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S'està carregant… Aigua per a elefants (2006)de Sara Gruen
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I so wanted to love this, since it the author did a huge amount of research - but it felt like she simply lifted colorful real-life anecdotes wholesale and slotted them around a rather formulaic story, with characters that are archetypes (noble doctor, distressed glamorous maiden) than actual people. It’s not bad for a quick pool read, which this was, but I wanted it to be so much better. 3.5 stars since I’m a sucker for end-of-an-era settings and the ~circus~ This is maybe the best example of a book everyone else loved that I found unmemorable. It was both sensationalist yet plain somehow, and overall I thought it was boring. The plot really had nothing to it, and the characters perhaps even less. It would have ranked lower if I didn't reserve the lower stars for books that I hated. I didn't hate this book. In all honesty I felt nothing toward the book whatsoever. 2.5/5, since I have rated others that are far superior 3 stars as well.
It's a favorite of book clubs and reading groups, and is supposedly rife with parallels between the protagonist, Jacob Jankowski and Jacob, grandson of Abraham, in the Bible. I wish one of you would tell me what they are. They are not obvious to me, other than a cryptic "Jacob's ladder" parallel to the ladder on the train cars that give access to the roof and that will be important late in the story. What is obvious to me is this is a book about memory, something elephants are famous for and something humans are famous for treating as reliable when it isn't. At its finest, "Water for Elephants" resembles stealth hits like "The Giant's House," by Elizabeth McCracken, or "The Lovely Bones," by Alice Sebold, books that combine outrageously whimsical premises with crowd-pleasing romanticism. But Gruen's prose is merely serviceable, and she hurtles through cataclysmic events, overstuffing her whiplash narrative with drama (there's an animal stampede, two murders and countless fights). What goes on under the big top is nothing compared with the show backstage. Pertany a aquestes col·leccions editorialsLe livre de poche (31395) Rainbow pocketboeken (955) rororo (25602) Té l'adaptacióTé una guia d'estudi per a estudiantsPremisDistincionsLlistes notables
A novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. 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. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her.--From publisher description. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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![]() GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:![]()
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I found the beginning of the book quite slow and a bit too gritty for my taste. The last part of the book picked up for me and I read to the end in one sitting. I also found it interesting that there was so much great description of thoughts and feelings about things from animals to workers to love, but when it came to loss in later chapters, it was as if the narrator's feelings were skimmed over. That gets a paragraph or two? Same goes for the death alluded to in the opening chapter. Once we get there, no discussion or character processing when there has been processing in abundance throughout.
Overall well done, though I'd not recommend to others and don't need to own it. (