On this weeks Manuscript Monday Virginia recommends Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.
This book came recommended by my own personal Gene's picks friend, the one who also recommended the book for my first Fan Episode with Book Interrupted. This novel by Canadian-American author Sara Gruen has one of the more unusual settings I've encountered in a book in a while. At first this was such a departure from books I would normally gravitate to, but because it was a Gene's pick recommendation, I kept going. I'm so delighted I did because the backdrop of the early Circus life around the time of the Ringling Brother's opened up my understanding of this life that one would never likely know or seek to know about. The love story that develops throughout this story is told by a cantankerous 90 year old Jacob Jankowski from a nursing home. He reflects on his life from an Ivy league student of veterinary to a broke employee of a travelling circus and ultimately meeting his future wife. There are so many interesting parts of this book with the circus animals, the unusual characters that are working for the circus and the inner workings of the early life of a travelling circus. It was definitely worth the read- its like the circus meets the NoteBook!
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