ePUB #31
Title: Water for Elephants Author: Sara Gruen
Commenced May 2 2020, Completed May 5 2020
Segments of this had me commemorating my prior reads.
1. The prologue and title reminded me of Elephants Can Remember. It was written by Ms. Agatha Christie whom was my all-time beloved author and creator of Mr Hercule Poirot.
2. The horrific sudden demise of Jacob’s (leading man) parents reminded me of the Baudelaire orphans that were from my favorite series “A Series of Unfortunate Events”.
3. A grumpy geriatric and an innocent empathetic 23 year old are the inter-changing point of views per chapter. That style of writing prompted the resemblance with Jonas Jonassons’s authored, originally Swedish, novel. Though the centenarian in that book was nowhere near disagreeable.
4. The included vintage pictures of erstwhile circuses put ahead of almost every chapter, this inclined me to the memoirs and biographies I’ve read and relished.
Violence level here is bearable and didn’t cause any wince for me, for I’ve stumbled upon such utterly vehement scenes in other books. There appears to be quite a number of animal cruelty in this probably because it may be what actually took place in archaic unfortunate circuses it was based on. In its prologue, somebody is attacked and killed. I thought its an elephant being tragically slaughtered by a vicious man. But I was wrong, it was the other way around! Nevertheless, a considerable dose of animal caring is packaged here too inferring to creating the Jacob character academic education, studying to be a veterinarian and him chosen to tend to the animals in the circus. One part even recited a vivid keen description of a giraffe highlighting its splendor.
This, to me, highlights a story of genuine and eccentric friendship between lives of people brought together by a circus. The friendship development between Jacob and Walter teaches that strong friendship bond is founded by overcoming conflicts and being selfless and sensitive to what each treasures. Camel’s hospitality to Jacob is admirable making amiable Camel my favorite persona. The 23 year-old lad’s narrated experiences were definitely exhilarating and adventurous apparently explaining the brevity of the sections using the 90 year old viewpoint. In my opinion, the author may allot more chapters corresponding to the circus if she pleases. Some chapter endings either uses a word or phrases that were also mentioned in the subsequent chapter but as its starting, instead.