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A review by k8degr8
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
3.0
I'm vacillating between a 3-star and 4-star review here and here's why.
I completely enjoyed reading this book. In fact, I stayed up until 3 am to finish it. So, clearly, the author has conquered the whole "page-turner" thing. And I felt connected to the leading man and the "leading elephant."
But the book reminds me of a big juicy slice of pizza from a New York City joint. I can't put it down, love eating it, and certainly can't stop until I'm done. And it's tasty. But it's not a gourmet experience. It's just slapped together and pretty greasy.
Sometimes that's just what you want though. I somehow thought this would be more of a souffle (which it wasn't.)
Here's what seemed slap-dash / greasy to me: sentimental, mildly pedantic, cliched. The lead female character is described as physically attractive, but we never learn enough about her to actually care or have a complex experience of her.
And why in the world does it take our Polish-speaking hero so many chapters to add 2 and 2 regarding the Polish-speaking elephant (who is key to the plot)??? Just stretched my patience a bit. And the end sort of wraps up too quickly and easily in an seriously incredible way. (I do mean incredible here in the sense of "don't believe it.")
If only all of the plot points had been as nicely rendered as my favorite, in which we are led to believe (in an early chapter) that it is the woman lead character who murders the ringmaster - and whose secret about that murder our hero has kept all these years. But, in a delightful and satisfying twist, we finally circle back to this scene and it is revealed that the murderer is the much-abused elephant - and that the secret loyally kept was to this noble beast. This piece makes me want to forgive the rest, but I'm a sucker for animals.
I completely enjoyed reading this book. In fact, I stayed up until 3 am to finish it. So, clearly, the author has conquered the whole "page-turner" thing. And I felt connected to the leading man and the "leading elephant."
But the book reminds me of a big juicy slice of pizza from a New York City joint. I can't put it down, love eating it, and certainly can't stop until I'm done. And it's tasty. But it's not a gourmet experience. It's just slapped together and pretty greasy.
Sometimes that's just what you want though. I somehow thought this would be more of a souffle (which it wasn't.)
Here's what seemed slap-dash / greasy to me: sentimental, mildly pedantic, cliched. The lead female character is described as physically attractive, but we never learn enough about her to actually care or have a complex experience of her.
And why in the world does it take our Polish-speaking hero so many chapters to add 2 and 2 regarding the Polish-speaking elephant (who is key to the plot)??? Just stretched my patience a bit. And the end sort of wraps up too quickly and easily in an seriously incredible way. (I do mean incredible here in the sense of "don't believe it.")
If only all of the plot points had been as nicely rendered as my favorite, in which we are led to believe (in an early chapter) that it is the woman lead character who murders the ringmaster - and whose secret about that murder our hero has kept all these years. But, in a delightful and satisfying twist, we finally circle back to this scene and it is revealed that the murderer is the much-abused elephant - and that the secret loyally kept was to this noble beast. This piece makes me want to forgive the rest, but I'm a sucker for animals.