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Water for Elephants

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For the film adaptation of the same name, see Water for Elephants (film).
Water for Elephants
AuthorSara Gruen
Cover artistCharles Mason/Getty Images
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical romance novel
PublisherAlgonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing
Publication date
26 May 2006 (1st edition)
Publication placeUnited States of America
Media typePrint
Pages335 (first edition)
ISBNISBN 1-56512-499-5 (first edition) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character
OCLC61362217
813/.6 22
LC ClassPS3607.R696 W38 2006

Water for Elephants is a historical novel by Sara Gruen. Gruen originally wrote the novel as part of National Novel Writing Month.[1][2]

Plot

The story is told as a series of memories by Jacob Jankowski, a ninety-three year-old man who lives in a nursing home. Jacob is told what to eat and what to do.

As the memories begin, Jacob Jankowski is a twenty-three year old Polish American preparing for his final exams as a Cornell University veterinary student when he receives the devastating news that his parents were killed in a car accident. Jacob’s father was a veterinarian and Jacob had planned to join his practice. When Jacob learns that his father was deeply in debt because he had been treating animals for just beans and eggs and had mortgaged the family home to provide Jacob an Ivy League education, he has a breakdown and leaves school just short of graduation. In the dark of night, he jumps on a train only to learn it is a circus train belonging to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. When the owner of the circus, Uncle Al, learns of his training as a vet, he is hired to care for the circus animals. This consequently leads Jacob to share quarters with a dwarf named Walter (who is known as Kinko to the circus) and his dog Queenie. A few weeks later Jacob is summoned to take a look at Camel, an old man who, after drinking Jamaican ginger extract for many years, can't move his arms or legs. Fearing Camel will be "red-lighted" (referring to the practice of throwing circus workers off a moving train as either punishment or as severance from the circus to avoid paying wages),[3] he hides him in his room.

The head trainer, August, is a brutal man who abuses the animals in his care (such as the new elephant Rosie) and the people around him. Alternately, he can be utterly charming. Jacob develops a guarded relationship with August and his wife, Marlena, with whom Jacob falls in love. August is suspicious of their relationship and beats Marlena and Jacob. Marlena subsequently leaves August and stays at a hotel while she's not performing. Uncle Al then informs Jacob that August is a paranoid schizophrenic and then utters a threat: reunite August and Marlena as a happily married couple or Walter and Camel get red-lighted.

A few days later after discovering that August has tried to see Marlena, Jacob visits her in her hotel room. Soon after he comforts her however, the couple sleep together and then eventually declare their love for each other. Marlena soon returns to the circus to perform (and also to have secret meetings with Jacob), but refuses to have August near her, which makes Uncle Al furious.

One night Jacob climbs up and jumps each car, while the train is moving, to August's room, carrying a knife between his teeth intending to kill August. However, Jacob backs out and returns to his car, only to find no one there but Queenie. He then realizes that Walter and Camel were red-lighted and Jacob himself was supposed to be too.

As the story climaxes, several circus workers who were red-lighted (thrown) off of the train come back and release the animals causing a stampede during the performance.

In the ensuing panic, Rosie the elephant takes a stake and drives it into August's head. His body is then trampled. Jacob was the only one who saw what truly happened to August. As a result of this incident, which occurred during a circus performance, the circus is shut down. Soon after, Uncle Al's body is found with a makeshift garrote around his neck. Marlena and Jacob leave, along with several circus animals (Rosie, Queenie and others), and begin their life together.

Ninety-three year old Jacob is waiting for his family to take him to the circus. It is revealed that Jacob and Marlena married and had 5 children spending the first seven years at the Ringling Bros. circus before Jacob got a job as a vet for a Chicago zoo. Marlena is revealed to have died a few years before Jacob was put into a nursing home. After finding out no one is coming for him, elderly Jacob goes to the circus on his own. He soon meets the manager Charlie and begs to be allowed to accompany the circus by selling tickets. Charlie agrees and Jacob believes he has finally come home.

