Reviews with content warning for Death - Water for Elephants

I don’t know whether it’s just because of who I am, but I don’t think this is very romantic. It is very centered around thoughts of sex and overly anatomical descriptions of bodies (boobs’ descriptions were weird and often related to acidic fruits and penises sounded repulsive), but doesn’t feel at all like other books I’ve read that are categorized as romances.

The way Jacob — 90 (or 93) — is written is wonderful. I don’t know exactly what elders think, but I grew up with grandparents as my guardians and I feel an oddly sentimental connection with the more utilitarian thoughts that were written.

I feel this may be worth mentioning: the author uses non-colloquial vocabulary when referring to a body. If that might be uncomfortable for you, you probably should let this one go.

Nonetheless, I liked it and thought it was a fun journey to read.

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jenna_justi2004's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Lots of thoughts. I love the different perspectives, Jacob from when he’s 93 and then when he’s like 20 something maybe even younger. The romance was kinda meh, I’m glad it wasn’t the main focus at least in my opinion. I’m really upset that old guy and Walter died. Walters last moments must have been horrifying. I’m glad Jacob took Queenie in. And Rosie especially. I’m also glad she killed august. I wonder how Marlene knew the baby wasn’t augusts baby. The abuse that Rosie sustained was unbearable and unbelievable it was the most horrific descriptions I have ever read in a book. Which also made me hate the hook at the same time. Also the ending, it was literally amazing. I’m so glad he can like die doing something he loves doing, you know in a circus at the very. It’s one of the best ways to end the book I feel like.

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jasminn_perez's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

i was disappointed in the writing. there were so many times where i was questioning what the fuck was going on and why i was reading abt it. the love story was ass bro. like ive read fan fiction that was better written. made me so sad. marlena pissed me off too that bitch was always crying about something. howeverrr i was surprised at how well this book kept my attention like i was entertained fs. i love walter and i actually cried i miss him sm. jacob and walter had a better relationship progression than him and marlena liiikkee. august got what he deserved tbfh and it was a satisfactory ending to him :)). rosie slayed always. i pictured jacob as like a nerdy lookin rob and i was satisfied he was pretty sexy. i am excited to watch the movie. but also why tf was he yelling all the time. this book changed my views on old ppl actually. like being in a home sounds so sucky and when his family forgot abt him i cried so bad. it also made me happy that he rejoined the circus at the end :3

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sarahdr_'s review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The storytelling is incredible! One of the best books I've read!

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le3713's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I liked the book best at the end, but it was slow to hook my interest and the long list of awful things that happened was hard to get past.

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jaderweir's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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dianesloftis's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Anyone that truly knows me is well aware of my genuine love for— well, we’ll just say, ‘circus- themed’ stuffs.. a childhood story.

Movin’ on… Anyway, this is a title that keeps getting mentioned quite often. And so here’s my approach: a read-along (e-book + audiobook) & then, enjoy the picture show!

🎪Water for elephants by Sara Gruen [2007]

🤡Audiobook narrated by David LeDoux

🍿Movie [2011] starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, et al.

#HistoricalFiction #Drama #Romance

My word this is such a good book! I did end up doing a read-along And Wow… Not only am I impressed by how well researched and complete the dual-timeline story is, but the narration for this book is incredible, too. It’s a dramatic, heart-pounding performance, honestly. The story, largely set aboard a traveling train circus, is action-packed and character driven while cleverly weaving a Biblical story throughout it. However, I didn’t fully grasp the latter, even though I kept noting the multiple Biblical references, until I read an author Q&A offered at the end of the book.

Quite possibly my book of the year.

⚠️ Warning: Mature Content and Language

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