Water for Elephants
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Price:
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$29.95
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On Sale:
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18/05/2006
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Formats:
Hardcover
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From the acclaimed author of Riding Lessons and Flying
Changes comes the beautifully written story of a dangerous romance. Jacob
Jankowski, a young man suddenly adrift at the height of the Depression, enters
the world of a second-rate circus struggling to survive through one-night stands
in town after town. Working in the circus menagerie, Jacob meets Marlena, the
beautiful star of the equestrian act, and her husband, August, a charismatic but
cruel animal trainer. He also comes to know Rosie, an elephant who seems
untrainable—until Jacob finds a way to reach her.
Water for Elephants is a dark and beautiful tale of life,
not just among the colourful characters of the circus, but also during the lean
years of the Great Depression. Sara Gruen writes with humour and humanity,
warmth and whimsy, depicting a world where even love was a luxury few could
afford.
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Author Extras
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Critical Praise for
Water for Elephants
"The circus, the Great Depression, a complex elephant, equally complex love, the mists and twists of memory articulated in the utterly winning voice of a very old man who's seen it all: these are the irresistible elements of Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen has written an utterly transporting novel richly full of the stuff of life."
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Robert Owen Butler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
"Gorgeous, brilliant, and superbly plotted, Water for Elephants swept me into the world of the circus during the Depression and it did not let me go until the very end. I don't think it has let me go even now. Sara Gruen has a voice to rival John Irving's, and I am hopelessly, unabashedly in love with this book. Read it."
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Joshilyn Jackson, author of Gods in Alabama
"So much more than a tale about a circus, Water for Elephants is a compelling journey not only under the big top, but into the protagonist's heart. Sara Gruen uses her talent as a writer to bring that world alive for the reader: I could smell it, taste it, feel every word of it. This is a fiction reader's dream come true."
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Jeanne Ray, New York Times bestselling author of Julie and Romeo Get Lucky
"An entirely original, captivating story of finding love in a down-at-the-heels traveling circus in the Great Depression. Sara Gruen writes with great tenderness and breathtaking drama which makes the novel impossible to put down."
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Stephanie Cowell, author of Marrying Mozart
"In this thrilling, romantic story set in a traveling circus in the 1930s, Sara Gruen has Big Top's worth of vivid characters and an exhilarating narrative that kept me up all night. From the perseverance of a terrier named Queenie, to the charm of Rosie the elephant, this masterpiece of storytelling is a book about what animals can teach people about love."
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Susan Cheever, author of My Name Is Bill
"A classic heartfelt, coming-of-age story, [with] the potential to be this summer's literary sleeper"
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Amazon.com Editorial Staff
"[Gruen] uses her expertise brilliantly. She writes with great authority, painting vivid pictures of circus life and the many characters it attracts."
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Edmonton Journal
"Gruen's writing is visual and fast-paced. Her fascination and love for the old travelling circus is palpable. . . . Water for Elephants would make a wonderful companion on a sunny afternoon in the park."
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The Gazette (Montreal)
"The must-read author of summer."
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The Ottawa Citizen
"Rich and surprising."
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People
"A good summer read."
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Winnipeg Free Press
"Ladies and gentlemen, step right up for a gripping story about a travelling circus train and the performers, sideshow freaks, animals and working crew that populated it during the Great Depression. Take a seat under the big top and enjoy the marvellous wonders that lie within Sara Gruen's compelling novel, Water for Elephants."
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The Vancouver Sun
"Each chapter in Water for Elephants is introduced with intriguing vintage photographs of Depression-era circuses, part of Gruen's meticulous research to capture the closed and complex circus community. Her careful attention to detail fascinates."
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Ottawa Citizen
"Lushly romantic. . . . The magic of the story and the writing convince you to suspend your disbelief."
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Booklist
"Old-fashioned and endearing, this is an enjoyable, fast-paced story."
