|
|
Water For Elephants
|
 |
| List Price |
: |
CDN$ 16.50 |
| Our Price |
: |
CDN$ 12.05 |
| You Save |
: |
CDN$ 4.45 (27%) |
| |
|
|
| 3 Used |
: | from CDN$ 5.79 |
| 2 New |
: | from CDN$ 10.75 |
| |
|
|
| Availability |
: |
Usually ships in 24 hours |
|
|
 |
|
|
| Custom Reviews: | |
|
|  | Have you ever dreamed running away and joining the circus? No doubt with this thrilling and romantic story you will be transported into the extraordinary and exotic world of a travelling circus during the hard times of the Great Depression.
Living in a nursing home and reminiscing of the old days, Jacob Jankowshi now a ninety year old, narrates his life under the Big Top while he worked for the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. The story hovers between his present day life and the exciting times spent with the travelling circus.
Finding his world turn up side down and penniless with the death of his parents, Jacob runs off and joins the circus. There he wakes up to a hard world of freaks and clowns, animals treated in a cruel manner and performing poorly all under a boss with questionable abilities and a definite mean streak. His only consolation was finding love and trust in a person he raised his family with.
Beautifully written with historical details, the author gives us many unexpected events all along keeping us riveted to the story. The characters are extraordinary, well sketched and presented. It is hard not to fall under the spell of this novel; it is an enchanting fairy tale. I highly recommend it.
| | | This book, Water for Elephants, was one of the most heart wrenching yet warm stories I have read in a long while. The truth of Jacobs Story, both old and young Jacob forces us to think of the way we treat people around us, of all ages.
It was a story I think all of us are much better for reading.
Thank You
Terrie
| | Gripping Story and Characters | |
| | This book does provide a fairly riveting story set within post depression America and also provides good insights into the circus business during this era. The book balances the dynamics of maintaining a circus in tough economic times against a host of vivid and disparate personalities that can both support and challenge the stability of the circus. For example there is Big Al who runs the circus with a nearly ruthless practicality, "redlighting" individuals who violate his rules. There is August, second in command, alternately tough and gracious, supportive and cruel. There is Jacob, the hero, who stumbles into the world after fleeing Cornell Vet School and who subsequently falls in love with August's wife. The book alternates between the young Jacob in the circus and the elderly Jacob in a nursing home. Some of the dialogue the characters use during the depression era sounds like it came from the 21st century but other than that there is a gritty, often grotesque and unblinking realism in everything from death to romance.
| | | This is a story unlike any other...and one I'll never forget. Water for Elephants is a book I will pick up every couple of years and re-read because it is that wonderful.
| | Fabulous fiction - for those craving a marvellous story | |
| | Recipe for a perfect afternoon: a tall glass of real iced tea, phones off, a tub filled with your favourite scented bubbles, no kidlets or other distractions, and this jewel of a book. I wept at the end - simply because it ended! Luxuriate in the pages of a novel in which this fine storyteller whisks you away into another world where you, too, will fall in love with an elephant.
| |
|
|
Home
View Cart
Bookmark This Page
Contact Us
