Very nice book. Made me remember a time when I was little, and the circus was a really big deal. I actually got to sit under the big top, but I was only 5 or 6, and I only remember a little bit. Check out the movies JUMBO, and The Greatest Show On Earth to add a little video magic to the images conjured ep by the book. The book makes you want to delve more into the history of circuses.

I too enjoyed this book. For a more nonficiton circus history, try Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire. This book tells the story of the Hartford circus fire.

I was a little upset that the author neglected to go into detail on the "carrying water for the elephants" being a lie. I would have liked to have heard more as to why he was so sure that the other gentleman was a liar. I did enjoy how easy it was to relate to George's character and the genuine concern he had for animals and other human beings, and also the internal battle he had when he didn't stand up to August. I think at one point or another we have all failed to interject in a situation and regretted it later. I also would have liked for it to have related more to the era. This was supposed to be during the Great Depression, and this circus coming to town was all the people had to take their minds off of their lives. It would have made a great addition to the story.

I believe Jacob sort of tells the nurse why he knows the other gentleman was a liar when he says, "Carried water for elephants indeed. Do you have any idea how much an elephant drinks?" I took that to mean that an elephant drinks so much that it would be pointless to try to carry enough buckets. They'd have to be watered at a trough or something. Kind of like how farm kids get upset when people brag about cow tipping. You can't tip a cow because contrary to popular belief they do not sleep standing up (or so I was told by a farm kid).

I heard the author say in an interview that she meant for the story to parallel the biblical story of Jacob. Did anyone catch on to that? What similarities did Water for Elephants and the story of Jacob in Genesis have (besides the first names of the characters of course)?

You know Jane I can't believe I missed that!!! Lol, I have to admit that I am a little bit red-faced on this side of the screen.

Jane,

I was curious about the same thing, and I found this posted on a discussion group at Amazon.com:

"There are anagrams, both exact and phonetic: Catherine Hale=Leah, Marlena L'Arche=Rachel, Alan Bunkel (Uncle Al)=Uncle Laban

There is the flat rock, the dream, the animal husbandry for Uncle Laban, Jacob and Rachel (Marlena) leave with Uncle Al's (Uncle Laban's) best livestock, Jacob must do an additional seven years of animal husbandry in order to be with Marlena, he breaks his hip, etc. Some of his children's names are the same as well."

I loved the anagrams but would've never figured it out by myself!

Very cool! Thanks for the info Nicki! I'm not familiar with the story of Jacob from Genesis, so I definitely would not have picked up it.

I'm glad I came across this post. I didn't realize the Jacob/Elephants - Jacob/Bible parallel until I read it here. I too don't know the biblical story that well, but I know it enough that now that you all mention it, I can see it. I really enjoyed the ending, how Jacob returned to the circus instead of being left in the nursing home, forgotten by his family.

I'm sorry...I thought this book was poorly written, simple, and just bad. Why is it a best seller?

i don't really like circuses, or clowns or anything related.. i would have NEVER picked up a book about its history or anything, so it was great that i got to learn about it through this book. i found a lot of the stuff about its inner-workings really interesting, not to mention the awesome story and the way it was written! loved it.