Gruen is a good writer, but an editor really needed to slap her hand away from the crisis button during the review of this book. In any case, that phrase recurred in my brain as I read this book. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.I once had a gentleman friend extremely fond of the phrase, 'Over the top,' although he pronounced it, 'Overrrr de TOPP,' for reasons I won't go into. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.īeautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie.

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. Winner of the 2007 BookBrowse Diamond Award for Most Popular Book.Īn atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of Riding Lessons.

Riding lessons by sara gruen