Aquest lloc utilitza galetes per a oferir els nostres serveis, millorar el desenvolupament, per a anàlisis i (si no has iniciat la sessió) per a publicitat. Utilitzant LibraryThing acceptes que has llegit i entès els nostres Termes de servei i política de privacitat. L'ús que facis del lloc i dels seus serveis està subjecte a aquestes polítiques i termes.
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.… (més)
BookshelfMonstrosity: Though Gruen's story is fiction and Hillenbrand's journalistic nonfiction, both reveal relationships between humans and animals in the Great Depression's entertainment field. Each describes the backstage training, care, and abuse of performing animals and people in candid, engaging language.… (més)
Alliebadger: Both well-written stories about the performing life. Very different sides of it, and in very different time periods, but both well-written and exciting.
BookshelfMonstrosity: Readers of Water for Elephants may enjoy reading this memoir of farm life during the Great Depression; though the experiences are rather different, Little Heathens offers a complementary view of the period.
What I enjoyed about this book was that it was not difficult at all to tell whether it was the young Jacob or the older Jacob narrating. I was quite impressed by Gruen's skill in that regard. I also liked the descriptions of circus life, giving me an image in my mind without overdoing it.
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. ( )
One of the best stories I've ever read(listened to on audio). It was happy. It was sad. It made me laugh out loud in some places while making me want to burst into tears in others.
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~ ( )
Since this wouldn't really fall into one of my favorite genres, I can't say that I'm overly loving this book. I suppose it was because I just don't really connect with the characters that this book offers up. ( )
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).
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
I meant what I said, and I said what I meant... An elephant's faithful--one hundred per cent! --Theodor Seuss Geisel, Horton Hatches the Egg, 1940
Dedicatòria
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
For Bob, still my secret weapon
Primeres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
I am ninety. Or ninety-three. One or the other.
Only three people were left under the red and white awning of the grease joint: Grady, me, and the fry cook. (Prologue)
The idea for this book came unexpectedly: In early 2003 I was gearing up to write an entirely different book when the Chicago Tribune ran an article on Edward J. Kelty, a photographer who followed traveling circuses around America in the 1920s and '30s. (Author's Note)
Citacions
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
Is where you’re from the place you’re leaving or where you have roots?
I wasn’t aware of dozing, but that’s how it goes these days. I seem to slip in and out of time and space.
With a secret like that, at some point the secret itself becomes irrelevant. The fact that you kept it does not.
Darreres paraules
Informació del coneixement compartit en anglès.Modifica-la per localitzar-la a la teva llengua.
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.
)
)
)
Google Books — S'està carregant…
Group Read (August): Water for Elephants
17
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. (