If anyone less extraordinary and resilient was put in Jacob Jankowski’s topographic point. he would non populate to state the narrative. On many degrees. Jankowski is merely similar us. He was enjoyed by the best of times. He besides endured the worst of times. Jankowski was one of the rare psyches who lived through the Great Depression with adequate bravery to venture back into it. Sometimes. even certain memories are best left entirely. Sarah Gruen tells a affecting narrative. It is enrapturing yet absolutely credible. It leaves us with a lingering feeling. Something we have when reminicing a past love.
This component. this past love is the thaumaturgy that envelopes Water for Elephants. It set in a 2nd rate circus circa 1930s. Jankowski finds himself as the half baked vetinerarian. caring for circus animate beings. In the circus. he finds the two greatest loves of his life. Marlena. the beautiful equestrian and Rosie the elephant. On many degrees. Rosie is much more complicated than Marlena or Jacob himself. She is deemed useless until it is discovered that she can merely understand bids in Polish. It is the elephant who is the most volatile character of all.
Most people see elephants genteel and dumb. But Rosie was the complete antonym of all these. A animal who is frequently underestimated. took power. We see an animate being who loves with a human bosom. In the terminal. she paves the manner for Jacob and Marlena’s new life. This narrative of love. passion and slaying do three things. It grips us. It enfolds us with warm knowing feelings. And most particularly. it quenches our psyches. We may hold life impossible and love unlikely. This narrative reminds us ne’er to free hope. Water for Elephants is more than a love narrative. It’s a narrative of the human spirit.
