Rachel M.'s Reviews > Water for Elephants
Water for Elephants
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![177997](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708886558p2/177997.jpg)
* * REVIEW CONTAINS SLIGHT SPOILERS * *
I really wanted to like this book. I think my low opinion is partially my fault, because I drove into the story with high expectations due to rave reviews. I need to learn not to do that.
The beginning of this novel was excellent. A Ivy League dropout, who formerly studied to be a vet, runs away and joins the circus. The time period? The Depression and Prohibition America - a historical era of uncertainty and chaos. I was looking for an intriguing tale of a college youth thrust into an unfamiliar world, along with a dose of touching animal stories. What I got was a romance. Pure and simple.
A major issue in this novel is the characterization. The characters, with the exception of Walter (aka Kinko) and his dear Queenie, were flat and predictable. Marlena and August bothered me the most - Marlena being beautiful and kind and boring, and August being a cruel husband due to his mental illness. Besides the hackneyed stereotype of the mentally ill being violent, August's schizophrenia appeared to be a plot device to bring Jacob and Marlena together without making them look like bad people for cheating. I didn't buy it for half a second. I think the affair would've been much more interesting if August was...well, basically a normal husband who was maybe a little too obsessed with his own accomplishments.
The romance between Jacob and Marlena made me yawn. While Jacob was a fairly developed character, Marlena was the epitome of a side-female love interest: gorgeous with little beneath the surface. Barbara, the "cooch girl", had more depth than her. If Marlena were developed further (and if she had a flaw or two), I could buy their love story. And hey, maybe one day I'll appreciate where the characters ended up. Today is not that day. On a similar note, I've heard some people complain about the sex scenes, and while the descriptions are a bit odd, I had no problem with there being sex in the book. The setting is a circus, there is booze everywhere, and sex is gonna happen.
Again - I think I went into this novel with high expectations and if I'm getting the wrong idea or whatever, that's my own doing. I'll probably pick it up again in the future to see if I think differently then.
I really wanted to like this book. I think my low opinion is partially my fault, because I drove into the story with high expectations due to rave reviews. I need to learn not to do that.
The beginning of this novel was excellent. A Ivy League dropout, who formerly studied to be a vet, runs away and joins the circus. The time period? The Depression and Prohibition America - a historical era of uncertainty and chaos. I was looking for an intriguing tale of a college youth thrust into an unfamiliar world, along with a dose of touching animal stories. What I got was a romance. Pure and simple.
A major issue in this novel is the characterization. The characters, with the exception of Walter (aka Kinko) and his dear Queenie, were flat and predictable. Marlena and August bothered me the most - Marlena being beautiful and kind and boring, and August being a cruel husband due to his mental illness. Besides the hackneyed stereotype of the mentally ill being violent, August's schizophrenia appeared to be a plot device to bring Jacob and Marlena together without making them look like bad people for cheating. I didn't buy it for half a second. I think the affair would've been much more interesting if August was...well, basically a normal husband who was maybe a little too obsessed with his own accomplishments.
The romance between Jacob and Marlena made me yawn. While Jacob was a fairly developed character, Marlena was the epitome of a side-female love interest: gorgeous with little beneath the surface. Barbara, the "cooch girl", had more depth than her. If Marlena were developed further (and if she had a flaw or two), I could buy their love story. And hey, maybe one day I'll appreciate where the characters ended up. Today is not that day. On a similar note, I've heard some people complain about the sex scenes, and while the descriptions are a bit odd, I had no problem with there being sex in the book. The setting is a circus, there is booze everywhere, and sex is gonna happen.
Again - I think I went into this novel with high expectations and if I'm getting the wrong idea or whatever, that's my own doing. I'll probably pick it up again in the future to see if I think differently then.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 1, 2007
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Finished Reading
December 27, 2007
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Elizabeth
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rated it 3 stars
Dec 30, 2007 08:42AM
![Elizabeth](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1268059308p1/717948.jpg)
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![Rachel M.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708886558p1/177997.jpg)
I'm glad you liked the review! :)
![Elizabeth](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1268059308p1/717948.jpg)
![Rachel M.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708886558p1/177997.jpg)
![Michael](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1237397600p1/350659.jpg)
Except for the parts about the elephant this book was like a junior high after-school special. LAME. The main character is a complete wussy. A virgin hero with a puppy love for somebody else's wife? Jeez. I kept flipping to the back and the writer's picture and thinking she looked like a stoned kitten. I highly recommend "Spangle" by Gary Jennings if you like the circus setting. It is a truly great story.
![Kara](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1183911629p1/177350.jpg)
Any "Life of Pi" readers? The first part of that novel took place in a zoo, and I loved the author (narrator's) passion for animals, quirky descriptions. I was hoping for that.
![Michelle](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1200195684p1/448489.jpg)
Will definitely keep an eye out for Spangle instead.
![Lorraine](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1193177650p1/573080.jpg)
![Dennis](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1430584962p1/962322.jpg)
![Hentyal](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1376669219p1/1227560.jpg)
![Iida](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1221493529p1/748828.jpg)
My friend told me I had to read to read this book, so I bought it (will never again buy a book without reading it first!) and read it. But I was so pissed off by the way it turned out to be, I almost didn't finish it. In the end I decided that even bad writing is educating (mainly in the field of how NOT to write), and kept on plowing through. One of my most disappointing reads in living memory.
