Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

genre: historical fiction

Jacob Jankowski's life in a nursing home is just meals and sleeping and remembering.  And remember he does.  The part of his life that stands out the starkest?  As a young man in the early 1930s, Jacob jumped into a passing train only to find out that it's a circus train.  Instead of running away as fast as he can, Jacob, an animal lover and almost-vet, makes a place for himself among this group of wanderers and performers.  It's a rough and often ugly life, with few bright spots, but find those bright spots Jacob does.  As we go back and forth between Jacob's present and past we see the dark side of human nature as well as what a person will do for love.

Throughout this audiobook, I liked the past sections better than the present day sections.  The portrait of traveling circus life is really well done, totally transported me.  I liked our main character better than the other characters but dang if bad stuff isn't happening all the time.  There are a few tender moments but life is raw on the road and when Jacob starts finding himself attached to both people and animals, the stakes get higher than he ever could've imagined, I did find myself caring about what happened.  It wasn't the best book I've ever read but I'm glad I finally tried it.

content warning: abuse, sexual scenes, animal cruelty