Date: April 6, 2025
Author: Sara Gruen
Title: Water For Elephants
Rated R for adult content
Oh. My. Gosh. This book was so much fun! I never would have guessed I would find a book about carnivals and carnival entertainers and carnival animals so wildly entertaining. As I read along, I began to realize working in the big top isn’t all glitz and glamour; there is also a seedy, underbelly side to this job.
Jacob, the main character, started the story off in veterinary school and the only thing between him and his veterinary degree was some unfinished final exams. Sadly, Jacob’s parents pass away close to the beginning, and he kind of loses it for a bit. Next thing he knows he’s a runnin’ through the woods and happens upon a train tracks busy with a passing train. So, he did as any distraught young’un would and jumps aboard, almost getting thrown back out of the railroad car as fast as he swung himself up into it.
This turns out to be no ordinary train. No ordinary train indeed! It was full of circus people and circus animals barreling their way down the tracks to the next town to wow and entertain the locals. Jacob was immediately hired on as the veterinarian, never mind about a degree, he was close enough to being one to count for the circus. Turns out he was just what the owner, Uncle Al, needed to give him an edge over the competition and to restore some dignity to this second-rate circus act.
Fun fact: red lighting in the circus world indicates the act of being thrown from a moving train. This is an effective way for the circus to get rid of unwanted employees. Not only is red lighting a super scary possibility all circus people lived with but what if they are thrown while crossing a trestle?
Yikes!