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xsBusiness - Water for Elephants (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers)
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List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $8.94
Your Save: $ 5.01 ( 36% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Large Print Distribution
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781594132001
Format: Large Print
ISBN: 1594132003
Label: Large Print Distribution
Manufacturer: Large Print Distribution
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 561
Publication Date: 2007-05-09
Publisher: Large Print Distribution
Studio: Large Print Distribution
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: "Like Water" is a must read!
Comment: Like Water for Elephants is a terrific work of art. I thought the characters and plot were well thought out and tied together nicely. I plan to put this one on my book club list, I can't wait to share it with my friends! You should do the same!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Water for Elephants a hit
Comment: When this book was recommended to me, I wasn't sure I wanted to read it, but I am glad I did. It begins in a depressing nursing home - which we visit a few times throughout the book - but it is really about Jacob Jankowski's first year with the circus.
At 90 - or is it 93, he isn't sure anymore - Jacob recalls his life in the circus at age 23 when he learns of his parents' death. The reader gets to go along for the ride: from his first leap onto a circus railroad car, to his falling in love with a woman and an elephant. His tale enthralled me.
Often depressing, life in the circus of 1931 is not an easy one, but it is fascinating. We wonder if Rose the elephant will survive abuse. We wonder if Jacob will end up with his love. We also wonder if Jacob will die in that horrible nursing home.
Read it and find out. Even though I had to eat, sleep, and otherwise exist, I didn't put this book down once I began it.
Janet Morgan Poetic Justice: A Killdeer Farm Mystery
Customer Rating:
Summary: I was drawn in from page one.
Comment: The author opens the story very well, grabbing your attention immediately. I love the way the story moves from the present, a 93 year old man in a nursing home, to his past and then back again. The story is well written in terms of circus life in the depression era and life as an elderly man in a nursing home.
I could not put this book down. It gave me an affirmation for why I dislike the circus and reminded me that the elderly are to be respected. Having worked with the elderly, I know they have many interesting stories to share with us. The book is very well-written, fast moving, surprising, and mysterious. I loved it!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Escape with the characters
Comment: This is an "Indiana Jones" action packed novel. Some things predictable, some things not. Great descriptions and an emotional attachment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Deep story; good read
Comment: Good book....well researched information by the author. I am a true animal lover and it was a little gut-wrenching to read some things, knowing that they held truth...but it was a good read and a deep storyline. Intrigues me enough to want to go beyond the book and read more about circuses in the present and the post-Depression Era.
I recommend this book, it is rich in substance and will surely touch your heart.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Jacob was there because his luck had run out—orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act—in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.
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