Water for Elephants Blog

Come on Sarah...

"So what if I'm ninety-three?... why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?"

         Well Jacob, it's actually pretty simple why you shouldn't.  You're a ninety-three year old Grandpa.  You can barely get out of bed.  You need a walker to move, and even with that you have trouble just getting down to the dining hall.  Who knows what's in the pills your doctor is feeding you, and your negative physical symtoms would likely ascend away from the elderly home.  On a non-physical side, you have a family Jacob.  How would your family react to a call from the home, "Excuse me, Mr. Jankowski, we regret to inform you that your father has somehow left our campus.  Also, the police have discontinued their search."  How do you react to that?  "Oh, OK!  Hopefully he comes around soon.  Thanks!"  No, that's not what you'd say.  There would probably be no reaction at all.  If you were Jacob's son, you would simply hang the phone up and call the first lawyer that comes to mind.  Because no elderly home just has patients go missing.  

          So say we get past and accept the bitterly unrealistic idea that Jacob stopped being searched for and he continued with the circus.  How would he adjust?  It's pretty blatant that he wouldn't do his duties.  First of all, Jacob can barely remember his own age, so how could he possibly do the math in selling tickets at the booth?  Jacob has a tendency to fall asleep at random times and even talk in his sleep.  A ticket seller is one of the many jobs in the circus where falling asleep on duty isn't going to pass.  The main reason why Jacob was given a job opportunity is because Jacob has circus experience and fantastic stories.  However, Jacob was a veterinarian, which is a bit different from selling tickets.  Also, no one in the ticket line is going to be too thrilled about a customer listening to one of Jacob's circus stories during their transaction.  

         According to a critic on www.bookbrowse.com, "The book ending was a little too cheerful to be believed..."  The book ending was very cheerful.  The reader grew a bit depressed when Jacob realized his family forgot about him on this special circus day, but the conclusion of Jacob getting a new job attempted to lighten things up.  Obviously, this will please some readers who are giddy for a happy ending, but it won't fly with the critics.  Perhaps Gruen could have done her ending differently by keeping the conversation with the circus director, but concluding during their conversation and without the job offer.  I'm sorry Jacob, I really am, but no ninety-three year old is going to run away and be forgotten by their nursing home or family.  This is the twenty-first century, not the Great Depression.