Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Water for Elephants

I read this book on Sunday. Yeah, that's what I said. I read it all in one sitting - well, two sittings, I guess, since I put it down about two-thirds of the way through so I could go shopping. But then I picked it back up and devoured it.

Let me back up. I resisted reading Water for Elephants for a very long time - because I thought it was about India. Picture on the cover? Some sort of upper-class Indian society man going into... a tent. I didn't really think it through. I'm not opposed to India in general, but fictional recountings of British India just aren't my thing. But it turns out, Water for Elephants is about the circus! And I'm OK with the circus. And my maid of honor left this book up north, and I'm supposed to send it back to her, but it sat on my coffee table for a week, staring me in the face and all but demanding that I read it.

So I did. And I loved it. Characters, plot, language, the whole thing. Except the ending. Which I won't give away, but it certainly brings the grade down. Water for Elephants was captivating, engrossing, fantastic. Big thanks to Ashley for forgetting it!

Water for Elephants - A- (yes, it would have been an A, if not for those pesky last few pages)

1 comment:

singlegirlsnewyear said...

Glad I could help you out. Also glad that you didn't ruin the ending since I was about 10 pages from the end. Get that shit back to me!

J/K. The part I love about this post : You are okay with books about the circus but not with books about India? Interesting, and relatively hilarious.

I was actually pretty underwhelmed with the book. I found it neither particularly surprising or engaging. The characters did not develop or change and the preface in the beginning basically let's you know how the story is going to end. Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't want the book so I can actually read the ending...