chapters 1-3

I just started water for elephants and it is already a page turner. A 90 year old man named Jacob Jankowski has a flashback on his past life in the circus. It starts when he is around 20 and is attending Cornell in order to become a vet. During preperation for his finals Jacob is notified that his parents had both died in a car accident. Jacob is so shaken by this news that he can't prepare for his test. On the day of the final Jacob sits and looks at his test for forty five minutes and then turns it in. He is basically blinded by his parents death and he just needs to get away. He walks for a few hours down the train tracks just looking to get away. He finds a train, and he has no money so he jumps on it. He finally gets in the car, only to find strange looking men who are work crew on the ringling Brothers circus. Jacob is shoked by this and is welcomed in. He starts his work as a muscle man who packs and un-packs the cars. Jacob was so overwhelmed by his parents deaths that he needed to get away. This blind movement led Jacon to this life in the circus. I think he will find sanctuary in the circus becasue they are closely knit, and it is a job to distract him. Hopefully Jacob's ivy league education will give him a higher status in teh circus world.
Gruen, Sara " Water for Elephants" Algonwuin books. 2007. April 21 2009.