Historical fiction meets Cirque du Soleil !!! | Water for Elephants: A Novel

"Let's give you something to tell your grandkids about. Or great grandkids. Or great-great grandkids." | Water for Elephants: A Novel | Sara Gruen

books:


	• Water for Elephants: A Novel Sara Gruen Algonquin Books, 2007 - 350 pages average customer review:based on 1470 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

What a book!!!

I read this book and am doing a book review for my book club for same. I bought this audio version to listen to the book and refresh my memory. It was great! The readers were great and the book is terrific.

Historical fiction meets Cirque du Soleil !!!

Amazing book!! Starts of slowly and snowballs into a fabulous tale... you won't be disappointed!!

"Let's give you something to tell your grandkids about. Or great grandkids. Or great-great grandkids."

I must say that when I first saw this book, I was a little skeptical of whether or not it would be worthy of buying or reading. I am pretty picky about what I read, because I get sick of reading books with the same type of love theme or crime theme, and etc. over and over again; you get the picture. I took a chance and bought the book, and found the plot to be a definite page turner in terms of the suspense that subtly builds and makes one want to know what was happening in each of the two major time eras of the characters' lives. I think that "Water for Elephants" was written in a unique style and gives the reader better insight into the characters' lives and it definitely paints a vivid picture of Depression-era circuses by mixing some facts with the fictional storyline without sounding like a history textbook.

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Flawless highwire act

This is easily one of the best books I've read in the past five years--and that's high praise, because I read constantly, and I've read some amazing books. What sets Water for Elephants apart is not only the incredible quantity and quality of research that went into it, but the way Gruen employs her pool of researched knowledge to craft her plot, characters and milieu.

In lesser hands, a story or book that relies on heavy research can hit the reader over the head with it, to the detriment of concentration and enjoyment. Long explanatory paragraphs; tedious but unnecessary details; the sacrificing of the Big Picture to sideshows--these are sins that are distressingly common in historical novels. It's like the author has taken all this trouble; you've got to see what he dug up, like it or not.

In Gruen's case, not one detail is out of place. Not one fact is gratuitous. Everything fits; everything moves the plot along or enhances the characters. The picture develops fully, in living color, without clutter; the settings are so true, you can smell the young hobos and their fire and touch the sweat on the horses. The most unbelievable bit is believable, because you trust Gruen as a storyteller. She is that good a writer.

I hate to review a book when so many have, and god knows my opinion won't make a whit's difference in the sales of this book or its success. But it was just so good, I felt compelled to weigh in. To say, Beautifully done.

Long may Water for Elephants ride on the Best Seller list.

Susan O'Neill, author: Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam

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What a winner!

This is one of my all-time favorites! For some reason, I put off reading this book for months. I tried to convince myself that it didn't look interesting. Was I ever wrong! This will stay in my house, I will not trade or sell it, or loan it out. It's that good! Reading the author's notes, I discovered it was based on the the Biblical story of Jacob. Then I had to read it all over again! And I still loved it!

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