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Library Journal
"Gruen sketches out character, events and the circus' special lingo with well-chosen words. . . .She keeps the story moving like a speeding train."
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Charlotte Observer
"One of the many pleasures of this novel is the opportunity to enter a bizarrely coded and private world with its own laws, superstitions and vocabulary. . . . The pleasures of that world were so compelling, so detailed and vivid, that I couldn't bear to be torn away from it for a single minute."
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Chicago Tribune
"Gruen has done her homework. . . . Lively with historical detail and unexpected turns. . . . [A] delightful gem springing from a fascinating footnote to history that absolutely deserved to be mined."
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Denver Post
"An arresting new novel. . . . 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."
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The New York Times Book Review
"A sawdust-and-tinsel novel reminiscent of Robertson Davies."
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Time
Reader Reviews from First Look
Water for Elephants is spellbinding and rich in character and insight. Sara Gruen draws the reader into the world of the circus, skillfully flitting backwards and forwards between the Depression and the present, to create an entrancing and satisfying full circle in time and plot. The book is a spectacle, as intense in its wonder and suspense as the circus itself.
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Marcie (Gibsons, BC)
Water for Elephants is spellbinding and rich in character and insight. Sara Gruen draws the reader into the world of the circus, skillfully flitting backwards and forwards between the Depression and the present, to create an entrancing and satisfying full circle in time and plot. The book is a spectacle, as intense in its wonder and suspense as the circus itself.
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Marcie (Gibsons, BC)
Water for Elephants is phenomenal. I could almost smell the peanuts in the midway. Each character was so colorful. The "today" part of the story, and the "yesterday" part of the story was very easy to follow. ------I will recommend to everyone!!!!!!
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Scott (Thamesford, ON)
Water for Elephants was a wonderful read right from the cover. I appreciated the archival photos and research that went into this captivating circus story. The characters were wonderfully crafted and certainly stirred my emotions. I enjoyed the split plot of Jacob's life. His later years in the nursing home were so vivid to me, having spent time working and visiting elders, they had me laughing or feeling so badly for Jacob. Great writing and the Polish was a nice spice too. From the hilarious to the brutal, the ending was beautiful and left a smile on my face.
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Val (Edmonton, AB)
Plunging into Water for Elephants is akin to stepping into a time machine that smoothly and skillfully wafts the reader to and fro, from past to present and back again. We meet Jacob Jankowski, an understandably petulant old timer as he bides his last bit of time in a nursing home. We follow his slide back through the years when, as a young veterinary student, he determines to rise above the Darwinian stench of an illicit and deadly travelling circus in the dirty thirties. Whether he jostles his way through a train filthed with jaded performers, exploited workmen, and an underfed menagerie, or traverses the sterile halls of the present, the reader is deluged with the stain, the stench, the shudder of suspense. We spur him on as he finds camaraderie in a shared bottle of moonshine, hatred in the prod of a bull hook, remorse on a sharp knife edge, and life changing clarity in the smile of an elephant. Jacob Jankowski becomes a friend whom we are regretful to leave, and Water for Elephants is a book we never want to end.
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Wendy (Mississauga, ON)
Jacob Jankowski came alive for me not only as a young man trying to find his way during the depression, but as a young man trapped inside an aging body as well. Water for Elephants was one of those books you hate to see end. Thank you for sharing that with me.
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Elona (Toronto, ON)
Water for Elephants is a tale of a young man at the time in his life when he looses his parents. He ends up on a train belonging to a circus show, but what he actually finds is a journey undertaken with confrontational, weathered and unsympathetic people in a world where the wonders of the circus is simply an illusion.
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Julie (Scarborough, ON)
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Water for Elephants
New Page 1 The runaway international bestseller by “the must-read author of summer” ( Ottawa Citizen ) Orphaned and penniless at the height of the Depression, Jacob Jankowski escapes everything he knows by jumping on a passing train—and inadvertently runs away with the circus. So...
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