Water for Elephants Review

Water for Elephants is an educational story which absorbs the reader into the life of a traveling circus during the Depression Era. I learned more about circus life is this fictional novel than I imagine I would from a nonfiction counterpart. The story is so well written that I kept forgetting that I was reading fiction.

Though the story is based around a circus theme, the underlying content is more about long-forgotten or long-disclosed memories. Memories of youth and innocence lost, memories of love and tragedy, memories of survival and memories of long kept secrets. I will never look at a senior citizen again without wondering what undisclosed skeleton is hiding in their closet... what memories hold the secret to their life story.

The story is very engaging, yet I almost gave Water for Elephants a four star rating because it is somewhat tarnished by the foul-language and very explicit sexual descriptions. However, the story is a fast paced and a cleverly written book deserving of the five stars. It left me wanting more.

Water for Elephants would make a wonderful movie!