Samyann
Water for Elephants is a love story taking place in the environs of a 1931 circus, as remembered by an old man in a retirement home. He dreams of being young, dropping out of Cornell, abandoning his veterinarian degree, and jumping a circus train following the death of his parents in a car accident. Boy meets girl performer who carries the baggage of a brutal husband. Nicely researched, Water for Elephants conveys the circus life of the time, the train, the cruelty, the dust and heat.
An enjoyable read, close to twelve hours of listening. Dual narration by LeDoux and Jones is good. One carries the chapters and voice of Jacob as an old man, the other as his life in the circus seventy years ago. Jacob’s frustration of being a young-man-in-an-old-man’s-body is wonderfully done, something we should all think about as we age … but never do.
Not for the faint-of-heart as it pertains to animal abuse, be prepared. Worth the credit.
