Water for Elephants

Currently, I’ve been reading Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. To be honest, at first, I really didn’t take a liking to this book. In fact, I only recently took a liking to it. But, for now, I’ll keep reading.

Anyway, Water for Elephants begins by introducing an elderly man, named Jacob Jankowski. Maybe ninety, possibly ninety three, (for Jacob cannot remember his own age), the man becomes extraordinarily angry when another man at his residential home begins to brag that when he was young, he gave water to the elephants at the circus. Enraged, Jacob begins to cause a scene, yelling and screaming at the man, informing him that he has no idea what he’s talking about, because carrying water for elephants is extremely difficult.

With that, begins a flashback...

Jacob remembers himself as a young man, in his twenties, when he first began working for the circus. His father had been a veterinarian, and, with hopes to take over the family business, Jacob was also in line to become a veterinarian. Just a few days before his final classes of his final year, Jacob receives news of his parents’ disastrous accidental death. With the shock of having to identify their dead bodies, Jacob is unable to take his necessary final tests. He simply gets up, hands in his blank test, and runs away. Jacob runs until he finds the circus which he joins, and the story continues from there.

But, what do I think of all this? And how does it relate to me?

Well, it doesn’t. At all. But like I've said in previous blogs, I love to read books that don’t relate to me. I love getting to experience a life I don’t live, an existence I don’t know, or a destiny I hope never to receive. Jacob’s experience actually makes me feel bad for him. I literally have an aching feeling in my chest when I read about how he threw away all those years of veterinary school. Personally, I always try to work hard, do my best, and set a goal. If I’m so close to a goal and I throw it all away... I’d be so upset. Even if I no longer want the same things anymore, I may as well still get it, right? You’re so close and you’re going to throw it all away? I get that his parents just died, and I’m not trying to be insensitive here but come on, really? Anyone I know would definitely have just taken the test. Or, why did the professors have to tell him? They could have just let him be, told him after finals. Yes, that would still be the worst news ever to receive, but at least he would have a better shot at passing his tests and becoming a vet! But no, Sara Gruen. You made him become a circus worker. 

Later in the book he reveals that he may use some of his veterinary abilities to help some of the animals in the show, so maybe all those years of vet school will come in handy. Also, he mentioned a girl in a sequin costume whom he seemed to have taken a liking to. I’m going to give a wild guess that they eventually end up together, (but that’s not because Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson are on the cover of the book or anything...). Apparently though, she seems to be someone else’s girl, so we’ll see where this little love triangle takes us.

In conclusion, although the beginning was confusing and somewhat dry, I’m beginning to like this book. Jacob seems so passionate about the circus. In fact, he spends so much of his time angry over what this man had said about water for elephants, that his nurses are convinced he is depressed, and with that he is put on medication.

As for the future of this book, I hope I grow more and more to like it. At this point, I have no idea what the end will bring, but I’m very excited to find out.