Running away to join the circus is a dream that has enthralled countless children and children-at-heart for decades. The idea of escaping to a world filled with sensational performances, outlandish freaks and delicious treats seems a charming solution to life’s toughest situations. For the characters of Sara Gruen’s “Water for Elephants,” life in the circus is both the promised escape from seemingly insurmountable problems and the source of equally difficult, though more bizarre, predicaments.
The novel is told from the viewpoint of Jacob Jankowski, a 90 or 93-year-old (he has ceased to remember his exact age) man who recounts the story of his days in the circus in a series of memories interwoven with his present-day life in a nursing home.
In his first memory, Jacob is a young man whose devastating life circumstances lead him to stumble into The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth as he jumps onto the first train he sees in an effort to run away. Set during the Great Depression, work is hard to come by, especially for someone as emotionally shell-shocked as young Jacob. So, when he happens upon the circus and passes the suspicious scrutiny of the workmen inhabiting the train car, he has few options but to use his incomplete veterinary training to join the circus as an animal care-taker and learn to embrace the unconventional lifestyle of circus folk.
The performers and workers of the Benzini Brothers exemplify just how unpredictable, dangerous and mesmerizing life at the circus can be. Three of the most pivotal and intriguing characters are Uncle Al, the alternatingly cruel and benevolent circus master; August, the charming but treacherous horse trainer; and his wife Marlena, a stunning and completely beguiling chief performer. The ties between these characters and the ways their lives affect and alter Jacob’s own are surprising and fascinating in a way that could only be found at the circus.
The moniker “Most Spectacular Show on Earth” is something of a misnomer that serves primarily to indicate Uncle Al’s greatest wish of achieving the status of the Ringling Brothers Circus. It is this deep-set desire that leads the entire cast and crew of the Benzini Brothers to criss-cross the country to pick up the most unusual freaks of nature and talented performers from failed circuses to add to the show.
The most notable addition that springs from Uncle Al’s obsessive eagerness to match the Ringling Brothers is Rosie, an elephant who becomes just as inextricable a part of Jacob’s life as August and Marlena are. The love triangle between August, Marlena, and Jacob comes to almost include Rosie in a strikingly sincere and poignant way.
Rosie, an elephant whose price costs the workmen (including Jacob) their wages, is initially revealed to have no performing talents and no will to learn. It is Jacob’s eventual discovery of how to train her, coupled with his inner struggle with standing up to August’s heart-rending abuse of the animal that forms one of the most touching segments of the story. His love for this elephant is palpable and creates in the reader a similar protective feeling towards the surprisingly vulnerable and tender beast.
Beyond the complicated love story between Jacob and Marlena, the workings of the circus itself are fascinating in the intricacies of a culture that is built on the bizarre. Gruen writes of the relationships Jacob builds with the workers and the performers, as well as the bonds already existing between circus members, with a heartwarmingly realistic voice that observes the ordinary tension between workers and performers, and the way it can be overcome when people are united through similar circumstances.
The stark contrasts between Jacob’s memories of the circus with his present-day life in a nursing home are both heartbreaking and enlightening. He speaks of his feelings of irrelevancy to the modern-day world in such an unsparing way that the reader is forced to consider his or her own place in the world, both current and future.
There are certain plot aspects that keep the reader guessing till the end of the novel, but in the end everything is resolved in way that does justice to Jacob’s inspiringly-full life. As a whole, “Water for Elephants” is a truly enchanting tale that extols the magic of the circus while exposing the gritty behind-the-scenes element of this Americana staple. Above all, Gruen has written a deeply personal tale of life and love in unusual circumstances in a remarkable and captivating voice. “Water for Elephants” is a triumph.