Mar 01, 2011 orphaned and penniless at the height of the depression, jacob jankowski escapes everything he knows by jumping on a passing trainand inadvertently runs away with the circus. Winner of the 2007 bookbrowse diamond award for most popular book. Here he says that hes overflowing, bursting with love. Water for elephants is a story that has it all warmth, humour, poignancy and passion. By morning, hes landed a job with the flying squadron of the. Free download or read online water for elephants pdf epub book. Water for elephants is told in the first person but from two different perspectivesjacob jankowski at. The novel, told in flashback by nonagenarian jacob jankowski, recounts the wild and wonderful period. But when he seen that the circus was in town, he hobbled to the window to see the circus tent. Water for elephants is a treat for the reader, a chronicle of an adventure that permanently alters the life of one twentyoneyearold veterinary school dropout. Gruen transports us into the world of a thirdrate traveling circus during the great depression. Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside jacob jankowskis ninetysomethingyear old. Jacob jankowski jacob jankowski is the narrator of the novel, and senior in college whose ready to explore the world and find where he belongs.
The circus, the great depression, a complex elephant, equally complex love, the mists and twists of memory articulated in the utterly winning voice of a very old man whos seen it all. Jacob jankowski is the main character of water for elephants. Water for elephants begins dark and violent as it braces readers for the tumultuous circus atmosphere during the terrible years of the great depression. As a young man, jacob jankowski was tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the benzini. Oct 21, 2009 water for elephants is the first adult novel ive read and it certainly didnt disappoint. Then gruen shifts readers attention away from the eerie circus to introduce the ninety or ninetythree year old protagonist, jacob jankowski.
A novel of starcrossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932. As the memories begin to unfold, jacob begins as a young man studying for his final exams at cornell university. Water for elephants is a historical novel by sara gruen, written as part of national novel writing. Jacob served as a veterinarian for the benzini bros circus, and was in love with the beautiful and talented marlena. Water for elephants is a historical novel by sara gruen, written as part of national novel writing month. With robert pattinson, reese witherspoon, christoph waltz, paul schneider. When jacob jankowski, parents dead and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a secondrate circus struggling to survive during the great depression, making onenight stands in town after endless town. Water for elephants begins violently and then veers into weirder terrain.
Water for elephants book jefferson county public library. The first edition of the novel was published in may 26th 2006, and was written by sara gruen. Sara gruen spares no detail in chronicling the squalid, filthy, brutish circumstances in which he finds himself. Weve probably all seen a movie and wished it were 40 minutes shorter or read a book and thought, damn, this really could have been condensed and lost. When jacob jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a secondrate circus struggling to survive during the great depression, making onenight stands in town after endless town. From the back cover blurb orphaned, penniless, jacob jankowski jumps a freight train in the dark, and that instant, transforms his future. Jacobs story begins at cornell university where he is studying to come a vet.
With lines of startling beauty, haunting and evocative scenes and finelydrawn characters who dance off the page, readers can dip in and out of the novel, immersing themselves in jacobs memories. Water for elephants is the first adult novel ive read and it certainly didnt disappoint. Sara gruen mines fertile territory in water for elephants. Although it is only april, i predict that water for elephants by sara gruen will be one of the best books i read this year. Jacob jankowski has appeared in the following books. August sees their attraction and attempts to get jacob redlighted, which means to be thrown of the moving train at midnight. The circus man water for elephants by sara gruen is a fascinating and captivating novel told from the point of view of jacob jankowski, a veterinarian who jumps aboard a traveling circus during the depression in the 1930s. May 26, 2006 water for elephants, 2007, sara gruen water for elephants is a historical novel by sara gruen, written as part of national novel writing month. Jacob jankowski is a well educated college almost graduate. The water for elephants community note includes chapterbychapter summary and analysis, character list, theme list, historical context, author biography and quizzes written by community members like you. Water for elephants book by sara gruen thriftbooks. Water for elephants is the story of jacobs life with this circus. The story starts off with ninetythree year old jacob jankowski recounting his life as a young man training at cornell to be a veterinarian. Pdf water for elephants book by sara gruen free download.
An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of starcrossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of riding lessons. Aug 28, 2012 water for elephants is a treat for the reader, a chronicle of an adventure that permanently alters the life of one twentyoneyearold veterinary school dropout. To emphasize this, the whole book is written in the present tense. Its almost like love is a physical thing that he can feel moving through his body. In water for elephants, jacob jankowski is invited to join marlena and august for dinner in their railway car.
It has an energy and spirit like the feeling under a big top when the show is about to begin. The story maintains its momentum by alternating between the past and the present as jacob recalls the circumstances under which he found himself traveling with the benzini brothers circus. Jacob is eager to experience the world as an adult and is ready to take whatever the world can offer him in adulthood. Water for elephants movie tiein by sara gruen, paperback. Water for elephants is a fascinating read, filled with danger, acts of evil, overwhelming kindness, and enduring love. Jacob jankowski is the main character in the book, water for elephants. Water for elephants is the new york times bestselling debut novel by sara gruen. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. We thought you might enjoy cooking a variation on this meal and possibly serving it to your book club sometime, so we have come up with a menu that is slightly less elaborate, and perhaps less filling than the one described in the. The novel has received high praise from numerous critics, and has. Out of desperation and grief over his loss he jumps onto a train that happens to. Jacobs story begins at cornell university where he is studying to come. I loved water for elephants stephen king you are so immersed in circus life that you are blinded by the thrilling, fatal dazzle of sequins and sawdust the telegraph an imaginative modern fairy story, teeming with eccentric characters the times the great depression 1929 when jacob jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps.
