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4.2 stars
Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants
“Atmospheric, gritty and compelling”, this is a superb novel which delves into the fascinating world of the 1930s travelling circus. The author reveals at the end that many of the events in her story are anecdotes from the travelling circuses, and probably (though you can never be sure) actually happened. This includes a funeral where the recently deceased fat lady is paraded through town in the hippo’s tank, to the wails and shrieks of the obviously distraught circus performers, just ahead of a packed show. The story has a huge emotional range, at times hilarious; it is also sad, shocking and moving. Water for Elephants has received numerous awards and accolades and deservedly so. It's hard to put down and utterly engrossing. (read less)
Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants
“Atmospheric, gritty and compelling”, this is a superb novel which delves into the fascinating world of the 1930s travelling circus. The author reveals at the end that many of the events in her story are anecdotes from the travelling circuses, and probably (though you can never be sure) actually happened. This includes a funeral where the recently deceased fat lady is paraded through town in the hippo’s tank, to the wails and shrieks of the obviously distraught circus performers, just ahead of a packed show. The story has a huge emotional range, at times hilarious; it is also sad, shocking and moving. Water for Elephants has received numerous a... (read more)
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3.0 stars
I really wanted to like this book because I loved Water for Elephants. Sara Gruen must really know horses or she does excellent research because all of the horse parts of the book rang really true. However, the main character was irresponsible, immature, and highly unlikeable. I have the sequel in my TBR pile but am not all that sure that I want to read anything more about this character.
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4.0 stars
After reading Riding Lessons and being throughly annoyed by Annemarie Zimmer and her daughter Eva, I wasn't sure if I really even wanted to begin this one. I only did because I already owned it. But boy I'm glad I did. Gruen has used this sequel to develop all the characters from Riding Lessons into characters you can really care about. Plus the situations are more believable. This turned out to be quite an enjoyable book.
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