also has fond memories of the circus. When Ringling Brothers Circus rolls into town he jumps at the opportunity to get out of his assisted living home and bust out the walker to go see a show to remind him of the good old' days. When Jacob was twenty-three years old his parents died in a horrific car wreck which sparked something in Jacob. During his final exam at Cornell University that would officially make him a veterinarian he runs out and hops on a train going anywhere. (Cue Don't Stop Believing song) However this train is no ordinary train, this train is the traveling circus of the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob has run off to the circus and so does the reader.
Jacob becomes established in the show as their vet, thanks to a warm recommendation from Camel, the man whose train car Jacob leaped into. Now he meets the performers (called "kinkers" behind there backs) and the workers, two very different groups in the circus hierarchy. Gradually he learns the ropes along with the people to be careful around such as Blackie, whose job it is to "red light" people, slang for throwing unwanted people off the moving train. Jacob also meets Uncle Al, the thrifty head of the circus. And then there's August. He is the head of the menagerie and is an extremely charming man with bursts of manic behavior. He is the one to watch out for. But Jacob only has eyes for Marlena, a dazzling performer and August's wife. Jacob is instantly drawn to her, which causes trouble along the way.
The reader is thrown head first into the world of depression age circuses. While still a spectacular show to the audience, we are given a backstage pass to see the inner workings and struggles of putting together and keeping a successful circus. Pay cuts, pickled hippos, picking apart bankrupt circuses, "red lighting", The Liberty March, and carrying water for the star elephant, Rosie. This story is one of my favorites because of this unique setting and how its function is as important as any character. It is about a different time and is contrasted beautifully through the joint narration of twenty-three year old Jacob and ninety or ninety-three year old Mr. Jankowski. It is wonderful how the story begins and ends with Jacob running away to the circus and us running away with him.
However it's also Jacob's incredible story that attracts me to this book because its more than just about a cool circus, it's a story about a boys journey to becoming a real man, and a story of an that same man now aged rediscovering the joys of life. It is a rare thing for one book to offer so much to the reader.