In the beginning of the novel, jacob mocks another resident of the nursing home who claims to have worked in the circus and carried water for the elephants. Its from this nursing home that jacob tells his story, like he is looking back at all the adventures at the circus. Sep 07, 2016 together, jacob and marlena strive to protect and save rosie. The story starts off with the main character, jacob, in an assisted living home. His life wasnt always like this, however, because jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twentyone. Orphaned and penniless at the height of the depression, jacob jankowski escapes everything he knows by jumping on a passing trainand inadvertently runs away with the circus. To ask other readers questions about water for elephants, please sign up. To pay for his tuition, his parents had to take out a morgage on the house, causing him to have no home. Winner of the 2007 bookbrowse award for most popular book. In water for elephants, the story is told through jacob jankowski at two different parts in his life.
He had run from them as he was taking them having found out that both of his parents had died in a car crash the night before. Set in the 1930s, a former veterinary student takes a job in a travelling circus and falls in love with the ringmasters wife. Earlier in the book, when the older jacob is given drugs in the nursing home, he describes the sensation of unconsciousness in a strikingly similar way. Younger jacob and older jacob each gets to have his say. The main characters of this fiction, historical story are jacob jankowski, rosemary. While he was at dinner, one of the new comers to the nursing home was saying how he gave water to the elephants. The book was published in multiple languages including english, consists of 335 pages and is available in paperback format. The book, water for elephants, starts off in the present day, in a nursing home where the main character, jacob jankowski, lives. Water for elephants resembles stealth hits like the giants house, by elizabeth. His parents, on his final day of his cornell academy of veteranary science exams, get killed. Jacob is working overtime as the narrator of water for elephants. An american book association indiebound best seller. The story in this novel is told as a series of memories by a ninetythree year old man called jacob jankowski. Tumblr is a place to express yourself, discover yourself, and bond over the stuff you love.
In this captivating depressionera melodrama, impetuous veterinary student jacob jankowski joins a celebrated circus as an animal caretaker but faces a wrenching dilemma when hes transfixed by angelic married performer marlena. Jacob jankowski robert pattinson jacob is a 23 year old young man who must leave his studies, as a cornell university veterinary student, after losing both of his parents in a car accident. Jul 04, 2011 jacob jankowski, who is currently ninety or ninetytwo, tells the story of how he left his ivy league training as a vet and ran away after his parents died. Water for elephants is told in the first person but from two different perspectives jacob jankowski at 23 years of age and again, at 93 years old. At the beginning of water for elephants, he is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it.
When jacob jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train. The plot is also told in memories of the main character, jacob jankowski. Jacob had went to school at ithaca college and had finished everything, except his final exams. Jacob jankowski, a veterinary student at cornell, discovers that his parents have been killed in a car accident. The circus train only had a limited amount of water on board, and elephants can drink 100300 litres per day approximately 2680 gallons. Together, jacob and marlena strive to protect and save rosie. Jacob jankowski, a veterinary student at cornell, discovers that his. Water for elephants is told by and about jacob jankowski, a cranky but likable 90 year old or perhaps 93 man who resides in an assisted living center. Water for elephants, 2007, sara gruen water for elephants is a historical novel by sara gruen, written as part of national novel writing month. Water for elephants is a book about memories, aging, and nostalgia. Several times in the book jacob compares the idea of love rising up in himself to a wave.
It is at about this time when he finds out that his parents have. She wrote the book as part of national novel writing month. Its been there awhile, biding its time and growing closer with each revolution 1. Character profile for jacob jankowski from water for.
Times, publishers weekly, san francisco chronicle, and washington post lists. Apr 22, 2011 weve probably all seen a movie and wished it were 40 minutes shorter or read a book and thought, damn, this really could have been condensed and lost nothing. The story is told as a series of memories by jacob jankowski, a 93yearold man who lives in a nursing home. Water for elephants is a story about an elderly man, jacob, who recalls an adventure in his younger years. The setting of the story changes throughout the book. So begins water for elephants, sara gruens darkly beautiful tale about the characters who inhabit the lessthangreatest show on earth. Jacob is ninetythree year old and is looking back on his adventures in life while he spends his days in a nursing home. On the morning of his senior veterinary science exams at cornell, jacob jankowski is called out of the room by the dean. Jacob jankowski from water for elephants charactour. Pdf water for elephants download full pdf book download. The book explains the chosen memories of jacob jankowski and his time spent in the benzini brothers most spectacular show on earth.
Its where your interests connect you with your people. Water for elephants book surrey libraries bibliocommons. Water for elephants is a book that can be read and reread, recommended and handed off between friends. Water for elephants by sara gruen when jacob jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits the benzini brothers most spectacular show on earth a secondrate travelling circus struggling to survive during the great depression, making one. Jacob jankowski is in his 90s and the movie starts with him looking. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of water for elephants by sara gruen.
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