![]() I did not foresee that outcome, but I suppose it makes sense. I didn't find this book at all predictable-I spent much of it trying to figure out what would happen to Walter, Jacob's dwarfish roommate. His dualism generates a great deal of conflict for Jacob, who deals with it in interesting ways. A paranoid schizophrenic, August can be charming one moment and monstrous the next. Likewise, one of the book's antagonists, August the animal wrangler. ![]() Gruen creates a truly despicable man in the form of "Uncle Al," who cares only for maintaining and expanding his circus without regard for the wellbeing of those beneath him. The events at times are horrible, but the way it fits seamlessly with the plot and the time period-the fact that this is the Depression and people may do anything for a buck-makes it seem all the more realistic. ![]() In both cases, I instantly felt sympathy for these Jacobs, mixed with a little horror. ![]() Meanwhile, we also see him as a ninety- (or ninety-three-) year-old man in an "assisted living" home, mulling over his mortality. The narrator Jacob Jankowski tells us the story of his time with a circus travelling the States during the Great Depression. ![]() The intriguingly titled Water for Elephants is everything a good book can be: an absolute page-turner wonderful characters and a well-researched, well-written plot. ![]()
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