Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen ☆☆☆☆☆

I heavily criticize book blurbs that say things like "riveting" and "breathtaking" and "thrilling." Mostly because it feels like the authors writing the blurbs are arbitrarily picking words out of a thesaurus. I have to make this book an exception. I honestly picked it up because I love reading books before I see the movie adaptations and I had put off the movie for too long that everyone was talking about it. And yet, when I picked up the book the blurbs made me roll my eyes. That changed when I read it. If asked to describe the book myself I would say "seductive" and "alluring" among the words I previously criticized on other blurbs.

This book had me from the very beginning. I felt the pain Jacob felt in every word. I understood his escape and willingness to do the most menial work just to forget about his personal reality for one minute. I respected his love of animals and his drive to protect them at all costs. And even more, I fell in love with circuses all over again. I remember seeing Ringling as a kid, when it wasn't $30 a ticket to get in. And since then I've seen maybe two other circuses that held no spectacle for me. And the grittiness of the old train bound circus was disturbing, but also beautiful in a way that circuses today could never be. It made me wish I could live one day back then just for that moment. How often does anyone feel that way while reading a book?

It was beautiful and sensual, and had me captivated from one page to the next. I didn't want to put it down. I dreamed of elephants, of circuses, and of falling in love in all the wrong places with just the right person. This is definitely a book I will read again and again, and that I will recommend even more often.

Now, seeing as how I finished the book, I also finally watched the movie. I have to say I was disappointed. I can forgive a movie for not being like the book, but when the movie can't even live up to all the wonder in the book, I have to wonder what the point was. There was so much in the book that was more important to the story than what they even showed. That pain Jacob felt was never expressed in the movie in any moving or memorable way. And the relationship between Jacob and Walter had no meaning or purpose in the movie. While giving the book five stars, I'd have to give the movie three stars in comparison. On its own, having not read the book I'd have probably given it four.