Ok, deep breath, and now to catch up . . .
Water for Elephants (which I want to call "Like Water for Elephants" . . .) is just a wonderful lovely book. Wikipedia calls it a "historical novel" but I have issues with Wikipedia's definition of a "historical novel"--apparently anything not set in the here and now is a historical novel. Not so much. Regardless, Water is set right in the middle of the Depression (the other one, not the current one) and revolves around a low-rent circus. Low-rent in terms of it being lesser than Barnum and low-rent in terms of things like tossing people off trains when they couldn't be paid their wages. Gruen somehow magically captures the spirit of the circus as seen through the eyes of a young almost-completely-college-educated newly-orphaned almost-veterinarian who is simultaneously awe-struck by the novelty and disgusted by the reality of the circus. But this vision is then translated through the wandering mind of that young man at an advanced age and in a nursing home.
The story is fairly simple: boy falls on hard times, finds questionable salvation, falls in love with a damsel in distress, runs into significant trouble trying to save the damsel, but conquers all. But the quirks of the story really make it wonderful. The elephant, of the title, is charming and the circus is just a fun place. The nursing home scenes, while sad, are wonderful. This man loved his wife so much that he says he's happy to live longer even if he is alone and forgetful and not completely healthy because he wouldn't want her to live through that part of life. And Gruen, on the sidelines, does capture the "historical novel" aspects in glimpses--we see the Depression and feel its effects. The end (of course I have something to say about the end) is actually satisfying. It's a little far fetched but it is a novel about a circus after all.
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