![Lorraine](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1193177650p1/573080.jpg)
![Jennifer](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Gayatri Swaminathan](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Liska](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1430777780p1/2357319.jpg)
First of all, August is not a paranoid schizophrenic by a modern definition of the word. Secondly I also dont think it's meant to be a plot device to excuse his behavior or Jacob and Marlena's affair because I think Big Al was meant to be just making it up. That's why he mispronounces it. August wasn't diagnosed with anything, Big Al was thinking on his feet, looking for excuses, especially ones he thought made him sound educated and on level with a Cornell educated doctor. And, back in the 30s, it would have been a phrase he would have heard in radio dramas or read in pulp novels where it was very popular and used interchangably with "split personality" (the two disorders are not at all related however).
In addition, I would say August IS mentally ill but not the way Big Al means, and certainly not the way a schizophrenic is. Schizophrenics are out of touch with reality. August has a personality disorder - he is a sociopath and a narcissist - and a touch of some kind of mood disorder, maybe bipolar. The alcoholism only made it all worse.
Anyway just my two cents...
![Kelly Hodges](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1672116428p1/3568028.jpg)
I thought the characters were well developed and loved that I could literally hear, smell, and see the circus.
I loved the way the book went back and forth between old and yound Jacob. Loved the prologue at the begining. And I loved that the characters were flawed. Who wants to read a story about perfect people who do perfect things?
Sometimes a "simple" written "romance" novel is just what I need. I dont need to always have an elevated work of literatuire in my hands to be happy with the read.
![Reva](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1271710547p1/3230579.jpg)
![Emily](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
The only place we differ is I did think the sex could have been toned down. I understand it's going to happen and am glad is was worse, but scenes like Barbara stripping and the two women with drunk Jacob was a bit much for me.
![Mademoiselle Coco](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1283677689p1/3996393.jpg)
I loved the characters, the setting, the era and the mentality of it. I felt the characters fit with the era they were in perfectly.
![Stephie](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1412165010p1/3614449.jpg)
![Pat](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1601390527p1/1036558.jpg)
![Monica](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
And just like you said, the story is just a romance -- nothing more. Nothing wrong with that... but it's been getting so much buzz, no wonder you, I, and by the looks of it many other readers, expected more.
Liska wrote: "Hmm I recognize some of the faults of the book you mention but I quite enjoyed it anyway. It's structurally very cinematic too, so I hope the filmmakers do a good job. I only wanted to comment on o..."
I agree Liska. I think Uncle Al was just making shit up. I also liked the book, though I agree with your analysis . r a c h a b e t h . I found the researched items that Miss Gruen took and implemented were real gems. I liked the elements outside of the romance enough where it counteracted my disappointment in Jacob and Marlena. I especially love Rosie taking out August, which I'm sure makes me a little eVil. I do wish Jacob would have at least went back and looked for Walter, after all they went through and all that.
Thanks for the great review! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who had problems with the character development.
I agree Liska. I think Uncle Al was just making shit up. I also liked the book, though I agree with your analysis . r a c h a b e t h . I found the researched items that Miss Gruen took and implemented were real gems. I liked the elements outside of the romance enough where it counteracted my disappointment in Jacob and Marlena. I especially love Rosie taking out August, which I'm sure makes me a little eVil. I do wish Jacob would have at least went back and looked for Walter, after all they went through and all that.
Thanks for the great review! I'm glad I wasn't the only one who had problems with the character development.
![A](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Rachel](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1357253758p1/203107.jpg)
![Nyla](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1298128911p1/5001725.jpg)
Am I wrong?
![Rachel M.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708886558p1/177997.jpg)
![Samwin1](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
![Brandy Shark](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442634364p1/4764366.jpg)
![Rachel M.](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708886558p1/177997.jpg)
![Brandy Shark](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1442634364p1/4764366.jpg)
Sorry, I didn't realize the review was a few years old! lol. But yeah, the book was just poorly written. I've decided that life is far too short to waste it on books that just make me groan and roll my eyes, much like this one did. It wasn't just the sex scenes, it was almost all of it. I didn't believe for one second that the narrator was a man, because it felt like a woman trying her best to prove that the narrator was male. I'm sorry but thinking about sex all the time doesn't give you a believable male voice.
![Veronica](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1245687842p1/2153853.jpg)
![Tim Meechan](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1501478979p1/68503625.jpg)
![Mike Worley](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1508617445p1/68797460.jpg)
![Sandi Dickenson](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
The setting is the '30s. No welfare, no social security, no church support for vagabonds. To eat, you needed to work or someone needed to give you food. Else you died. And jobs were dirty, miserable and sparse.
I found it very believable that a young man wanted to rescue a young woman trapped in that situation. Even more believable that a young woman would turn to him to find escape.
If August had loved Marlena and was not a cruel person, there would have been no point in Jacob and Marlena falling in love. So in that you are most correct. That was what brought them together.
![Dina K.](https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
On the other hand though, I did enjoy the book. It was a cozy read for me. I just expected a bit more...
![Adnamy](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1640097072p1/34649110.jpg)
Good Review