Characters

  • Jacob Jankowski – The novel’s protagonist. He is a "ninety or ninety-three"-year-old nursing home resident reminiscing on the time he spent as a circus veterinarian during the Great Depression.
  • Marlena – The main love interest and a star performer with the circus. Marlena joined the circus after she ran away from home, and later marries August, the ring master. She enjoys a special rapport with the horses and cares for them deeply.
  • August – Marlena’s husband and the head animal trainer. As a classic batterer, he is alternately charming and brutal, both to the humans and animals aboard the Benzini Brothers train. Later in the book, it is suggested that he is a paranoid schizophrenic to excuse his violence.
  • Uncle Al – The violent, abusive owner of the circus. He is known for redlighting circus workers – having them thrown off the moving circus train in the middle of the night to avoid paying them. If these roustabouts are deemed to have committed some particularly egregious offense, they were thrown off while the train was passing over a trestle, presumably with the hope that they would die or be seriously injured.
  • Kinko/Walter – A dwarf with whom Jacob shares living quarters on the circus train. Initially, their relationship is rocky, but they develop a strong friendship. At the beginning of the story, he is known as Kinko. Walter is his real name and he only lets his friends call him this. He has a Jack Russell Terrier named Queenie to which he is very attached.
  • Camel – One of the first people Jacob meets when he jumps the train. Camel is a drunk who is instrumental in getting Jacob a job with the circus. When Camel gets "Jake Leg" from drinking contaminated Jamaican ginger, Jacob and Walter hide him in their train car and care for him.
  • Rosie – An elephant that Uncle Al buys from another circus. She is believed to be useless until it is discovered that she understands commands only in Polish. She is often the target of August’s rage.
  • Rosemary – A nurse in the nursing home where Jacob lives who is especially kind to Jacob, despite the fact that Jacob can be very rude to her.

Concept

Sara Gruen has said that the backbone of her story parallels the biblical story of Jacob in the Book of Genesis.[4] The book contains multiple references to Ringling Brothers as the premier circus of the time. Also, photos of actual circuses and circus performers of the time are included throughout the book.

Major themes

The major themes explored in this novel include circus life during the depression (Gruen did extensive research on the subject[5]), the testing of a man’s moral compass, self worth, mental illnesses, acting on emotions, illusion vs. reality, and love triangles.

Title

In the beginning of the novel, Jacob mocks another resident of the nursing home who claims to have worked in the circus and carried water for the elephants.

In a later flashback to Jacob's younger years, Jacob is brought to Uncle Al, the manager of the circus, who taunts him with "You want to carry water for elephants, I suppose?"

We are led to believe that this is a popular, but untrue, claim, because an elephant drinks too much for carrying water to one to be at all practical.

Awards and nominations

Release

  • 2006, USA, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing, ISBN 1-56512-499-5, Pub date 26 May 2006, Hardback
  • 2006, USA, Thorndike Press, ISBN 0-7862-9027-7, Pub date 15 December 2006, Large print hardback
  • 2007, USA, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, a division of Workman Publishing, ISBN 1-56512-560-6, Pub date 1 May 2007, Paperback
  • 2006, USA, Highbridge Audio, ISBN 1-59887-062-9, Pub date 1 June 2006, Audiobook

Film adaptation

Main article: Water for Elephants (film)

A film adaptation produced by Flashpoint Entertainment and Fox 2000 Pictures was released in theaters on April 22, 2011. The film was directed by Francis Lawrence, and starred Robert Pattinson as Jacob Jankowski, Reese Witherspoon as Marlena, and Christoph Waltz as August. Hal Holbrook played the older Jacob Jankowski. Other cast members include Mark Povinelli as Kinko/Walter and Jim Norton as Camel, James Frain as Rosie's caretaker, Ken Foree as Earl and Paul Schneider as Charlie O'Brien.

The character of "Uncle Al" has been eliminated. In the film, August is both owner and animal trainer.

The film featured Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum #610 and former McCloud Railway No. 18. No. 18 was repaired to operational condition for filming. Once her scenes were finished, she was returned to her owners, the Virginia & Truckee Railroad in Virginia City, Nevada. Afterwards, she was put into service on July 24.

Water for Elephants was filmed in Ventura County, California; Georgia; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

References

  1. ^ "NaNoWriMo Media Kit". Nanowrimo.org. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  2. ^ WrimoRadio interview with Sara Gruen, November 29, 2008. Interview begins at 3 minute mark. Nanowrimo.org. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  3. ^ Interview with Sara Gruen
  4. ^ "Reading Group Guide". Readinggroupguides.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  5. ^ Interview with Sara Gruen, Cathi Bond, Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants, ProseCast, July 2006
  6. ^ Nominess for the 2006 Quill Awards[dead link]
  7. ^ "2007 Alex Awards selections". Ala.org. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  8. ^ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0CE7D61F31F934A35752C0A9619C8B63 The New York Times, Dwight Garner, TBR: Inside the List, January 7, 2007
  9. ^ "picks for June 2006". Booksense.com. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  10. ^ 2007 The BookBrowse Awards (retrieved May 20, 2007)
  11. ^ New York Times Best Seller list for paperback fiction . Retrieved July 12, 2007.
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