June book for Reading Group Guides.
Just started. It is an old man remembering his life from the age of 93 in a nursing home. The author must have spent time in the nursing home with a relative cause she really got it right. Also the old man mourns the loss of his mother and father in a car accident and this is written perfectly. I love it when books get the emotions just right.
Posted Jun 6, 8:39 AM Hide Post
I have to comment on the ending. If taken literally as what actually happened to Jacob - he ran away and joined the circus - the ending for me is weak and totally out of character with such a realistic style of the story. It becomes a "he lived happily ever after" story. Life for me does not work that way.
However if the subtle writing style of the author is followed carefully throughout the book, I think we have plenty of evidence that Jacob left the nursing home through his dementia and went to a place that he loved - the circus.
My mother did the same thing. The nursing home became a 'school' for her. She had spent her entire life as a teacher. The hallways of the home were the school hallways, the other wing was 'upstairs', the nurses were other teachers, the aides were the 'kids', the dining room was the cafeteria, and the administrator was the 'principal'. She was invited occasionally to help out in the principal's office where she folded letters and stuffed envelopes. This helped her cope with being in the nursing home.
Unfortunately, I don't have the book so that I can cite all of the author's hints, but I can remember a few that clue me in to the dementia that was rapidly progressing for Jacob.
His personality change: He wouldn't sit at his assigned table; he wanted to sit alone; he got so furious at the other old man and so jealous when that old man got the attention of his women friends. That change from a gentle caring fellow to an old geezer indicates brain disfunction.
The fact that he did not have his walker with him when he was taken to the window to watch the circus set up. The author made a point of telling us that this was not the usual way that Jacob was used to. I don't think there is any mention of Jacob having his walker with him as he waited for his family at in the foyer. So he could not have walked to the circus. I don't think he was physically able to go that far anyway.
I think when the family did not come to take him to the circus, and when he learned that Rosemary was leaving, he broke with reality and ran away to the circus in his mind, where he lived the rest of his days. I think the circus man who took him was the replacement for Rosemary. He was a person who was well trained for eldercare and listened to Jacob and valued their conversations. So actually Jacob was able to 'live happily ever after' in his dementia.
Here is a review:
Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell.
Jacob was there because his luck had run out --- orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act --- in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival.
Surprising, poignant, and funny, Water for Elephants is that rare novel with a story so engrossing, one is reluctant to put it down; with characters so engaging, they continue to live long after the last page has been turned; with a world built of wonder, a world so real, one starts to breathe its air.
1. To what extent do the chapters concerning the elderly Jacob enhance the chapters recounting the young Jacob's experiences with the Benzini Brothers circus? In what ways do the chapters about the young Jacob contribute to a deeper understanding of the elderly Jacob's life?Here is a passage that tells us so much about Jacob's character: "It's impossible to describe how tenderly I suddenly frrl toward them -- hyenas, camels, and all. Even the polar bear, who sits on his backside chewing his four-inch claws with he four-inch teeth. A love for these animals wells up in me suddenly, a flash flood, and there it is, solid as an obelisk and viscous as water. My father felt it his duty to continue to treat animals long after he stopped getting paid. He couldn't stand by and watch a horse colic or a cow labor with a breech calf even though it meant personal ruin. The parallel is undeniable.......what my father would want me to do -- is look after them, and I am filled with that absolute and unwavering conviction.....I cannot leave these animals. I am their shepherd, their protector. And it's more than a duty. It's a covenant with my father."
2. How does the novel's epigraph, the quote from Dr. Seuss's Horton Hatches the Egg, apply to the novel? What are the roles and importance of faithfulness and loyalty in Water for Elephants? In what ways does Gruen contrast the antagonisms and cruelties of circus life with the equally impressive loyalties and instances of caring?
3. Who did you, upon reading the prologue, think murdered August? What effect did that opening scene of chaos and murder have on your reception of the story that follows?
4. In connection with Jacob's formal dinner with August and Marlena in their stateroom, Jacob remarks, "August is gracious, charming, and mischievous" (page 93). To what extent is this an adequate characterization of August? How would you expand upon Jacob's observation? How would you characterize August? Which situations in the novel reveal his true character?
5. August says of Marlena, "Not everyone can work with liberty horses. It's a God-given talent, a sixth sense, if you will" (page 94). Both August and Jacob recognize Marlena's skills, her "sixth sense," in working with the horses. In what ways does that sixth sense attract each man? How do August and Jacob differ in terms of the importance each places on Marlena's abilities?
6. After Jacob puts Silver Star down, August talks with him about the reality of the circus. "The whole thing's illusion, Jacob," he says, "and there's nothing wrong with that. It's what people want from us. It's what they expect" (page 104). How does Gruen contrast the worlds of reality and illusion in the novel? Is there anything wrong with pandering to people's need for illusion? Why do we crave the illusions that the circus represents?
