Water for Elephants

I just finished reading the first book club book of this year, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I thought it was an excellent book. I couldn't put it down. I was trying to read it during the commercial breaks of the Olympics. It was that good! And it was a pretty quick read too, which is always nice.

It's a historical fiction set in the time of the Great Depression. Because the setting is a train circus, they go from place to place. The story begins with the main character, Jacob, when he's 93 living in a nursing home. He has flashbacks to the days when he worked in the circus. He was at Cornell studying to become a veteranarian when his parents both die in a car accident and leave him penniless (remember, it was The Depression). He doesn't know what to do with himself and hops onto a train in the middle of the night. Unbeknownst to him, it's a circus train and the wheels of fate begin turning.

There's so much of the plot to tell, that I won't bore you here. I will tell you I loved the fact that Gruen goes back and forth between the old Jacob and the young Jacob. The old Jacob is just crochety and stubborn, but he's sweet at the same time. I have spent some time with older people in nursing homes and assisted living places (mostly on my mission), but I really came to love talking to them. I think they're really special. And the young Jacob is also sweet, but in a different way. I picture him looking somewhat like Rusty, because he's described as a red head!

Anyway, to those of you already not reading this book for book club, I highly recommend it. It was a great story and had a good twist at the end! Thanks Erin for the recommendation!