Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Water for Elephants

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

69 reviews

sierrajhansen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.75

this was slow to start for me, but i started really getting into it about 1/3 of the way through. the story was very immersive and i kept forgetting i was reading! i especially loved the animal characters, but the amount of violence/animal cruelty/pain/suffering/abuse throughout the story threw me for a loop. a great circus story and an interesting ending

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celery's review against another edition

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alyssatuininga's review against another edition

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dark informative sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I have had this book for years and never got around to reading it. The story was all over the place- a sweet story of memories from an old man, a scathing story about the rampant (graphic) animal abuse in a circus, a romance, a sad testament to the dangers of Prohibition for alcoholics. Honestly throw in the super raunchy prostitution and rape of the main character and I didn't know what to feel or think. It was a strange book, the ending wrapped up in a neat sweet bow. Overall it was just ok and I kept finding I didn't want to pick it up. Guess I should have left this one on the shelf.

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kat_rowlen's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.0

A really entertaining and fun read that sheds some light on the darker aspects of circus life. The ending of this book is really sweet and honestly had me holding back tears. The pacing of the book was a little off in some spots or it would’ve been a higher rating.

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ibadella's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

why was this listed as a historical romance? i did not get romance vibes. it was like coming of age thriller shitshow

i understand that this book has a very narrow and subjective point of view from the flawed main character but i would have like to see a tiny bit more attention paid to the background characters (who tended to have more marginalized identities and were generally homogenized by jacob’s narration). also sometimes felt like the author was forcing themself to write how they think a straight man thinks and it made us both feel icky

made me emo about zoo animals

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maniikoi's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad tense fast-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

The book comes full circle at the end; the disaster in the beginning gets told through a series of memories that are recounted until it reaches that point. The whole book is told from Jacob's point of view, as an old man in a nursing home, reliving in his head the time he spent working for the circus.

I absolutely loved this book! It was really good!

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