7. Reflecting on the fact that his platitudes and stories don't hold his children's interest, the elderly Jacob notes, "My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak firsthand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerrilla wars, and Sputnik --- that's all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer?" (page 110). How might we learn to appreciate the stories and life lessons of our elders and encourage people younger than ourselves to appreciate our own?
8. Looking at himself in the mirror, the old Jacob tries "to see beyond the sagging flesh." But he claims, "It's no good. . . . I can't find myself anymore. When did I stop being me?" (page 111). How would you answer that question for Jacob or any individual, or for yourself?
Let's see .....illusions....subtle changes in personality
Jacob is 90 or is he 93?
He won't sit at his regular table.
He is so angry with the other old man who says he carried water for elephants.
He won't cooperate with the nurses.
He says that he knows how important it is to make sure that everyone knows that you have all your marbles.
Ornery...senile??
9. In what ways and to what degree do Uncle Al's maneuvers and practices regarding the defunct Fox Brothers circus reflect traditional American business practices? How would you compare his behavior with that of major businessmen and financiers of today? What alternative actions would you prefer? p.146 "There is no question that I am the only thing standing between these animals and the business practices of August and Uncle Al, and what my father would do..."
10. As he lies on his bedroll, after his night with Barbara and Nell, Jacob cannot empty his mind of troubling visions and he reflects that "the more distressing the memory, the more persistent its presence" (page 143). How might the elderly Jacob's memories corroborate or contradict this observation? What have been your experiences and observations in this regard?
11. In his Carnival of the Animals, Ogden Nash wrote, "Elephants are useful friends." In what ways is Rosie a "useful" friend? What is Rosie's role in the events that follow her acquisition by Uncle Al?
12. After Jacob successfully coaches August in Polish commands for Rosie, he observes, "It's only when I catch Rosie actually purring under August's loving ministrations that my conviction starts to crumble. And what I'm left looking at in its place is a terrible thing" (page 229). What is Jacob left "looking at," how does it pertain to August's personality and Jacob's relationship with August, and what makes it a "terrible thing"?
13. How did you react to the redlighting of Walter and Camel, and eight others, off the trestle? How might we see Uncle Al's cutthroat behavior as "an indictment of a lifetime spent feigning emotions to make a buck" (in the words of one reviewer)?
14. After the collapse of the Benzini Brothers circus and Uncle Al's having "done a runner" (page 314), Jacob realizes, "Not only am I unemployed and homeless, but I also have a pregnant woman, bereaved dog, elephant, and eleven horses to take care of" (page 317). What expectations did you entertain for Jacob and Marlena's --- and their menagerie's --- future after they leave the Benzini Brothers circus? How do the elderly Jacob's memories of Marlena and their life together confirm or alter those expectations?
15. At the end of the novel, Jacob exclaims, "So what if I'm ninety-three? . . . why the hell shouldn't I run away with the circus?" (page 331). What would you project to be the elderly Jacob's experiences after he runs away with the circus the second time? How does his decision reflect what we have learned about his early years?
I think that the final scenes happened only in Jacob's mind. He spent the rest of his days, months, years in the circus, away from the reality of the nursing home. He had a break with reality earlier and then when his family did not come to take him to the circus, and he found out that he was loosing his nurse, Rosemary, he ran away to the circus in his mind. My best evidence of this is that he did not take his walker to the waiting room with him. He went in his wheel chair only. Remember the tension that he caused because a nurse would not get him his walker earlier. In the waiting room scene, there was no mention of the walker until he leaves.
I spent 8 years with my mother in a wonderful nursing home, and I know how she escaped....
16. Sara Gruen has said that the "backbone" of her novel "parallels the biblical story of Jacob," in the book of Genesis. On the first night after his leaving Cornell, for example, Jacob --- as did his biblical namesake --- lies "back on the bank, resting my head on a flat stone" (page 23). In what other ways does Water for Elephants parallel the story of the biblical Jacob? How do the names of many of the characters reflect names of characters in the biblical account?
17. In the words of one reviewer, Water for Elephants "explores . . . the pathetic grandeur of the Depression-era circus." In what ways and to what extent do the words "pathetic grandeur" describe the world that Gruen creates in her novel? I think so much of the Depression era is pathetic. No one has work and those who work for the circus don't get paid, but at least they have a warm place to sleep and food to eat. Their treatment of each other is pathetic at times with the redlighting and segregation of different workers and the drinking and even the horror that mentally ill people and old folks are not taken care of. The grandeur is the spectacle and illusion of the circus! Escapism at its best.
These book-group discussion questions were prepared by Hal Hager, of Hal Hager & Associates, Somerville, New Jersey.
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