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ALTHOUGH I will continue to travel, I have
decided to make my permanent home in Portland, Oregon, where I am writing this
latest column. No recent read has made an impression on me like Canadian author
Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants did. Gruen’s novel transported me
to another place and time and was simply impossible to put down. This
page-turner has been available for a couple of years, yet it is definitely
worth reading and/or listening to. The story itself is gripping: sweet, sad,
exciting and, at times, romantic.
 Jacob
Jankowski begins by saying he is 90 or 93 – he can’t recall. However, he
describes the realities of aging and living in a nursing home with touching
clarity: “Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or
making love to a woman, I’d choose the corn. Not that I wouldn’t love to have a
final roll in the hay – I am a man yet . . . but the thought of those sweet
kernels bursting between my teeth sure sets my mouth to watering. It’s fantasy,
I know that. Neither will happen.”
Available in hardback, paperback and audio
versions, Gruen’s novel recounts the life story of a depression-era
veterinarian for a fictional traveling circus: the Benzini Brothers Most
Spectacular Show on Earth. Told from Jacob Jankowski’s point-of-view as he
looks back over his 90+ years, the story begins as the wistful nursing home
resident tells of the untimely death of his parents during Jankowski’s final
days at Cornell veterinary school.
Jankowski’s coincidental introduction to the
circus forms the basis of his story as well as that of the circus itself. Some
of the more interesting aspects of the book are the circus details:
roustabouts, train cars, performers, cooch tents, rubes, side show freaks,
animal acts, and a host of gritty realism. Gruen was inspired to write this
novel when she came across some vintage circus photographs, which she
subsequently purchased the rights to. Plus, Gruen is a passionate advocate for
animals, which undoubtedly formed the basis for her detailed account of the
often cruel treatment of animals. Although Gruen developed her material through
meticulous research, she tells the story with the dexterity and confidence of a
seasoned circus performer. Bravo!
If you read a paper copy of her book, you
will enjoy the photographs she included at the beginning of each chapter. The
audio version features readers David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones, who
effectively embody the elder and younger Jankowski.
Gruen’s next book is Ape House.
Please email me at
OKEEFEKG@GMAIL.COM or visit my website at
www.snark-hunter.com.
Until next month...
Link to previous reviews -
January 2009 February 2009
March 2009 |
