| Water for Elephants | Jacob is an elderly, grumpy man in a nursing home reminiscing about his life. His parents were killed just before he graduated from vet school, in depression-era USA, and he ran off and jumped on a train, which turned out to be a circus train. He became the circus vet, but falls in love with the beautiful horse-riding act woman, who is unhappily married to Jacob's boss, the head animal trainer. The circus buys an elephant named Rosie who Jacob discovers will only respond to orders given in Polish and the circus seems to be going from strength to strength, but the owner and ringmaster is a bit psycho and arranges for unwanted personnel to be pushed off the moving train, a practice which leads to the circus' downfall. Elderly Jacob eventually gets to visit the circus down the road and decides he doesn't need the rest home any more. |
John said
Great. Really good characters, fantastic plot, brilliant details of life with a circus train from 1930's America. Even the decidedly weird characters seem entirely believable.