From Barnes and Nobel:  As a young man, Jacob Jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. It was the early part of the great Depression, and for Jacob, now ninety, the circus world he remembers was both his salvation and a living hell. A veterinary student just shy of a degree, he was put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It was there that he met Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. And he met Rosie, an untrainable elephant who was the great gray hope for this third-rate traveling show. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and, ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.

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I began this novel with trepidation as the synopsis didn’t draw me in.  I actually only picked it up because, last spring, I needed one more book in my cart to obtain free shipping, so I sent a request out over facebook.  The first response was from a co-worker of mine stating that Water for Elephants was the best book she ever read.  So, I added it to my queue and achieved free shipping.  When the book came, I lovingly put it on my shelf, and that’s where it sat for a few months.  Then, one day when I couldn’t find anything else to read, I finally picked it up.  I have one word for this novel: PHENOMENAL!!  Have you ever noticed that the novels you put off always end up being the best ones?  This happens to me all the time.  I did the same thing with The Hunger Games, letting it get dusty on the shelf, and then I read it and just wanted to kick myself for putting it off for so long.  My new motto is that, if I don’t want to read it right now, I better read it right now because it’s going to be phenomenal.  So far, that motto hasn’t steered me wrong.

But anyway, back to the novel.  I LOVE this book.  I was instantly enveloped by the mystery of the prologue, in which a murder takes place.  I’m not giving anything away, even though I really want to, but I will say that, when you come across this same section in the novel later, you need to read it carefully. 

The first chapter of the novel speeds ahead to the present, where a bitter Jacob Jankowski, the protagonist, resides in a nursing home, alone and forsaken by his family.  The writing style that Gruen evokes is extremely powerful, and her seamless change between past and present is breathtaking.  As the story builds, Gruen unveils tiny snippets of the past and present to further engage the reader, and I loved every minute of it.

It is obvious that a lot of love and care went into writing and researching this novel, and Gruen is able to place the reader in the center of the Great Depression as the story unfolds.  As I read, the world around me disappeared and I became enveloped in the circus life.  The writing is so detailed and descriptive that you can almost hear and smell it all, and Gruen’s characters are realistic and wonderfully developed.  I love them all… even the ones I hated as I read.  If you read nothing else for the rest of your life, at least read this novel–if I gave more than five star ratings, it’d be the book to get more than five!

With the book being so phenomenal, I approached the movie the same way I originally approached the novel: with trepidation.  It is a very rare occurrence for a movie to be as good as the book, and with Robert Pattinson taking the lead, I was wary of this movie.  However, I was happily surprised.  Water for Elephants is an extraordinary movie, and one I can’t wait to see again and again!  Like Gruen’s writing, the movie is fluid and beautifully produced.  Francis Lawrence, the director, has taken this novel to a new level with his visuals, adaptation, and cast.  Everyone, including Pattinson, delivers an award winning performance and I was in awe as I watched.  Lawrence makes the novel come alive before your eyes in his breathtaking adaptation, and although there are discrepancies between the movie and the novel, as there always are, Lawrence did an amazing job portraying the novel on screen.  I highly recommend seeing this movie as it’s just that amazing, but, as always, I suggest reading the novel first.  Five stars all around!