Water for Elephants by: Sara Gruen

A MUST Read!
Starting with prologue and going from there this book is filled with the stuff human nature is made of!
Jacob Jankowisk is ninety when we meet him in a nursing home. As he remembers back to his life in the circus we discover he's been hiding a secret that he has not shared with anyone in seventy years.
A veterinarian student just shy of his degree Jacob leaves school and joins the circus after his parents death. He soon becomes the care taker for the circus menagerie where he meets Marlena (the equestrian star), August (Marlena's husband and a charismatic yet disturbed animal trainer, and Rosie (the "un trainable" elephant who has the future of the show resting on her shoulders).
Jacob, Marlena, and Rosie soon develop a friendship and trust among each other that becomes vital to their very survival.
In a time of the early part of the great depression where money is scarce and jobs even scarcer Jacob's very existence with the circus is a slippery slop. With the boss withholding pay from the working men and the complainers and older workers being red lighted (chucked off a moving train). The only way to maintain your safety is to keep your head down and be productive - but staying silent in the midst of injustice is jot Jacob's way!

I love the narrative voice of this book. Jacob is remembering this story as a ninety year old man who has lapses in his memory. Therefore the story telling is a little staccato. For example: I am in my bed, The sun has come up. I'm now at the window.] But that didn't bother me, if fact it made the story more authentic. the book itself is thought provoking and engaging from start to finish. Believe me this book will stay with you for a long time after reading it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!.

*As a side not: being true to myself I have to inform people when a book contains sexual content as I hate being surprised while reading a book and I wasn't warned in advance.
This book does contain some semi graphic scenes, while not as bad as some other books out there, when reading this book you might want to be ready to skim or skip a couple of passages.