Annotation #1 – October 10, 2007
Title: Water for Elephants
Author: Gruen, Sara
Publication: 2006
Number of Pages: 335
Genre: Historical Fiction
Geographical Setting: New York, Chicago, and Travels through other American cities
Time Period: 1931 – Depression-era
Series: N/A
Plot Summary: Jacob Jankowski is a retired veterinarian, who lives in a nursing home and finds himself drifting in and out of his memories as a young man in the circus during the Great Depression. At the age of 23, days before graduating from Cornell University, he finds out his parents are killed in an auto accident. He is left penniless and distraught and wanders out into the middle of nowhere and encounters a train. Overwhelmed with is grief he jumps into the train and discovers it’s a traveling circus train. His journey begins and life in the Circus isn’t as fun and magical as one may believe. Jacob is hired to work for the circus; he cares for the animals; struggles with various crewmembers and performers; and falls in love with Marlena, a circus performer and Rosie the elephant who brings self-fulfillment and hope to their lives.
Subject Headings: 20th Century/the thirties; The Depression; Historical Fiction; Young Men; Parent’s Death; Love; Interpersonal Relationships/Triangle Love; Men/Women Relationships; Circuses; Train Traveling Circuses; Circus Animals; Elephants; Circus Performers; Human and Animal Relationships; Manic Depression, Veterinarians, and Gerontology
Appeal: easy read, narrative, romantic, fast-paced, page turner, character centered, adventurous, amusing, mesmerizing, emotional, tender, thoughtful, sad, melancholy, flashbacks, mournful depressed, historical detailed/chronicle, bittersweet, dramatic, somber tone, sensual, racy, sadistic, cruel, violent, fearful, intriguing, suspenseful, daring, hopeful
Similar Authors and Works (Fiction): Iain Lawerence—Ghost Boy (A lonely young man runs away from home and joins a circus, works with elephants and searches for self acceptance), Cathy Day – Circus in the Winter (A collection of interconnected short-stories of the lives of circus descendants from Lima, Indiana. Recounts of sideshow adventures, family stories and historical research set between the years if 1884-1939), Robert Hough – The Final Confessions of Mabel Stark: a novel (A story based on the life of Mabel Stark, first female tiger trainer in Ringling Brothers Circus in the 1920s, she flees from her life tribulations and finds skillful connection and communication with tigers)
Similar Authors and Works (Nonfiction): Bruce Feiler –Under the Big Top: a Season with the Circus (A memoir of Feiler’s life after joining a circus to fulfill his dream and study American Circus life.), Nell Stroud – Josser: Days and Life of a Circus Girl (an autobiography of Nell Stroud, at the age of 18 she runs away and joins a series of circuses in American and Europe, she writes about her experiences and her efforts to come to terms with her mother’s unfortunate accident), Janet M. Davis—The Circus Ages: Culture & Society Under the American Big Top (American studies professor, Davis captures the historical and cultural process of the oldest entertainment show, the fascinating circus, research and illustrations)
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