another book down!

I just finished the book and I really enjoyed it too. Like you Strickland, I was really happy with the ending. I could tell that the 93 yr old Jacob still had the heart and spirit of a 20 something yr old, and I loved that the book ended with him sneaking away with the circus again! It was perfect! It almost made me tear up about the manager who took him in and kept him from having to go back to the nursing home. And also that the manager recognized what an important man Jacob was and treated him with such respect. Loved that.

I, too, was so sad about Walter and Camel. I wonder if that red-lighting thing was a regular practice in these traveling circuses! so sad. It was cool to see how the image of Walter (Kinko) really changed from the beginning to the end of the book. You start off kinda being disgusted by him, to seeing how caring and kind he really was. I loved relationship with his little dog, Queenie, too.

Jacob's relationship with Marlena was really interesting. Although I definitely don't agree with sleeping with someone while you're married to someone else, I was of course really glad that Jacob and Marlena ended up together. He adored her so much. I was glad the old Jacob talked about their life together in the end.

One of the main things I enjoyed about this book (I kinda said this in an earlier post too) was how it kept changing perspectives of Jacob between being an old and young man. I think that really helped develop his character and make it all the more interesting to me. I loved his nurse, Rosemary....I basically loved every part where Jacob talked about life in the nursing home.

I did come away with a question (maybe the answer is really obvious, but I must have missed it)...... why do you guys think this book is called "Water for Elephants"? And why was the old Jacob so upset when the other old guy in the nursing home said he used to carry water for elephants? I understand that Rosie the elephant is a large part of this book but I just didn't get the carrying the water aspect. I don't remember the author saying much about that.

great choice, Tanna! I will post about the book for December this week.

-Kaufman