The Book Club has chosen to read and discuss: Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Book Club has chosen to read and discuss:
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
Tuesday, 26 July 2011, 6:30PM - 8:30PM ET
Location: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,
2001 L Street, Suite 650, tel. 202-822-3870
Just tell the security guard that you are going to the Book Club
meeting.
The building is about three blocks from Farragut North Metro.
Please bring your own food and drink.
Product Description
Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside
Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself
as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to
the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a
world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger
and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own
way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to
Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Jacob was there because his luck had run out?orphaned and penniless,
he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of
fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone
in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena,
the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love
with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak.
And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope,
the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the
only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act?in fact, she couldn't even
follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was
one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for
survival.
Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare
novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down;
with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the
last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so
real, one starts to breathe its air.
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