Water for Elephants

I have already returned this book and for some reason once I do that I feel like I have lost the ability to right a good review. Weird. I think it is because I like to check to make sure my facts are right and things are in order.

This was a terrific story. It starts off with an elderly man in an assisted living home. His body is well on it's way to not working very well but his mind is still pretty sharp...until recently he seems to be forgetting things and slipping into the past.

The circus has come to town and has set up across the street from the old folks home and this sends (oh shoot I forgot the main characters name...see I need the book) into the past and thus the story unfolds about his time in the circus. It is such an interesting story to read about. I know nothing about the circus of those days and about the era that this takes place in (the depression). More than once I had to force myself to STOP reading since Ryan had fallen asleep and if I didn't go to bed I wouldn't be able to get up with him in a few hours.

It is interesting that I have this fantasy that people in this time were all very virtuous and chaste and lovely. Men were gentlemen and women were ladies. And I am always disappointed when I learn that just like today there are some real losers among the gentlemen and ladies. It is the same with this story. There are some people who are crude, rude and vulgar. As a result there are some foul words (some bombs) and some sexual scenes. Awful I know. They are mostly in the first half and they have little to do with the story. So if you think one of those nasty scenes has started skip to the next page and know you didn't miss anything important.

It is a great story. I think I will watch the movie...at some point in the future although I am a little nervous to watch something with Robert Patteson (the vampire guy). We will see.

GRADE: B (for language and those scenes).